Sharing Cocaine straws and Hep C?

[maniac33]

Hey I'm new to the forum, I think this is a great place for people to find out info about there concerns.

Anyhow i've recently found out that sharing cocaine straws is a major transmission route of Hep C.
How common is this??

Alot of my freinds do it with some sketchy chracters and what not and I tryed it awhile ago.

I have concern for both me and my budies.

I hear its only with very heavy users, but if someone snorted it with a heavy user would they be at just as much as a risk as them??

Hopefully you all can shed some light on this issue for me. Seeing as that alot of these sites ive read seem to be nothing more then government fear tactics.

Thanks for reading any help would be excellent

[goldyn]

yes i agree there is a risk with snorting you r favorite  flavor and yes if your think your snorting with some people who have maybe done it a while your chance is even more ..all it takes is for a drop of blood on a straw and if your nose has a little irritation also,  yes it could happen mind you wont even be able to see the blood...so yes you should be concerned......

[maniac33]

Really yikes I should warn alot of my friends i didnt understand it could be that easy.
Alot of em do it with some not so nice people.

Anyhow i'm pretty sure my nose was fine and i didnt do too much of it. But there was alot of people doing it all pretty heavy users.

Should this warrant getting a blood test?

[Forseegood]

hmmmm, a *major* way to get infected??? dunno, I knew so, so many people who snorted coke who didn't get this, I mean,  many people...but about everyone I knew who experimented with iv drugs? got it....blood transfusion, various other ways, much easier...(course, this is all purely anecdotal, and it's just my opinion)

I snorted coke with a straw (and I don't think I ever stuck a straw up my nose either, it was about an inch or more away from my nose, but it was right next to the coke on the  mirror, and most people I saw snorting coke did the same thing...it was gross to stick the straw up your nose! (coke etiquette, being what it was)

Of course, this is possible and the "nice people" thing would probably be way less important then snorting coke with people who visibly have bloody noses....but like Goldwn said, you don't have to see the blood, and two people with bloody noses could possibly infect each other...my gut feeling though, is that it isn't a *major* way to get it...if anyone's snorting coke though, contracting this disease is just one of their problems, in my view....

[goldyn]

Its just the chances you take,when you mess with the "dark side" you are most likely ok, esp since you  said your nose was clean..just be careful believe me you dont want to have to battle any chronic virus...
                                           stay well
                                                     Goldyn

[Upbeat]

only way I could have got it. Unless it was sex.

                                                                                                                                 Ron

[Lilla]

I wonder how easily or not it would be to contract the virus via snorting cocaine.  I am to blame for this back in the early 80's, however, I can say it was not too often (only takes once). I never did IV drugs, nor have I had any transfusions, no tattoos, etc.   I have never shared my personal items as razors, toothbrushes, etc. with others that I know of.    It really makes you wonder just where did this come from.

[nygirl7]

I did get this in the 80s from sharing a straw with people.  You CANT always see the tiny microdroplets of blood and anyone who is snorting coke - cut with God knows what these days - can easily enough share those same microdroplets as the nose is being put through the torture it gets.

75% of the people that I did it with are either dead now (liver or HIV problems) and I don't think that that is any coincedence.  Of course...later in life they were all probably using needles too but - who's ever to know.

It's not worth the chance.  If you HAVE to snort coke use your own brand new straw and pray for the best cause you won't ever really have a clue until it's too late.

I wish to God I hadn't been as stupid as I was. My God all the times I'd see someone with an OBVIOUSLY bloody nose and not really think about it if it seemed to stop later on.  Drugs become all consuming and there was NO straw etiquette if you know what I mean. The object was to do more and more and more and screw everything else that got in the way.

So young and so stupid.

[zendust07]

...sketchy chracters...

Sketchy characters aren't the only ones who get HCV. Plenty of very decent people have contracted it. It doesn't help to give the impression that only 'sketchy characters' are the source.

[orphanedhawk]

I agree with NY girl. You don't have to see the tiny droplet of blood to pick up this itty bitty virus. Encourage those not so nice as well as nice friends of yours, to get tested. You can even get a test on line. It's simple and easy. And if you are going to continue snorting drugs, don't share straws.

[livaworst]

My doctor tried to tell me that sharing straws might be how I got it. I still know the people that I partied with from my twenties and none of them have Hep C. They were not sketchy types, just regular people who fell into the party mentality of the late 60s and 70s. We all grew up and put those childish things behind us.

I told my doctor that they don't have Hep C and he kept insisting that they probably have it even though their blood tests are normal. I was thinking huh? Most of my old friends freaked when I got it and were tested. They don't have it.

This makes me wonder if there is a medical route for Hep C meaning that maybe some of us got it from vaccinations, at the dentist (before they were as careful as they are today), from stays in the hospital, etc. and the medical profession does not want to admit this. It's like the "sharing straws" theory helps them to classify people who don't fall into the IV drug user category.

[Jakied]

Maniac,  if you are concerned about hcv, get the antibody test.  Snorting IS a risk factor for hcv but NOT the easiest way to transmit.  Hope for the best.

[Upbeat]

All it would take is for someone that had it give it to you, Then they clear it on their own. You didn't clear it and now have it.

                                                                                                                               Ron

[brown_eyed_grl]

wish to God I hadn't been as stupid as I was. My God all the times I'd see someone with an OBVIOUSLY bloody nose and not really think about it if it seemed to stop later on.  
So young and so stupid.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OM god..I cant believe you just said that. We all had bloody noses back then from doing coke.

WE WERE SOO STUPID...but who knew??

[Forseegood]

don't want to give the impression that I think it's okay to snort coke, under any circumstances, I saw a woman drop dead because it messed up the electric circuitry of her heart, fortunately, she was later revived but she went white and dropped dead for a minute...she was lucky she pulled through...that's the thing with coke, or other types of stimulant drugs, they could mess with a lot of systems in the body, an mess with the heart big time, and you just never know....I just had a problem with it being a "major" way of contracting the virus, but what do I know?, I'm no expert,  maybe it is....

[Lilla]

Livaworst - I believe as you - I wonder sometimes if there may be other routes like you mentioned, dental, piercings (ears), manicures, and I guess we could think of a whole host of stuff.   Just a couple months back, during my treatment, I went to the nail lady I had been  using and she used a cuticle cutter on me, and made me bleed.  I had told her about Hep C and that I was treating. I also told her "I hope you're gonna sterilize that"........she laughingly said yes, and just moved it  to the side. I saw no antiseptic solutions of any kind. I  will not go back to her.

I  have a niece who had a a couple pints of blood transfused back in 1988.  She will not go and get tested.  I am still trying to convince her that she NEEDS to.

[nygirl7]

It's becoming obvious that we need to stay out of most nail salons.  It is one way that although they don't actually know the numbers for - definitely presents a risk.  I told a woman here who is an absolute nail ADDICT and she laughed at me. I said please at least get your own kit and have them use that is it worth the risk?  Well those tips are still just as freshly done.

At least when we were younger we were stupid and somewhat actually innocent of dentists and innoculations and piercings etc.  but when you TELL someone it's a possiblity to contract a disease and they ignore you........they are just a plain old fool.

LIVA - Your doctor is right - how in the world do you know if any of those people have it or not?  It's really plain LUCK in most of our cases that we found out we have it.  I had no idea for over 20 years. My friends were not derelicts or sketchy people of any kind - they were rockers playing in clubs and were quite the sought after group by woman.  Thank God at least it's not a sexually transmitted disease in most cases.   I really doubt that a doctor tested any of those people that say they were.  I had many obvious reasons I could have had it and had to fight for the test even though my enzymes were in the 200s.  

We all have hep and I doubt many of us are sketchy in the slightest or ever were.  But man I wonder if and how many people I could have infected and never known about it.

I'm sorry but I sort of resent the implication that all the people who have it or got it didn't wear Yves St. Laurent to Studio 54 when they snorted their coke.  

[Forseegood]

that I'm not going to any wonky nail salons anymore...I do know of one around here who uses antiseptic after every procedure, well this one woman does anyway, and you know, she's the most popular lady in the salon, I don't know about the other ones, but yeah, scary stuff....

[maniac33]

Thanks for all the info, I had no idea that this was such an easy way for transmission.
I'm really going to have to tell my friends about this seeing as they probably have no idea.

But speaking personaly I only do a line or 2 everymonth or so and only recently shared a snorting device, meaning my nose was most likely in pretty good shape. This must help my chances from contracting it seeing as how most people here seem to have been pretty heavy users by the sounds of it.

I really do believe there must be more attention directed to this issue, Ive never heard anything about anything like this untill one of my conservative freinds mentioned it to me.

Anyhow good day and thanks for the info

[GoofyDad]

Hey, what a coincidence!  I know a gal that uses antiseptic after every procedure too, and she's also pretty popular!  Your gal's name isn't Porche, by chance?

[Forseegood]

hate to come on all preachy and everything, maybe I would of resented hearing this when I was younger, but lose the drugs there bro....it's a dark place but you don't realize how dark it is till youre well out of it...

And it's really not about fun either, it's about desperation *for* fun, and it's anything but...I've seen some real horror stories, a really good friend of mine ruined his nose, and he only ever snorted twice in his life...it was the cut they used the second time he snorted...he can't smell that well, which leads to all these other problems, and he always has nose bleeds, cause that cartilage and things in there don't grow back if it's messed up (we're not made of components that you can easily replace)

And when you can't smell, it's hard to have an appetite, etc...just for doing that stupid stuff a couple of times, he's going to have to cope with this kind of major stuff for the rest of his life.....and that's just a minor problem, relatively speaking, to what you *can* do to yourself..... Even if you tell yourself, well, I'm not doing it as much as my friends...I just do it a few times a month or whatever....it only takes once to really jack yourself up.....You have to think of your body as being a fine car, and it reacts to all that you put into it...and if youre putting garbage into it, you might ruin that fine car, especially with drugs that you snort, or shoot up...you might take up something that your bodily systems can't cope with...

At least if youre drinking, say beer (and alcohol is out with this disease anyway, so are drugs) you can at least gauge it, oh, I drank 2 beers...but with drugs that youre snorting or shooting up, you have no earthly idea what is in it or how to gauge it, in it's intensity or anything else, and they can put chlorine, all kinds of ungodly stuff into cut......

unless you have an advanced degree in chemistry and a lab to test things out...

you can save yourself a lot of grief by just walking away from that shite, or if you need further proof, go to any major ER on a Saturday night, and see all the kids in there, suffering from one thing or another, cause of some lousy street drugs they were experimenting with...some people don't get a second pass...

if youre friends think youre a wuss or whatever, lose the friends then too...not every person who is young takes chances like that, once you get to my age, you kick yourself for taking yourself for granted like that, believe me....and at least in my day, they didn't know what they do now about all this shite....and these are just other reasons not to do it, we have already covered the possibilities of diseases no one wants to get...

[pigeonca]

If the antiseptic they use at the nail salon is Barbisol, that blue liquid, it is anti-bacterial, not anti-viral.  I just posted a link yesterday regarding a study in which hcv contaminated blood was put on a razor, the razor was soaked in the blue stuff, and 7 days later hcv virus remained on the razor.  So I would say nail salons, as well as beauty and barber shops, can cause major problems.

Now let's talk about coke straws.  IMHO getting hep c from using coke once or twice is about as likely as getting syphilis from a doorknob.  As I recall from the old days, the folks with bloody noses were really heavy users.  I tried coke twice in my life, but the doc says it may have caused my hepatitis.  I just don't believe it.  The last time I had a bloody nose was in the third grade.  But I've received numerous nicks at the nail parlor and hairdresser's.  That would seem a much more likely source, as would sharp tools I shared with others on the job.  But I absolutely agree with you, nygirl, that it's best to bring one's own supplies to the manicurist.

[Undo]

Most of us will never know how we got infected. Itll make you crazy trying to remember all the risks youve had.
It could be on the utinsel that was used to chop the drug. Razors are pretty sharp afterall. Then into the coke it goes, and then straight up your nose.
It could be aqn infected one had a sore on or in their lip and offered you a sip of their drink. Then its in that cavity you have. Am I being paranoid here?
I like so many VN era vets believe they may have gotten it from the jetguns used to innoculate countless GIs.
Many VN era vets came in contact with human blood on a daily basis.
Because of this we have been carrying it around for 40 or more years spreading to many all along the way.
All I know is I got it so now I deal with it.
Yep maybe I am paranoid.
Good Luck my friend.

UNDo

[maniac33]

Heres the thing, all the people who I was doing it with are heavy users.
If a tiny microscopic drip of infected blood was on the straw before i used it would I become infected?
Even with my nose in perfect shape???

I just wanna gain more knowledge on this so i can know the exact risks and if anything warn my freinds who do it more routinely then i do.

But after finding this out I probably will just stay away from the drug.

[Forseegood]

yippppeee! whatever it takes, just have a nice life!

[GoofyDad]

FSG: we're not made of components that you can easily replace
Hope no one tells Pam Anderson...:)

BTW - t'was the straw that did me in..... dollars to donuts

[Forseegood]

guess why they used to call it nose candy, yuk, all this talk about nostrils is putting me off my dinner, really, what  a disgusting practice...hindsight is always 20/20 huh old chum?

[GoofyDad]

Hindsight can go either way... it rather 'depends' on whose hind you're sighting.....

[niceguy2007]

goofy lol

i got it from a medical practitioner when i had typhoid...thru a contaminated needle.

[PSP-n-Me]

hahaha good one!

[Pamela777]

Got it from ex boyfriend who shot up a few times thru sex..or coke straw.

[nygirl7]

Asks If a tiny microscopic drip of infected blood was on the straw before i used it would I become infected?
Even with my nose in perfect shape???



No - you need blood to BLOOD contact. Not blood to skin or mucous.

[mes326]

so blood to a mucous membrane couldnt infect you?

[Electra56]

If you are so f'ing scared about getting HCV- why persist? Why not ask what damage you might be be doing to your body in general and your brain my inhaling some random powder that is supposed to make your life or you more interesting than you are?  You don't even know what you're inhaling....but you're all worried about a speck of blood on the straw? Then use a dollar like we did in the old days! Sorry...but you don't make much sense.  It's the riba talking...you know if the virus doesn't get the cure will.....be careful

[Electra56]

Oh my God...it is the riba....I meant Maniac, NOT mes326- please forgive me...it was a long day and it's so hot out....