Misc Alcoholism, then Heroin addiction. A question.

[dangermouse7831]

Hey everyone. I was wondering if there is anyone out there that was/is an alcoholic who later became a Heroin addict? I want to know if anyone else experienced what I did.

It's important the order in which the addictions developed. Alcohol first, Heroin second. With at least a good few years as an alcoholic before trying Heroin (or other opiates).

I have been an on again off again alcoholic for 18 years, and was addicted to Heroin for 2.5 years (currently weaning Suboxone).

I always snorted heroin (I started on scripted Oxycodone and moved quickly to smack). The Heroin I had was pretty good. I got decent rushes from snorting if I left 24 hours between doses. I never left it that long by choice though . I never once used a needle, so I never got the full experience I guess.

Anyway, in my experience, for at least the first 10 years of my alcoholism, the alcohol buzz was MUCH stronger and more euphoric than the Heroin buzz.

Now I know the first thing you'll say is I had bad heroin, which just isn't the case. At the end of my Heroin career I was taking 2 grams a day. At this time, if I was in full withdrawal and snorted 6 X 80mg OxyContin I would still be in withdrawal, albeit, a lot milder. So I know my Heroin was good.

Now I'm well aware most people don't get that level of euphoria from alcohol. What I'm wondering is whether those of us predisposed to alcoholism get significantly more euphoria than the average Joe.

The fact that Naltrexone kills the alcohol buzz and makes hangovers much worse indicates alcohol exerts some effect on opiate receptors, perhaps by causing us to release our own endorphins. I don't know, I just know they're somehow related.

Has anyone else experienced such a phenomena?

As a side note, ever since being a Heroin addict alcohol just doesn't work the same. It's weird and I can't explain it, it's just no longer the same.

 

[Lobsterbutch]

I know that some people have differing levels of certain liver enzymes, and some people completely lack certain enzymes (like people who cant metabolize codeine into morphine). Also some people are "allergic" to alcohol, in the sense that the effects of alcohol are magnified, and the hangovers are pretty bad, which contributes to these people doing the "hair of the dog that bit you" drinking to quell a hangover. People missing/low levels of certain liver enzymes might have magnified alcohol experiences, might get longer/stronger effects off the same amount of alcohol. I also know that genetics play a role, I've heard that people of Native American decent metabolize alcohol poorly, which contributes to high alcoholism rates on reservations. The opposite is true of people of Chinese/South East Asian Decent, but im sure these are just trends and not anywhere close to rules.

But to be honest, its probably an enzyme thing to be honest. It could also explain a little bit of why you seem to have had a pretty high opioid tolerance, but I just draw that conclusion on the idea that oxycontin and diacetylmorphine get metabolized differently, but I've got nothing to back that up.

to be clear, I think it might be liver enzymes because of the high effect of alcohol and the large difference between oxycontin and heroin, i feel like they get metabolized by slightly different enzymes so having a defficiency in one or the other may explain the large gap in potency for those two drugs for you, since technically they're supposed to be pretty close in potency.

But I'm just winging it, I may be (probably) wrong

 

[Larimar]

Hmm I was just thinking about this subject the other day , I used to drink a lot to relax and feel happy then once I got hooked on oxys I never felt the urge or wanted to drink anymore. At least the oxys don?t damage my body the way alcohol can. Trying to get off the oxy and hoping I dont start drinking a lot again. Never tried heroin and dont ever want to so I cant comment on the euphoria level of that but it would be nice if the oxy lasted as long as the alcohol euphoria.