Snorted cocaine for the second time!

The last time (first time) I snorted cocaine was several years ago. After that, I didn't do it again, after last night. We were at a club and a friend of mine came up to me and asked if I wanted to do a line. I passed on that occasion. I was happy with the music, company and drinks. So I guess he went with a few others.

The night continued, and we took the after-party back to somebody's place. We were all hanging out when I decided to do a line with the person who asked me earlier this evening. I don't exactly know the background of this person. All I know is he is a frequent user of cocaine and possibly other substances. Maybe even to the extent of intravenous drugs. Who knows!

He rolled up a paper bill and let me hit the first line. That was the only line I did. I don't know if the paper bill was the one used earlier that night, or if it was a new one. As far as I could tell, the paper bill looked 'normal'. No blood stains (so I've read online) or what not...

Was I exposed? To what risk? High / low / other? Should I be concerned? I've read online, it takes up to 6 months until Hep C antibodies start appearing. This means, I would need to wait at least 6 months until I can do a test.

[spectda]

My guess is that your risk is low but a guess is kind of meaningless. If the person you snorted with has hcv and there was bleeding and you were bleeding there is a risk, if not there is no risk.

No one here can know the answer to those questions so you will have to decide how worried you are and wait to get tested for antibodies or ask your doctor to do a PCR test in a few weeks.
-Dave

http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/hcvfaq.htm
"How soon after exposure to HCV can anti-HCV be detected?
HCV infection can be detected by anti-HCV screening tests (enzyme immunoassay) 4–10 weeks after infection. Anti-HCV can be detected in >97% of persons by 6 months after exposure.

How soon after exposure to HCV can HCV RNA be detected by PCR?
HCV RNA appears in blood and can be detected as early as 2–3 weeks after infection."

[cliveb]

Ive come across this which also seems like a good response by Edward W Hook http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/HIV--Hep-C-and-cocaine-straws/show/645032

What do you guys think?

[katla]

I agree that it's unlikely but lots of unlikely things happen. If it were me I would definitely get tested...best of luck.

[copyman]

Snorting cocaine is a definite means of HCV transmission. I believe it is more common then first thought. Wait a few months then get tested!

[cliveb]

My wife is also pregnant with our first. Hmm, should I be avoiding her to some extent? I don't want anything to happen to our baby or to her.

Are we allowed to engage in intercourse, kiss, and other intimate activities?

[hrsepwrguy]

your chances are contracting hcv are low and I believe was well explained by spectda, chances of sexual transmission are low as well but there is a chance. I'm not going to preach about not doing drugs but I will give you something to think about, how would it feel to have to tell your wife and your unborn child that you may have given them a horrible disease because you acted irresponsable just twice. IMO your safe but consider the people that love you in your future decisions. I am sure they would like that.

[oldsarge]

Naw, you probably wern't exposed but keep snotin coke and sooner or later you will be. Just sayin', if you lay out 5 lines, which one would be the one that makes it impossible to stop coming back for more. You best dig your self, it ain't your friends, the music, the clubs or the coke thats has a problem, it's you looking for permission from folks who have Hep-c to keep trying different ways to get out-side your self that's the problem. Ya wanna be sick, keep trying, you'll get there...FLAT OUT...Old sarge, think about it

[cliveb]

I've gone passed thinking about doing it again. Didn't really enjoy the experience. I'm hoping it'll be a one-time thing and the last. That's for sure.

[oldsarge]

And about your wife and unborn child...Your already avoiding them. Read your post, you were out with your buddies, at "somebody else's place, (I'm sure there were no other females there as you wouldn't EVER be looking to cheat on your wife), cause I know ya went home and told her, Honey I just used some coke, and I really want to get it on...PLEASE! Get some help, start on Narcissism, then you might want to start staying home, hugging with your wife, and preparing for the next 18 years of raising your child. Sorry pal, but I earned every right to say what I'm saying, and I earned it cause I was too self centered to take the same advice a long time ago. If you want to do coke the right way, go buy some syringes, steal all your appliances and the old lady next door Social security check, hide in a closet, and blast yourself to heaven. Here's another tip, the cops are already on to you and your friends, kicking coke, being in jail is a high you'll never forget, plus you may even get the chance to get HIV, the hard way. Neither will your wife and child.
Sarge again

[cliveb]

Clarifying what was said earlier. Lets just assume the worst scenario. Even if there was blood on the bill. For there to be exposure, I would have to be bleeding in my nose as well right?

I am pretty sure that I wasn't bleeding. Definitely didn't get into a fight that night (I was drinking but, am a nice guy), and did not continuously jam the bill up my nostril, to say the least.

[James10500]

There is a really simple answer and only answer to your question.  Get tested !  Speculation will not suffice.

[cliveb]

As many of you have suggested and based on this article ( http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/HIV--Hep-C-and-cocaine-straws/show/645032  ;), including what spectda stated:

"If the person you snorted with has hcv and there was bleeding and you were bleeding there is a risk, if not there is no risk."

No risk, if either one of the parties is NOT bleeding.... It's good to know that the risk is minimal. How minimal? Perhaps VERY minimal. But a risk nonetheless. I will take everyone's advice into doing a PCR test on the 2nd week.

[cliveb]

Is doing a PCR test for Hep C on the 2nd week too soon? Maybe 2 weeks and a half?

[alagirl]

I had a known risk in 2007 (not snorting coke) and came back strongly positive (very high antibodies) about 3 3/4 weeks later.  I had just had a negative test for antibodies six or seven days before that known risk occurred.  When my antibody test came back so high, they immediately repeated it plus they ran a PCR test and a genotype test.  The next antibody test had jumped even HIGHER and I came back with a viral load on the PCR and of course I came back with a genotype (1b).  As an acute though, I was able to treat for less time.

Also, I know that one person's risk can't really translate to another's, but I snorted coke in college a few times before I said to myself, "You know, I don't even like this drug, why do I keep doing this?"  I never got hcv from that activity, and frequently I did have raw nasal passages while engaging in that activity.  Back then we weren't even aware that this was an activity that put us at risk of disease, we just knew that the coke was physically bad for us and not a few of my friends had actual nasal and heart problems due to their interaction with that drug.  (They used it FAR more frequently than I did.  I was never that enamored with it).

Bottom line, I would wait until almost four weeks from your last escapade and then go in and test.  Until then, use condoms with your pregnant wife.  If an antibody test is negative at four weeks then you are fine.

[GoofyDad]

"Snorting cocaine is a definite means of HCV transmission. I believe it is more common then first thought."

Common enough anyway.

What about using that condom when he does the blow?

[cliveb]

Alagirl, so 3rd or 4th week is a good / enough time for a PCR test? Second, you mention an antibody test. Is this the same as the PCR test?

I thought an anti-body test should only be done after a few months (at least 6 months).

[alagirl]

The literature on this varies wildly.  This study says that the virus can be detected by PCR within one to two weeks http://www.sovegastro.com/pdf/HEPATITIS%20C%20revision%20sistematica.pdf and by antibody test within three to fifteen weeks.  That's what it SAYS.  This other article says antibody by one to two months (wich would be four to eight weeks).  http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/HCV_9989.shtml

Now.  Do you know how vanishingly rare it is that anyone gets tested (who is ACTUALLY POSITIVE FOR HCV) within that first three month window?  Much less within the first month?  Vanishingly rare.  Almost never.  So in my view, their stats are a lot guesswork and a little (very little) based on real data.  Do you know how often real cases get reported?  Again, rare.  My case never got reported to anyone.


To be fair though, I was an acute patient in every sense of the word.  I had three or four prior negative antibody tests the previous year and one prior PCR test.  One of the negative antibody tests was only six (or nine, I forget) days before the incident that left me with hcv.  Also, I became quite physically ill with hcv VERY shortly after I was infected.  That doesn't really happen all that often.  I only know of a couple of other people who became so physically ill when acutely sick with hcv.  Perhaps that led me to make antibodies more quickly.  I have some autoimmune issues and my body does fight hard and fast and usually it makes me more ill when I get viruses than other people would normally be.  I end up hospitalized for routine viruses many times.

Anyway, "they" also say that between 20 and 50% of people clear hcv on their own within the acute phase without becoming chronic (in the following article).  The acute phase is considered to be anytime within the first six months.  That seems really high to me.  I figure that in this scenario, especially those folks who clear (but even those who don't) are busy making antibodies that entire time.  The other 50% to 80% are well on their way to becoming chronic.  It's my position that their body doesn't say, "Hey, I'm going to start fighting this disease and making some antibodies but I'm going to wait oh... idk, about two or three months first."  Just my opinion though.  And again, I don't know if the clinical data is really out there to reveal the truth of it one way or the other.  The samples are probably terribly small.
http://www.sovegastro.com/pdf/HEPATITIS%20C%20revision%20sistematica.pdf  

This article suggests that 15% of folks clear during the acute phase.  That's the figure that has usually been suggested to us.  http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/HCV_9989.shtml  Again though, who KNOWS where they get this stuff.  They still tell us that 4 million people in the US have hcv.  Apparently 4 million in the US have had hcv for years and years running.  We get that same stat all the time.  And apparently nobody knows how many people have treated.  Much less how many have treated and reached SVR.  They just. don't. know.  And if they do, they certainly aren't letting us in on it.  We just see the same tired info rehashed from article to article.  

[alagirl]

And sorry, I forgot to answer, no they are not the same test.

One test is a panel test that tests you for antibodies to hep a through c.  It's a good test to get anyway, because you need to know that you are clean for a through c.  And if you are clean for a and b then you need to get the immunizations for a and b.  Both you and your wife need to get them.

Also, I did not mean to minimize the risks of doing cocaine.  As I said before, the few times that I did it in college, my nose was raw inside from allergies and whatnot.  I certainly did not appreciate the risk from hcv.  That was some 20 years ago.  But since your nasal passages are lined with mucus membrane, you only need a brief break in that barrier.  You can have one without seeing it or feeling it and so can the other party.

You have responsibilities now.  The day I became pregnant was the day that I stopped any type of alcohol or party drug.  I'm just lucky that drugs involving needles weren't popular at that point in time because obviously, I was an imbecile.

Just because your wife is the one carrying this baby doesn't mean that you don't have to be responsible, and you're kind of blowing it here.  Not to be mean, but just sayin'  

[alagirl]

Sorry, still botched it.  The other test is a quantitative PCR test.  It looks to see if you have any virus detectible in your drug.  It tests for any level of hep c virus only.  I would ask for both tests if it would make you feel more comfortable.  That way you get a baseline for a and b antibodies and you make sure that you don't have any level of virus of hcv in your blood even if you don't have antibodies to it yet.

Ok.  And now I am very late for work.  Good luck.

[cliveb]

Ok, now I am really confused. Is this also a Hep A, B and C issue? I understand a lot of users on this thread are speaking out of experience. Which is great. And I respect everyone's effort for coming through. I've read every detail and learned a few good things.

But when it comes down to "yes" and "no" answers. Such as: "Is PCR testing for Hep C on the 3rd or 4th week too soon?". The consensus so far is "maybe". Some have suggested its fine on the 2nd week. But others will suggest something different, with their own facts / experience. Which is understandable. The strength and the weakness of the internet is the large amount of information, right and wrong (and some in between), that can be found on it.  

Cross-referencing facts from articles online, only puts more doubt into my mind. Especially, if the source of one, says one thing and the source of another says something else. It only builds up the anxiety more. Not only for myself, but for other readers (who are in the same situation) who come across this thread in the future.

Am I asking in the right place? Perhaps the information I need, should be consulted with someone certified in the medical field. Perhaps.

As I mentioned earlier, and will say it again. I've gotten rid of the idea of doing cocaine ever again. It's not something I would venture in (that goes for any drug as well). I'm not craving for it. The notion of even thinking about it, isn't there at all! Lets leave the parental advice out of this please. People make mistakes. No one is perfect. But I certainly did not come into this forum to ask for parental responsibilities. That's for another forum, if anything.

So I'll have to ask it again. When is the soonest I can start testing for Hep C?

[willbb]

Perhaps the information I need, should be consulted with someone certified in the medical field. Perhaps.

ok

[pjhep80]

... if you are this paranoid you should def not be doing coke... lol...snorted coke twice OMG ..... hahahahaaaaaaa...

chances are slim to none that you have any horrible disease from that minimal usage...

[suezeeque]

The PCR test is an expensive one.  I can't imagine anyone doing a PCR test without first doing an antibody test.

You've already researched.  You know the answer to your question.  It doesn't matter how many times you frame that question in a different way, the answer is the same and you already know what it is.

See a doctor.  We aren't doctors.  Ask 10 people the same question and there's the potential for 10 (or more) different opinions.  The only one that matters will come from a medical professional.

See a doctor.  Follow that doctor's advice.  

[SusieS2010]

And btw, there does not have to be visible blood in the nose. Mucous membranes are very permeable. While your risk is small, you should get tested. Ask your doctor the best time to do that.

[dragonh8tr]

I know, huh...LMAO...he's sounding like he did a LOT more than just one...

[eureka254]

This thread made me snort and take a powder, but not both at the same time.

[spectda]

These cocaine threads always seem to go on forever. I guess it's the nostalgia!

[flcyclist]

They go on forever due to the poster asking the same question over and over, even though the question has been well answered.  This isn't the only forum he asked the exact same question, but he's enjoying the attention here more.  

Eureka's response made me snort with laughter.  

[pjhep80]

aha me too... lmfao

[nygirl7]

but he's enjoying the attention here more.  "

who wouldn't want to sound like a stark raving mad drug addict obsessive compulsive to hang out with us hep obsessives?  Guess it's some birds of a feather thing ;O

[dragonh8tr]

Right freaking on man! I like what you said-no punches pulled there!