why the sneezing?

[Shmoozilla]

Hi There,

I'm just curious - does anyone know why the sneezing is so frequent while going through the withdrawal?  I'm in day 6 of codeine WD, and I've just been sneezing my head off!  I've been sneezing a lot every day, and just now I sneezed about 25 times in a row, and I just wondered why it happens?  I tried searching on the web, but didn't find anything overly useful.

I still have a bad headache - and I'm not sure if it's going to go away.  I was taking the nurofen plus for headaches, and I seem to have had one non-stop since I stopped taking it.  I am using something called Migrastick to help combat the headaches, but I won't really be able to use that at work as often as I've been using it at home because of the strong peppermint smell from the essential oil in it (it's a roll-on with essential oils, and it cools down where you put it), and I don't want to torture everyone at work with it all the time.

Thankfully I'm not back at work until 18th January, so I still have another 12 days (including today, which has really just started although I'm hoping to go back to sleep soon since I awoke at 5am this morning with stomach issues and was unable to get back to sleep).  I really hope the physical symptoms will be gone by then :).


Thanks,
Rachel

[imrprod]

Get some claritan or other sinus med OTC they can really help with this I had the same thing and the headaches were hell.  Zicam nasal spray is also great stuff.  Good luck.

[jstntime]

Why would you want to take antihistamines to stop something that feels so good???

I'm with beatingthis, I was having fun doing it 200 times a day!!!!!  (20 at a time!!!!)

bob

[Newpower]

Yes I also gave the sneezing even after I think I've gone thru the wd. Sometimes I get a little wave of nausa right before the sneezing.

[beatingthis]

Ahhh I remember the sneezing and the sneezing and the sneezing. I think we called it orgasmic sneezing. Its wild isn't it???
You body was always so dry when you were using. It is a good sign everything is coming back. But it soooo funny HA!!

Terry

[Shmoozilla]

Good on you for making the decision to stop.  For me it was a very difficult one, and no doubt for everyone else out there too.  It took me about a year of saying I would stop, and not doing it (mainly for fear of being off work with headaches etc as I didn't know anything about the WD at that point).  It definitely gets better - and yesterday was nearly like a normal day for me (except the sneezing of course - and the headache all day).  I managed to eat relatively normally, which was fantastic, and I didn't need to take imodium.  I had taken it the two days before because I started going to the bathroom often again, and it seemed like things were slipping back again, but I only took one each time and it lasted the whole day.

Imodium really was my saviour, so if you've got diarrhea then some of that will really help.  I didn't think I could stand much longer of running to the loo every few minutes - especially because there was a lot of pain associated with it after that many times - so I got someone to get me some since I didn't think I could be away from the loo long enough to make the 20 minute walk to go and get some.  I slept reasonably well that night because I didn't have to get up at 3am for another bout of toilet visits, and thankfully I've slept pretty well most nights since then.

I'm now on day 9!!  I can't believe I've made it more than a week!!!

Good luck to you Radiostar55 - you can do it :) :).  I'm sending all sorts of positive thoughts your way (sorry - I'm not religious so I don't pray - but this is my closest thing) :) :).


Rachel

[Lisahhh]

I'm tapering off of oxy and after a month am at about 25% of my original dose. I can feel myself on the edge of withdrawl, but am taking just enough to keep me functioning. Anyway, I started my day today with a sneezing attack and did chalk it up to my decreased meds. It is kind of funny!

Somebody mentioned about getting fewer colds while on opioids. That is definitely true for me, but I never made the connection between the two! I actually figured that being on pain meds for a prolongued period of time should theoretically make one more prone to getting sick, but I guess that's not the case for some of us. Interesting!

[Radiostar55]

Day 3 without oxy..Funny you all mention the sneezing..I usually get a shiver then sneeze about 5 times...Weird  Just hope its all going away..Started getting diahreaa this morning for the first time.  Thought I was going to escape that route but I guess not..I CAN and WILL beat this disease!   Keep me in your prayers.. This forum has really help me now I know I'm not the only one going thru this

G

[pharma9]

I really think that once you are over the withdrawal pains that paracetamol and/or ibuprofen will be enough to handle your pain.It did for me and others as well.I had always thought that my pain was too severe for anything but opiates but I was wrong and non rx non opiates work great with no rebound pain.

[Shmoozilla]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all your replies.  I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has had the sneezing :) :).  I'm not annoyed with it anymore, and I think 25 was about the most I ever did in a row - usually it's about 5 or 6.  I was so excited when I sneezed once yesterday - but that was definitely not the norm for the day :).  I'm glad to know it will pass :).

I'm hesitant to take any type of pain killers for my headache for two reasons.  The first is that I don't really want any other pills in my system, even though it's just paracetamol.  The second reason is that they've never really worked for me.  I guess I built up a rather high tolerance to pain killers taking the codeine based pills and anything less never really worked so I'm skeptical about them.  I do have some here, and it has been tempting at times, but I haven't taken any yet.

Thanks again everyone :)

[worried878]

The sneezing and runny nose associated with wds is due to changes in the nervous system when u take ur DOC away...it will heal and respong//but time has to be taken//patience can be a virtue with wds
just as imodium treats the runs, there are OTC anti-histamines that will treat this as well/the sneezing thing...often anti-histamines make us sleepy so an added plus//benadryl is one of the most popular on the market for this plus sleep...claritin, zyrtec, many others to choose from as well...one type of zyrtec has a sleep effect..the other does not//reading labels is always a good idea

keep posting...this is do-able

[ThisIsIt983]

Sneezing was always one of the first signs for me that my body was going into w/d's. I like what one of the posts above said how sneezing was a way of ridding our body of the toxins. That is what i would always think of when it started. My body was getting rid of a bunch of junk.

[kona2009]

It's crazy isn't it.  I always have that sneeze followed by another quick one.  They started about day 3 for me.  

[narla]

I'm on day 130 clean of codeine 180mg to 240mg a day with me I had the sneezing and runny nose it was like I continually had a cold,It lasted about a month with me.I also suffered with headaches and used a Migrastick,my doctor also told me that when they get bad I could take 2 plain paracetamol,I found eventually it worked,my headaches stopped after about 2 weeks.

[flmagi]

Sneezing is one of the withdrawals symptoms that most everyone seems to go threw. I'm not sure why, but would guess it has something to do with the body letting loose of one of the many things opioids suppressed during use.Haven't you ever noticed how seldom you got colds while using?  A lot of things will start surfacing during and shortly after withdrawals. It will get better.

[Regretful239]

I don't know about the vomit, but at times I did smell blood and sometimes taste it in the back of my throat

[missing_me]

I too am surprised to hear of how many people have sneezing issues.  I have been tapering of morphine for the past several weeks and within a certain part of each taper I seem to go through sneezing fits.  

My last one was Sunday and I swear it was only one nostrol and even the air felt to cold going into it and that caused the sneeze.  I finally had to resort to blocking the one nostrol to keep air from flowing to it.  I was sneezing so much it activated my pain and the inside of that nostrol hurt past the point I could bare.
Then finally after about 2-3 hours of on and off fits of sneezing it wore off.

I'm curious, did anyone ever feel as though they had just thrown up and had that stuck in their nose too?  Just the feeling/smell, even though you hadn't.  That has happened to me a couple of times now during these sneeze attacks.

Missing_Me

[Regretful239]

LOL, You just have to think how you look sneezing 30x in a row. It's hilarious

[Amaryllis1974]

Yes, funny indeed!!!!! Sometimes, when I have a really long session of sneezes, I crack up uncontrollably- usually because i am embarrassed due to an audience (:

[Regretful239]

I thought I was the only one sneezing my head off! I would wake up in the middle of the night sneezing lol. I don't know why it happens but it's extremely annoying but sometimes funny - at least for me

[Amaryllis1974]

OMG!!!
I am so glad you said something...it's like a sneeze and then a very quick one right afer. If you swallow, or breathe, it's another and it doesnt stop for at least a min or so.

So glad and sad you have it. I think it is the toxins leaving our soft tissue. At least that's what I tell myself!
Amy

[imrprod]

I got real bad headaches also and the only thing that helped was sinus meds or nasal sprays...good luck.