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Not as Tolerant as I Thought
Codeine
Citation:   MongrelOctopus. "Not as Tolerant as I Thought: An Experience with Codeine (exp47458)". Erowid.org. Jan 26, 2008. erowid.org/exp/47458

 
DOSE:
185 mg oral Codeine (extract)
BODY WEIGHT: 145 lb
Opiates are among my closest friends ever since I had surgery for wisdom-teeth removal and got 30 5mg vicodin as compensation. It was the first time I had ever seen any sort of narcotic painkiller and the next week at high school flew by in a warm-buzzing haze. Over the years, I have eagerly taken any opportunity I have found to ingest vicodin, percocet, dilaudid or oxycontin. I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to drug use, and never put anything in my nose or blood--just chew. Living in the USA makes it a bit harder to find opiates, but I also live in Virginia, home of Hillbilly Heroin, so it's not impossible.

One year, while in Canada skiing, I visited a drugstore hoping that they would sell OTC (over-the-counter) tylenol 3 as I had been told. To my dismay, they did not sell tylenol 3, but instead a generic kind of analgesic pill that had 325mg of acetominophen, 8mg of codeine and 15mg of caffeine. I bought a bottle of 100 pills anyway, since it cost less than five dollars. A couple of years passed without giving the pills much thought--it takes a lot more than 8mg for a buzz, and more than 1200mg makes me vomit a lot, so I assumed that they were worthless. All of that changed when I found online the instructions for cold-water codeine extraction. I read through the steps, skeptical still, but all of the information seemed to make sense, and the solubility table was enough for me to give it a shot.

I crushed up 8 pills into a fine powder and dumped it into about 8oz of warm water. I stirred for 10 minutes until the solution had reached room temperature again, and then put the cup into the freezer. It took another 20-30 minutes before the water felt cold to the touch. I filtered it through a coffee filter twice and was left with a very slightly-milky clearish liquid. It didn't smell like much of anything, but I was concerned about consuming too much acetominophen. Eventually, after deciding whether to drink it or pour it out, I drank it. I was warned that it would taste extremely bitter, but to my delight, it was only very bitter, and there wasn't much of an aftertaste. I began timing with my wristwatch (something I do each time I take painkillers for some reason), expecting that it would kick in sooner than the 15 minutes it normally takes with pills.

30 minutes later, I still didn't feel any different, and began researching the effects of acetominophen overdose. Another 15 minutes passed and finally I began to feel the familiar internal glow spreading out from my lower abdomen. I was ecstatic that this procedure had actually worked. The buzz I got from the 64mg was very very mild, but I was encouraged to try again.

After that fateful day, each day thereafter I crushed up the pills and followed the same procedure. First with 90mg then with 112mg. The latter yielded very desireable results. I experienced absolutely no nausea and was quite affected. 112mg felt about the same as taking 15mg of hydrocodone. At this point I was so confident with the method, that I continued to do it each day, and as a result began to feel the tolerance rearing its ugly head. To counteract this I decided to make a batch of fun-juice extra potent. I had read online that most (ab)users of codeine would take doses of above 200mg, and so I was confident that 'playing it safe' at 185mg was a good decision.

After drinking the now extremely bitter liquid and waiting about 30 minutes I felt the wave come on. It was delightful--much more so than any other opiate experience has been. 30 minutes after the onset, I realized that I had overshot a little. I could feel nausea building in the back of my head, but it wasn't powerful enough to cause discomfort. When I arrived at work that day, my extremities were tingling (more a symptom of anxiety, I believe, because I experience this occasionally with other drugs) and it was much more labor-intesive to breathe normally. Each breath was forced in and out of my body with a conscious effort, and I caught myself not breathing at all on a few occasions.

An hour passed and so too did the difficulty of breathing, but was replaced instead with some of the most intense nausea I have experienced. I had read that if you lie in prone position, it is an instant nausea cure for opiates, and went back to my car to test the theory. I reclined my seat all the way and stayed for 10 minutes. The theory was partially true, as when I was on my back I didn't feel ill--however, as soon as I stood, I was punched in the face with the urge to projectile vomit. The day continued in this fashion. I drank bottle after bottle of water and made frequent trips to the bathroom to avoid vomiting in the actual office area. Eventually I called it quits, told the other folks in the office that I was leaving and headed out to my car. On the way there I began retching, and expelled about a pint of water and nothing more. This vomit was very similar to another I experienced after taking altogether too much DXM. It was extremely painful, and caused a brief period of panic-ridden asphyxiation.

[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!]

When finally I was able cough up the remaining fluid and was able to breathe again, I was still being pounded by intense nausea. I drove home and went immediately to my bed, upon which I quickly fell asleep for eight hours. When I awoke, I no longer felt the drug and had a mild headache. Needless to say, I will never do opiates again. And by that, I mean that I will go back to doing smaller amounts.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 47458
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jan 26, 2008Views: 45,499
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Codeine (14) : Overdose (29), Difficult Experiences (5), Not Applicable (38)

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