Heroin Addiction: Methadone & Heroin Facts

Question: How bad is heroin addiction?

(Posted by: LaLa on 2009-10-01 14:23:47)

I mean, how strong or intense is the high? and how easy is it to get hooked? especially if you WERE hooked before, got clean & started using it again? AND, how difficult is it to stop? is it THAT hard for an addict to stop usin' heroin?? what does a heroin addict go thru when they try to quit? i ask, because yes, there is someone - a close friend of mine - who got clean a year ago, started using heroin again for maybe the last 9 months. i'm wondering if the body is going go to thru hell after 9 months of use, if so is the withdrawal hell for only a week, 4 days, a short timeframe, etc., and how painful are the withdrawals? is it enough to keep them from trying to stop? what are the mental effects? i dont quite understand this drug OR the addiction and i'm trying to know what i'm dealing with .... p.s. my friend has said she's gonna stop, went to detox, came out, used again, now she's out doing whatever she does .... i'm waiting for her to finally go to rehab but someone else close to me told me NOT TO HOLD MY BREATH & to just LET GO OF HER .....

Posted by: jamie lauren garner on 2009-10-01, 14:45:18

Although I have the unfortunate truth that I used to be a drug-abuser, (I was a bad pre-teenager) I've never done heroin. However, I can kind of perceive a mental image of what it would be like. Imagine a world so calm and soothing, an escape from reality, especially where morphine is involved and you're completely free of pain, and feel all pillowy and amazing. After encountering something like that, it's pretty difficult to go back to this regular world. To put it in an analogy, it's like going to heaven; and being surrounded by everything and everyone you love, being served left and right; and then coming back and sitting in an office. You know? If someone stopped and started up again, they obviously need more strict guidance. They need a friend...Sometimes you grow out of it, but SEVERE drug abuse, especially heroin, isn't something you just wait to pass you by. Do whatever it takes. The best way to get over your own struggles is to help others with theirs. Make her understand that. Do charity work. Help her realize that there's a lot of people that would kill to be in her spot. Get her involved...go do lots of interesting things together. Go take a trip to the mountains, and go skiing, or learn how to ballroom dance. Go to church, ride horses, take risks. Go bungee jumping. Something. Good luck.

Posted by: Kristi on 2009-10-01, 14:43:33

Heroine addiction is perhaps one of the most serious addictions to battle. The drug itself is bad enough, but the way it can change a person just from there living the lifestyle of finding it, buying it, using it and the people around them, is just as bad. Heroine is the primary addiction, the rest are secondary addictions. In some cases it is best to simply hope for the best and let go of someone if they refuse to get help or continue to use you to get their fix. They have a choice. They can stop or continue. The choice to quit is not easy nor is quitting. But the choice is theirs. If they are aware of the dangers and what it is doing to them, and especially if they've been through detox before, the know what to do; they simply don't do it. I wish you well and wish your friend well ... but you have to know when things are becoming harder for you than they have to be. It's not selfish to "look out for numero uno, " sometimes doing so takes a lot of courage. Kristi

Posted by: enkidu21078 on 2009-10-01, 15:16:10

It can be not that big of a deal to extremely bad; it depends on the person. Some people love the heroin high and others prefer other drugs or none at all. Much like some people can drink one or two drinks and stop, while others cannot stop until they are drunk. Some people can "chip " or use sporadically while others may get hooked the first few times and chase the high their whole lives. For me it is extremely bad. I was prescribed opioid pain killers for a back injury and when my script ran out I turned to getting the pills in other ways and then to buying and using smack. I couldn't really stop on my own, I had to go to treatment and work the NA program one day at a time. For me this meant getting a sponsor, getting new friends who are in recovery, avoiding some activities and places I used to frequent, developing my spirituality, and getting new hobbies. The high can be quite intense, depending on the purity and method of administration. I live in Baltimore, where some of the purest smack in the country is. So the high was quite strong. Also, if you inject, it is stronger than if you snort or smoke it. For heroin addicts, it is physically and psychologically addictive. The physical addiction can stop in a few days after use ( "detox "), but the psychological addiction may last a lifetime. You can ride out the physical withdrawals if necessary, although in some extreme cases medical detox is helpful. Unlike alcohol withdrawals, heroin detox is rarely if ever fatal, just very uncomfortable. If someone "was " addicted to heroin, then that means they probably still are, even if they are not using. If and when they pick up again, they will start basically where they left off before they got clean, not like stating all over again. That is how addictions work. Addicts may recover, but they are never "cured ". It is hard for an addict to stop using heroin as long as they don't want to stop. If and when they are truly finished, they can have some hope of staying clean. That is why addicts must be in recovery-some sort of program or support network in place of getting high. Support groups like NA can help, or even just getting new friends who are recovering addicts or who don't use. Rehab can help but it only works if you are committed. A 30-day program may be good if someone just stopped using, to get stable in their recovery. Most people do rehab to please others, in my experience, as opposed to helping themselves. That's not to say it doesn't work, just that as long as the addict has reservations about really getting clean, they won't and they are ultimately just wasting their time and everyone else's. They have to be truly sincere about wanting to stop, for their own reasons - not due to external factors. If their recovery is built upon external factors, then it is only as strong as those relationships or reasons. Once the relationship ends or sours, or if the reason goes away (probation, job, etc.), then the recovery is in jeopardy. After 9 months of use, someone can definitely develop a bad physical addiction as well as psychological, especially if they use a lot or often and if they inject it. This is especially true if they are already an addict. The withdrawals and detox are the easy part. Finding and taking care of the underlying psychological or spiritual reason for the addiction is much harder, and in some people is never addressed. That is why so many people relapse, even after extended periods of recovery. Unfortunately, for an addict, they must place their recovery first above everything else in their lives. If not, then their recovery, and everything else in their lives will ultimately disappear, and all they are left with is their addiction. The best I can say is be there for her if she really wants to get clean. You may have to decide, and let her know, that you cannot be her friend as long as she is in her addiction or out there doing whatever she does as you put it. This in not being mean or cruel. That is what is called tough love. You cannot love her to death or stand by and watch her destroy herself. If she is an addict, and it sounds like she is, then that is exactly what she is doing. Let her know that if she does want to get help (and this may not mean "going into rehab ", it may just be changing her lifestyle, getting involved in a recovery program, etc.), then you will do everything you can to support her and help her rebuild her life. Al

Posted by: Christan K on 2009-10-01, 16:04:49

I am an recovering heroin addict. 30 days clean now! Heroin is A EXTREMELY HARD THING TO GET OFF OF! Your friend can not do it alone. I tried quitting all the time by my self but if you dont have help you sit and suffer until you give in. I had to move away erase all contacts and get on suboxone for with drawls. She is going to go through hell for the next 7 to 21 days depending on how she used it! If she doesnt have enough money for rehab try and get her to go and stay somewhere she wont be able to get it! She is going to at least need some type of counseling, heroin attaches to the part of your brain that tells you to breathe move your arm basically how to function in an ever day life, so with out counseling she wont be able to re-train her brain and wont be successfully. Also If she does not WANT to quit more than air, she wont. that's all there is to it. If you have other questions e-mail me at christanshirley@yahoo.com Like I said I am going through this right now and will help as much as I can. DONT GIVE UP