another cocaine ? (you were all so helpful last time)

[beantown33]

Hi Everyone:

You were all very helpful the last time i posted a question...thank you very much.  I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and i'm planning on getting some blood tests done.  At this point, I just want to know but I still am unsure of the risks of contracting HCV through snorting cocaine...I've only used a couple of times but am still extremely nervous.  My questions are:

1) Did any of you ever have prolonged headaches for a whole week after using (it was a decent amount and i am relatively inexperienced)?

2) Can HIV be transmitted through snorting (if so I may get checked for that as well)?

3)Is there a good chance I contracted HCV from snorting and that is why i'm experiencing headaches, sleeplessness, some itching, some tingling etc.?

Thanks so much...I'd be going (even more) crazy if it wasn't for all of your help

3)

[RobertBeWell]

Hard to tell where I got it... I've done all of the above and more at one time or another in my life. Also worked in a hospital.

I've decided that I don't really ***care*** where I got it, and that it's nobody's business where I got it. If my doctor asks, I'll just shrug my shoulders.

It really doesn't matter anyhow. Buck up campers. We can't change the past, only the future. I see no reason to be uncomfortable sharing intimate details of my past life with anyone except those closest to me.

[nygirl7]

No but in the future stop letting people you know are infected with any diesease touch your wounds. In fact stop letting anyone touch your wounds it's not sanitary or necessary and is just kind of gross anyhow.

Unfortunately for me I did a lot of drugs and was a complete moron not thinking of the future and what could and did happen to me. We knew nothing about HCV back then and were ignorant of the possibilities.

Now, we know better.  Just skip the drugs and consider yourself way way way better off. If you really freak out about it wait a while and get tested but no I bet you are just fine.

[ghostinaround13]

i am worried about the same thing right now, and you guys helped me out, i only snorted some drugs one time recently after someone with hepc and we all only used the straw once but i was the last one to use it, do any of u think i may have it? Im scared? oh and my friend with hepc touched my wound with her hand i am afraid of that to. How much of a possibility is there that i have it now?

[strator]

Okay beanman - I don't know if there's anyway they COULD document passing HCV through snorting, but it has always made sense to me. Like I said the first time you posted I thought nothing of wiping blood off a rolled bill or straw and snorting. More than once out in public people told me my nose was bleeding(i hadn't noticed cause I was so numbed from coke). Doesn't matter to me whether I got it from the one use of a shared needle, snorting, sex, hastily done stitches and plastic surgery from injuries or med procedures in the old days, boxing, bar fights or whatever.....In my case I MORE than likely got it because I lived a risky lifestyle. Look at it like this...Maybe it was the one use of a needle...okay Bean just suppose I used that needle, then never got high again, moved into a monastery and lived a sober clean serene life. Doesn't matter, I still participated in risky behaviour. Like You did. Course I also knew that with the assortment of drugs and drinking I did the next hit could always be tainted and kill me. But I did it anyways. So I'm not gonna tell ya here's the percentages of catching hep through snorting. Your concerned, get tested. If your're still getting high, stop or you'll drive yourself insane the next morning wondering if THIS time you caught something. If your gonna get high anyways, don't share needles, straws or anything else.
One last thought at one time my addiction took me to new levels...running a nightclub I started stealing money off the top, had been getting high for years but suddenly began to get the WORST headaches that would not go away, even from my own 'arsenal' of chemicals. THen one night I went to the owners of the club, fessed up, stopped stealing and made arrangements for restitution(did get fired)..BUT the headaches went away just like that. You've been here ac ouple of times about this and I iunderstand you are very worried. Maybe it's stress, or guilt causing the headaches. You aren't the first good person in this world that made questionable decisions once or a few times. When you wake up each day you can choose what risks you want to take to the best of your ability.
God Bless ya Beantown,
Don

[Bill1954]

Here

[sailinlady]

HCV is very likely to be contracted through snorting cocaine, or whatever is was.  Think about all the membranes in your nose and the likelihood of blood.  A tiny spec of blood on a staw may be passed from one person to another.

See:  http://www.pegasys.com/basics/spread.asp

You may not have the virus and it is too soon to know. Please make sure you do get checked and talk to your doctor about it.  Next time remember this is a possible form of transmission.  

There are many ways I could have been infected and snorting is one of them.

[mnkdrt]

hmm, I would have never known you could get hcv from snorting. After further reading as many as 10% of patients got it that way.
learn something every day.
When I did drugs I never felt like that for a week after a binge of cocaine. One time I stopped taking antidepressant cold turkey and got the symptoms you mentioned.

[Upbeat]

I think the more you search the more you will find information on this mode of transference.  I never had a blood transfusion and I never did any needles ever.  Either sex or the straw.  I suspect the straw more than I do the sex. I guess I will never know for sure.

                                                         Ron

[NYgirl]

The doctor has every single confidence in the world that this is EXACTLY HOW I CONTRACTED HCV.

I have had this disease for approximately 25 years. In the 80s I NEVER used a needle. I was a "rock star" (in my mind I guess) and we NEVER ran out of coke - when we did lovely "fans" gave us more more more to try and get close to us. I did a LOT and had a habit for at least 20 years.

The doctor fully believes that it is EASY for one person to use a straw..have microdroplets of blood (you know people who do coke have DREADFUL noses and just because you can't SEE the blood sure doesn't mean it's not there) and then hand off to the next person who snorts not only the coke BUT the HCV as well.  Since your nose is such a lovely moist warm bloodfilled place it's quite SIMPLE to transfer it that way.

I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THIS IS HOW I GOT IT EITHER - IT IS COMPLETELY VERY POSSIBLE TO DO AND ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU IT IS NOT IS WRONG (sorry) but I am living proof.

I believe the reason doctors don't get this into the data that much is because people tend to PROGRESS in their heavy addiction and that generally means from SNORTING to SYRINGES - and of course if you say you've ever used a syringe they are going to figure that you got it that way and not bother asking about snorting.

They would have to find people who DID snort and NEVER used a needle to figure out exactly how many I suppose.

I think 10% is a light guess if you think of it my way and the fact that doctors are just coming to terms with this method.

[sailinlady]

http://www.ukcoalition.org/hepc/coke.htm

[NYgirl]

Calfia said:
an acute episode of Hep C would have occurred weeks later,


I NEVER had an acute bought of Hep and like a lot had no idea I had it at all until just this past year.

[sailinlady]

How are you doing?

[jmjm530]

Just to play devil's advocate here -- and please correct me if my failing memory is failing me again -- but didn't you post several months ago that your ex-husband/boyfriend was HCV positive and you only found out after you two broke up? If I were you, I'd put this at least as high -- if not higher -- on my list of transmission possiblities as non-IV drug use such as cocaine. I understand sexual transmission is low between monagamous couples but it still exists. The number one transmission route in the United States today is still IV drug use, followed by transfusions prior to blood screening. I believe unprotected sex probably follows but not sure.

Gosh. Between this thread and Mnk's (also about sex) -- better go take a cold shower now :)

-- Jim

[jmjm530]

Oh, there's also inter-household transmissions -- toothbrush, nail clippers, etc.

[NYgirl]

My exhusband not boyfriend... ;-)  but it's not a long enough time period for the figure.  I want to blame it on him more than ANYTHING in the world but no matter what I do...i can't stretch the darn years out that far no matter what I try LOL.

Heck I still blame it on him as far as anybody knows it's HIS fault. ;-)

[NYgirl]

It's much more likely that I got it the one way and not via a razor - have you ever REALLY heard of anybody who HONESTLY got it that way?  Nah. That blood would more than likely dry out - although the HCV can live outside the body it's a short time...


Face it I bet you can get it any countless ways they haven't thought up yet - but that one is too logical and it doesn't bother me to admit that I got it that way to you guys...to my parents heck I got it being married - end of story :)

[jmjm530]

Well, my ex's blame me for absolutely EVERYTHING including the thinning of the ozone layer. Think about it more -- and I'm sure you'll come up with a scenario where he could have given it to you :)

-- Jim

[jmjm530]

NY said: have you ever REALLY heard of anybody who HONESTLY got it that way?
-----------------------
Which way. Hmmm. I think I'd be encroaching on Can-Do's or Goofy's territory if I commented further.

-- Jim

[LvdByGod]

could be the headache is from sinus problems from the snorting of foriegn substances. i used to do drugs and coke was my drug of choice. whenever i used a bad quality of cocain i got intense nose and sinus reactions and severe headaches...

i'll bet this is whats going on with you...this on top of old fashioned fear induced stuff... this could be the sleep problem... your scared to death.

i'm sure you will never do drugs again (at least i hope and pray for you that you won't)...you seem too smart and consciencous for that...it was the dumbest thing i ever did and now my lifes at stake for it...

sandi

ps beantown, please keep us informed of your test results... go ahead and get tested for hepc and aids...it sure won't hurt you and it will give you peace of mind too... i'm sure your sleep will return after that and your sinus' will soon do better too... you may want an antibiotic for them... be sure to tell your dr the truth...they can handle it...

[beantown33]

Thanks I am going to the doctor tomorrow...I think this forum may have confirmed everything I read on the internet which many of you posted...I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes...Thanks!

[Upbeat]

Wow
     It is well documented that snorting accounts for a large percentage of hcv transmission. When trying to determine how I got it and blood transfussion and needles were eliminated the next question asked by my liver doc was snorting.

                                                        Ron

[NYgirl]

Said: In my case I MORE than likely got it because I lived a risky lifestyle.




That is the most important statement of all and as long as we know that we have it...and try and fix it...it helps me feel as though I am atoning for the sins of youth (and I am GRATEFUL I know I have it after NOT KNOWING for so very long).

[FlGuy]

Hopefully you did not contract any disease. But, keep in mind that the coke that went up your nose was not pure. It was diluted with something which could include talcum powder, flour, salt, corn starch, baking powder or soda or who know's what else. It did not come to you from a pharmacy college graduate and was probably not FDA inspected or approved. You control what goes in.  Let's hope you head does not explode.

[GoofyDad]

<i>people tend to PROGRESS in their heavy addiction and that generally means from SNORTING to SYRINGES</i>

I would venture that the vast majority of people who took a whiff of blow never went on to to be IVDUs.

I would also guess that there are many, many more folks who did a little coke somewhere along the lines (sorry) than there are IVDUs.

Yet, IVDU is an obvious and certain mode of transmission, vs snorting which remains somewhat controversial. Apparently, if snorting is a mode, it is much, much less efficient than IVDU, and somewhat unlikely on a case by case basis.

I strongly suspect that there is an unidentified transmission route out there that makes up for so many undefined cases.

NYgirl, curious how you established that you've had HVC for 25 years?