Expected withdrawal intensity?

[mrpopper]

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone can advise me on what I may be in for?

Heroin habit, smoking only. Period of roughly 4/5 months using no more than half a gram a day.

I view this as relatively mild usage. I am hoping that the withdrawal won't be so bad. Am I being overly optimistic?

Thanks in advance for any response.

 

[Jabberwocky]

it will differ from person to person. but i can share my experience. for the first year of my heroin addiction it was purely psychological. on weekdays i only used in the evenings, but i did use almost every single day of that year. during that time i went to visit my parents twice and was sure i was gonna get sick, and didn't. i was amazed. in fact, i think at that time i posted somewhere on this very forum something idiotic along the lines of 'i think to get physically addicted to heroin you have to do it on purpose.' i don't think in that period i ever used more than half a gram in a day, it was probably usually much less.

anyway, i was being arrogant and it was just a matter of time. heroin was just waiting to properly get its claws into me, as soon as i had a really horrible break up i started using before work and immediately got a habit. so i think it has something to do with the half life- before using only in evenings gave my body some time without heroin, but using before work it was always in my system. so your withdrawals will depend on your use pattern.

over the next 5 years i escalated to approx a gram a day iv. i've just learned the hard way, after 2 years in recovery, my opiate receptors are still fucked and the second i fire them up they think i have a habit again and i get ill.

the more times you relapse the more easily you'll slip into withdrawals. so if you get a relatively easy time of it now, thank your lucky stars and stay the hell away. don't get lulled into a false sense of security like i did. that said, it wouldn't have stopped me, heroin was fulfilling a deep emotional need for me that i am still working on getting met without resorting to drugs. you should look into getting some psychological support to address the underlying issues causing you to use. unfortunately its not as simple as do your rattle and carry on with your life.

 

[TheInvisibleStoner]

Is it #3 or bth? I never caught a withdrawal from smoking tar, in fact barely felt it.

You should be fine either way, will be the mildest withdrawal possible if you get out now.

You would know best If your withdrawal ramps into horrible RLS / puking before you can score, that is what you can expect for a few days. If you can skip days now it will weaken it a bit even.

 

[Oleander]

I think it depends on how often you were using daily. I smoked h for about 3 years before slamming and every time I came off from when I was smoking, I experienced withdrawals. Obviously the first time I came off it was much more intense because I’d never experienced it, but the times after still were awful and I don’t want to downplay it for you.

 

[mrpopper]

Is it #3 or bth? I never caught a withdrawal from smoking tar, in fact barely felt it.

You should be fine either way, will be the mildest withdrawal possible if you get out now.

You would know best If your withdrawal ramps into horrible RLS / puking before you can score, that is what you can expect for a few days. If you can skip days now it will weaken it a bit even.

No 3.

I've been in a position for the past five or six months where I've been pretty much able to score at will. So haven't really had to face going without. The odd occasion when a dealer has left me hanging for a few hours and I've had the overwhelming anxiety bordering on panic attacks. But I guess a lot of that is just psychological.

 

[Oleander]

No 3.

I've been in a position for the past five or six months where I've been pretty much able to score at will. So haven't really had to face going without. The odd occasion when a dealer has left me hanging for a few hours and I've had the overwhelming anxiety bordering on panic attacks. But I guess a lot of that is just psychological.

Also I only used tar when I was doing h (smoking and shooting) and very rarely some china white. I’ve never had anything else because that’s about all there is in Los Angeles with heroin. I most definitely went through withdrawals with black and I can’t compare with other forms of h out there, but it definitely happened

 

[mrpopper]

I think it depends on how often you were using daily. I smoked h for about 3 years before slamming and every time I came off from when I was smoking, I experienced withdrawals. Obviously the first time I came off it was much more intense because I’d never experienced it, but the times after still were awful and I don’t want to downplay it for you.

Pretty much constantly. As stated above, I've been in a position for the past six months where I've been able to score at will. So I'd say it's been in my system pretty constantly. Now that situation is coming to an abrupt end.

The odd occasion when I've had to wait on a dealer for a few hours I've felt the creeping anxiety/panic attacks and a bit of a bad stomach.

Perhaps my only saving grace is that my use has been constant in the sense that I haven't been getting much a high for a long time but I haven't been increasing my dose. I've just been using to keep withdrawal symptoms away really.

 

[Oleander]

Pretty much constantly. As stated above, I've been in a position for the past six months where I've been able to score at will. So I'd say it's been in my system pretty constantly. Now that situation is coming to an abrupt end.

The odd occasion when I've had to wait on a dealer for a few hours I've felt the creeping anxiety/panic attacks and a bit of a bad stomach.

Perhaps my only saving grace is that my use has been constant in the sense that I haven't been getting much a high for a long time but I haven't been increasing my dose. I've just been using to keep withdrawal symptoms away really.

Unfortunately the dreaded long ass wait for your connect happens constantly, no matter what your buying or how well you know them. That’s one thing I really don’t miss with h, that awful anxiety of waiting for your guy and he takes his sweet ass time. Still happens, but def different when I’m not on h anymore. Try very hard to get off heroin and if you slip and relapse it’s ok, don’t beat yourself up. Just saying from personal experience, heroin was one of the worst things I ever did to myself and definitely the hardest drug to quit. Good luck

 

[Jabberwocky]

The odd occasion when I've had to wait on a dealer for a few hours I've felt the creeping anxiety/panic attacks and a bit of a bad stomach.

i think that your stomach symptoms would be related to your anxiety rather than rattling that early on. i had a definite order to the symptoms appearing in rattling and stomach was one of the last. would start with feeling sniffly, eyes running, sweaty, and intensely lethargic. my stomach is always terrible when i'm anxious.

 

[TheInvisibleStoner]

No 3.

I've been in a position for the past five or six months where I've been pretty much able to score at will. So haven't really had to face going without. The odd occasion when a dealer has left me hanging for a few hours and I've had the overwhelming anxiety bordering on panic attacks. But I guess a lot of that is just psychological.

A good part of the withdrawal is. How much better do you feel when you score even before doing it? You can even be dry heaving like crazy, then realize the dope is coming and feel 20x better. Its weird. Once we tell our brain opiates are not available, something changes and makes symptoms worse.

In the meantime try to cut back and see how many hours you can push it between doses. That will drop your tolerance too. Heroin withdrawal ramps up fast. In within 6-12 hours from your 1st yawn you aren't riddled with RLS and puking all over, then you should be fine.