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Heroin has anyone here actually kicked Heroin forever?

I've heard more than one doctor say that collapsed veins are the worst (and pretty much the only "long term damage" linked to heroin, when it comes down to permanant (failure) done to the body, compared to all other abused drugs.
 
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I was clean for 6 years then broke my ankle and because of my history I couldn't get any pain meds. It can be done. Just take your time and be careful who you hang out. I relapsed on dilaudid, my first love. But it can be done.

Yeah i don't consider myself as being clean being in MMT programs and such. To tell you one thing, I am very scared that one day, I will become forced to withdrawal off of methadone all of a sudden, whatever the reason may be... I'm scared that I will become financially unable or in trouble with the law, or something... and I know coming off of 100+ mg it will suck badly. But I see light in the whole thing... I see myself in the end hopefully getting tapered off very slowly after I am "stabilized" for a while. I'm just scared I will have to cold turkey sometime before then... and let me tell you it would feel wayyy worse I would imagine, coming off a high constant dose of methadone than the sporadic daily heroin I was doing. I just hope I can ride this program out for a year and get off in the next two... I have not used once or had cravings since week 2 of the program. I have failed upon my transfer to the new clinic i go to for benzos but they said that one time did not count, and I was using for sleep not to abuse. which does not make it ok...



sorry for any shitty punctuation, I'm sitting where its hard to type for some odd reason.
 
I quit about 4 and 1/2 years ago.... mind you I was only smoking/snorting about .5 to .7 grams per day. I've only chipped twice since I quit. I used suboxone and then quit that two years ago. Opiate addiction never really goes away. I still think about them sometimes, but not as much.
 
And by the way^ being clean is awesome!!! It really feels like I'm free of such a weight and burden. It had to get really bad before It got good, and I lost my best girl along the way... I'm so blessed to be alive and not have to worry about withdrawals. Someone up above has really looked out for me
 
And after all that up there, trying to show you where I've come from I forgot to say the main thing Benway:

No, you're unlikely to have done permanent damage to your body, beyond any damage that would already be immediately apparent to you or easily testable for anyways as obvious potential consequences of bad IV practice if that's at all relevant in your case, and yes, your body and mind will recover in time. I still sometimes have frustration dreams about scoring and cooking shots and missing them, and wake up wondering why I'm not rattling, but no biggie, easily dismissable, and when that happens I smile with relief that it was all just a bad dream.

You will be able to take pleasure from simple, everyday things, and feel normal emotions again. You can have a life free of it, if you want it, but you must want it!

Good luck with it Benway. Stick with it, tough it out. You can beat it man.

p.s. motiv311, yeah, what you said just there. :) I sometimes forget, and let myself wallow in the self-loathing self-pity that led me to H in the first place, but it is great to be clean and still alive when so many of the guys I've known over the years didn't make it. Good people too, what smack did to them notwithstanding. It's a fucking waste of a life. Good on you fella!
 
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I lived in southern Cali in the mid 90's and on my end of the spectrum, tar was EVERYWHERE. It took a few months before the temptation overtook me and I bought a little $10 piece for me and my girlfriend. I became very fond of the substance and once I realized I was strung out I was terrified by all the kicking stories I was hearing, so I just kept maintaining. Of course I got several tastes of what going cold turkey would be like which scared me even more. About a year later I realized I couldn't continue like this and saw an ad in a classifieds paper wanting addicts to participate in a study on a new drug called buprenorphine.

My girlfriend and I went to the VA where they were doing the study and got set up. The bad thing about this was, as we were told in the beginning, we just might receive placebo. We realized my girlfriend did when she put the pill under her tongue and didn't get the same feeling I did. So while I think the bup was a good way to kick(while getting $10/day for the study), with minimal discomfort, now I had enough for one person which I had to share with another. It was uncomfortable, but we managed to escape the addiction more easily than going cold turkey.

It's been almost 15 years since I partook in heroin intake. Other opiates have found there way into my system, though. One particular bout with dilaudid making the top of the list.

I admit I am an addict, but accept it and really don't mind.

I will add that the reason I haven't done any H since then is because it's not easily accessible in the places I've been since. At the same time, that addiction was a hell of an experience, which even after all these years is still quite fresh in my mind, so even though I love the stuff, I am much wiser when it comes to venturing down certain roads.

So the moral to my story is... yes it is possible, but I need to keep the memories of the bad side from getting lost in the ones of the good side.
 
And after all that up there, trying to show you where I've come from I forgot to say the main thing Benway:

No, you're unlikely to have done permanent damage to your body, beyond any damage that would already be immediately apparent to you or easily testable for anyways as obvious potential consequences of bad IV practice if that's at all relevant in your case, and yes, your body and mind will recover in time. I still sometimes have frustration dreams about scoring and cooking shots and missing them, and wake up wondering why I'm not rattling, but no biggie, easily dismissable, and when that happens I smile with relief that it was all just a bad dream.

You will be able to take pleasure from simple, everyday things, and feel normal emotions again. You can have a life free of it, if you want it, but you must want it!

Good luck with it Benway. Stick with it, tough it out. You can beat it man.

p.s. motiv311, yeah, what you said just there. :) I sometimes forget, and let myself wallow in the self-loathing self-pity that led me to H in the first place, but it is great to be clean and still alive when so many of the guys I've known over the years didn't make it. Good people too, what smack did to them notwithstanding. It's a fucking waste of a life. Good on you fella!

Thanks for this response & the previous response.....i've kicked from H three times.....and now kicking from suboxone.....I want clean....I love heroin, but I just want to be normal again......Funny thing is: EVERY time i kick the habit; i'm not forced to do it......i'll have money to go score and just refuse.....even now, i'm sitting on like 90 subox films; but i refuse to take them......I love heroin, actually obsessed with it.....I hate suboxone, i hate the side effects that come along with the naxalone.....they suck majorly...........at least H kept me feeling right......on suboxone, i just feel like trash constantly......cranking my neck because it's dehydrating my head out. Again, though thanks for the encouragement.

I'm on day 10 or 11 at this point after jumping from 4mg of suboxone.....i'm getting there, but not quite there yet.......hanging in there.

Peace and blessings to you! keep striving man. Thanks to you; i will definitely keep striving.

Benway189
 
Day at a Time!!! Worry about being sober just for today, eventually, if you can fight the cravings of today - u will have a lifetime of sobriety.

This is MUCH MUCH harder than it sounds. This is why I go to a support group. If you are still on opiates/heroin - i suggest not going on subs or methadone and going on clonidine and neurontin. I was presrcibed this in a country that didnt have methadone or subs and it was a very quick and relatively easy withdrawal. I can help you find these meds if your dr. won't prescribe. PM me if you would like my help.

God Bless.
Frank
 
Tell me to bugger off if I'm coming across like I'm trying to teach grandma how to suck eggs, but do yourself a favour and get rid of the subs you got left Benway. You can't slip up just so you can get to sleep once you think you're done with the worst, or reward yourself with little treats cos you deserve them once you've broken the habit if you ain't got anything to slip up with. Dunno how things work in the States insurance-wise for detox meds but maybe have a think about getting on Naltrexone for a while to help with the psychological desire, just till you're long past the physical cravings, stable, and feel like you have a proper grip on staying clean.
 
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I am 7months sober but im on suboxone. I have kicked every single opioet there is I know of a doctor can give you and that you can get off the street. herion included. I stayed clean anywhere from 1-3months at a time. I beat everything but it always pulled me back in some how some way. So finally I decided this time around I would stick to suboxone. I have beat suboxone before its a hard one to kick but I don't know it wasn't so bad the last time however I have been on it 7months this time around so god knows how much worse it will be then it was last time.,
 
For me, subs were easy to fall back on , and untill I finally ran out of like 300 8mg strips. Suboxone is great for like 6 months or less, and the w/d even after that ain't so bad
 
Most people who kicked heroin probably are not using other drugs and more than likely are not browing a harm reduction forum. So I doubt you'll get a lot of.. 'i quit x years ago' replies

Now you will probably get a lot of poeple who quit and are maintaining on meth or bupe..

And a shit load of people who 'quit' using bupe for a few days! Never to pick up again.. till day he stops his bupe.
 
if your trying to totally get clean i'd recommend therapy in addition to professional treatment or a 12step program. i personally hate rehab but love AA and therapy and statisticly professional treatment and aa have almost the exact same success rates. im a sober/clean zonked out oxhead for life. unfortunately i stopped going to meetings awhile ago and ended up relapsing about 2 weeks ago but before that i had 1.5 years clean off everything except cigarettes and i hate to drink i just go to that shitcuz the people r way better than other similar programs that are more focused on drugs (in my opinion). the good thing bout AA is it gives you good people to surround yourself with and an opportunity to develop new, positive friends. also if your buggin out u can get help at any time unlike a rehab which boots you out and thats that.

if you goin for somethin like a marijuana management program then by all means smoke n choke, the above is just my advice based on experience. and i agree with motiv311, sober life is soooooo much better. it sucks cuz now that i relapsed i remember how much happier i was when i was sober but im back in the pit and i dont want to stop even tho i know its gonna destroy me and my life sucks when i do drugs so it like makes me all crazy and pissed in my head. wish me luck and i wish you the same
 
the good thing bout AA is it gives you good people to surround yourself with and an opportunity to develop new, positive friends.

I don't disagree with this, but there are risks involved with AA. I wound up in a halfway house about a year after my H episode, and one of the conditions of staying there was we had to attend a meeting everyday. The organized meetings we went to were pretty much good people with good intentions of getting and staying clean, but there were more than a few who were only there because they had nowhere to go, were court ordered to be there, and/or had no intentions of quitting whatever got them there. I left there about 2 weeks after arriving with one of the best coke connections in the southeast. Boy, what a party we had.

So if your serious about sobriety you'll want to take care in finding an established group of like-minded folks who aren't there for the wrong reasons.
 
I don't disagree with this, but there are risks involved with AA. I wound up in a halfway house about a year after my H episode, and one of the conditions of staying there was we had to attend a meeting everyday. The organized meetings we went to were pretty much good people with good intentions of getting and staying clean, but there were more than a few who were only there because they had nowhere to go, were court ordered to be there, and/or had no intentions of quitting whatever got them there. I left there about 2 weeks after arriving with one of the best coke connections in the southeast. Boy, what a party we had.

So if your serious about sobriety you'll want to take care in finding an established group of like-minded folks who aren't there for the wrong reasons.

I know this is old but I gotto chiem in.. Dude if your problem with AA is that the crowd there sucked (court odrered people who did not wanna be there), simply find a new meeting. Meetings can vary so much.. you haev to find one that works for you with a good group of people. If everyoen who had an issue with another individual in na or aa left and had this attitude there would be inoone there lol.

Honestly if you are picking up connects at aa or na..you probably shouldn't be there..your def not ready to get clean.

Edit my bad I reread your thread you were not really bashin it. Sry man.
 
I've always wondered the same thing I started using 16 yrs ago and was only "clean" when on methadone. I dont really count that besides that ive done a few days here and there and one time 92 days, but ive always wondered if i was stuck with it for life
 
I've not used heroin or heavy doses of potent pharm opioids in over two years now. With the exception of occasional hydro/oxycodone recreational use, I am clean these days. I had to re-learn just about everything, but life is definitely better now than it was then.

It can be done, and unless you've managed to strike some delicate golden balance between using heroin and living life, is absolutely worth doing.
 
My awesome husband has been clean off of dope for about 15 years now. He got locked up for selling E when he was about 22, and then had to detox in jail. He is now clean, happy, not on methadone or suboxone, just high on life. It is possible, it works if u want it bad enough. Good luck...
 
I was clean 5 years. That's not forever clearly but pretty long. I have had history of puting together few years and going out for few months. This last one has been a year out though. Don't have a habit right now bc I moved to the armpit of the world. Anyhow, I just went into treatment, went to meetings etc. Worked for me. Well worked for a long time anyhow
 
My uncle was a heroin addict for 40 years, did a methadone treatment program for 3 years, and he's clean now. I've personally never tried or even seen heroin, but when I went cold turkey off 150mcg/hr fentanyl patch in a hoag hospital, they gave me nothing but tylenol for pain and nothing for my shaking uncontrollably and hot and cold sweats. That was awful. But yea suboxone has a 12-50 hour half-life and is 50 times stronger than morphine..per my old pain management doctor. I ran out of an opana scrip early one time. and had some 8mg strips and tablets, and some 2mg strips...I didn't really have any withdrawal symptoms except a little yawning and stretching lol.
 
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