Expert: Jacqui - 5/11/2008

Question
hello i am concerned for my girldfriend who is not a regular heroin user but she smokes it every now and then. she says that sometimes she has breathing problems when she is using it. I would like to know if it is possible to be allergic to heroin?

Answer
Thanks for your question Dave, and apologies for not answering straight away - I have been laid up with a cold!  

Anyway, I guess it is technically possible to be allergic to anything.  However there are probably to thinks to consider.  Smoking anything that produce breathing problems - does she smoke cigarettes?  If she is someone who is not regularly smoking, the presence of the smoke in her lungs might be too much for her.  

Secondly, heroin is a Central Nervous System depressant, so it can slow down your rate of breathing.  This is what leads to overdose - ie: people stop breathing and eventually their heart stops.  However, this would be coupled with her being very out of it and her breathing would probably just stop, rather than her having a 'gasping' problem.  

Perhaps you could describe the problem more specifically.

The third thing is, does she have asthma?  

In searching the medical literature, I found one case of heroin allergy, however it was in a journal I didn't have full access to.  If you are medically inclined, you might like to follow up the link -

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1398-9995.1990.tb00532.x?cook...

Hope this helps!  Stay safe,

Jacqui