Codiene flip out

Posted By Wayne Kingwell on June 16, 1999 at 21:38:55
I am 32 yrs old and with the exception of a lower back problem I am quite fit and healthy.  I have had a few problems with a couple of drugs.  One of which is in many food items.  It is caffine.  I have not as yet had an allergy test but if I have any amount of caffine my behavior changes radically and over the longer term I get very sick and in a couple of days I develop an extreamly itchy rash in the groin and legs.  I can't even have a tiny piece of chocolate without getting this two stage reaction. My doctor treated the rash as jock itch many years ago but this made the rash spread and infected.  One of the incidents that made me realize that it was caffiene causing the problems was when I had been prescribed Tylenol 3 for a back problem. I ended up in hospital with what the paramedics thought was a heart-attack.  Turns out that t-3's have caffiene in them!  I don't have any more problems with that drug anymore because I avoid anything with caffeine in it, including certain brands of cheap ice-cream.  I still have a problem with my back though, I was prescribed pure codiene pills because of the adverse reaction to the t-3's.  I don't like taking pills of any kind but on a particular occasion in the middle of a Canadian winter I had been having a great deal of pain in my back which also causes a kind of depression. So I started taking the codiene one Saturday evening. I started to feel better so I took more and during the night I was awakened by the pain so I took more.  I am not really sure what the hell happened on Sunday but the police told me what I did.  I have only a blurred recollection of the events of that day.  It is a bit like trying to remember a really low buget movie from last year.  Is it possible that I am allergic to codiene too?  Or was it just an overdose, or both?  ps I don't take anything except asprin now.  I never used any narcotic of any kind before.  I even missed the so-called experimental stage that many teenagers put themselves through.  After that experience I have even more respect for these drugs.  I had no idea codiene was so strong.  Is this type of behavioral reaction common?  I look forward to your response to my questions.  
Thank you!    










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Re: Codiene flip out R.S., EdD, HVMA 6/17/1999
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