Without Heroin

personaljournalist

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
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41
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california
ive been using heroin for over a year, only smoking..and i stopped once for 3 months, went to rehab, was put on suboxone but shortly after i relapsed because i never actually did regain the "happiness" or "normality" of feeling; and here i am again, 2 weeks sober, and i still dont feel like myself at all..i'm on anti depressants (welbutrin & celexa) i was diagnosed with insomnia and given (seroquel) which doesnt work. i take suboxone occasionally but i'm not dependent on it anymore. basically this time around i half assed the process, took suboxone one day, nothing the next day, etc until i wasnt physically dependent. but how long does this emotional shit usually last? i mean i went 3 months before and never felt normal, and it sucks to know that im only 2 weeks into it this time. my family makes me go to NA meetings and i can honestly say that just makes me feel worse. it's like being uncomfortable with myself all the time. i know its that whole "warm blanket" shit where now im actually "feeling" but how long is the process generally when a sober mind starts becoming use to feeling again..:|
 
What was your emotional state of mind prior to beginning heroin ? Perhaps your expectations of sobriety are not founded in fact .
 
it wasn't bad.. i was with a girl for 4 years and she up and left me one day..a buddy of mine did heroin and we were hangin out and i was obviously depressed about this and i tried it..turns out i loved it and that was that, i never really thought i had any problems with myself and neither did anyone else, i'm a musician, good in school, have a lot of friends, get girls rather easily..its just that ive become accustomed to doing heroin every morning then automatically becoming energized and happy and kind, that now i barely want to even get up in the morning knowing i'm not going to feel that way. it's like trying to become that way normal takes me all day and by the time i actually feel decent it's time for bed again. i just want to be able to feel like i did on heroin without it, as dumb as that sounds. maybe i'm not explaining this right
 
well she banged you around badly and most ppl get their hearts broken almost as a rite of passage .
sure you loved it but someday, somehow you know in your guts that you can not go down that road again . I was a junkie before my son was born and although he never heard anything from me about my addiction he too went down to IV heroin in his early teens - he works in addiction recovery now .
If music is your passion practice practice practice - loose your self in pursuit of a goal .

After all these years, if the gear was in front of me, I believe that I would get back to chasing the dragon . That shit is that strong for us that have some kind of badly wired brains .

You stated that your life was "not that bad" prior to the god damned smack use . There is absolutely no reason that you will not return to that frame of mind with the passage of a bit of time .
Junk does a tune on dopamine or what ever controls reward, pleasure, passion up in the brain pan and it takes time for one's mind to recover after the abuse . But recover it does and I am not talking through my hat here . I consider myself rapid in healing, yet it took months to get back to living well after that shit was out of my life.

Don't despair. Your mind will heal - all of ours did. Best to you.
 
it wasn't bad.. i was with a girl for 4 years and she up and left me one day..a buddy of mine did heroin and we were hangin out and i was obviously depressed about this and i tried it..turns out i loved it and that was that, i never really thought i had any problems with myself and neither did anyone else, i'm a musician, good in school, have a lot of friends, get girls rather easily..its just that ive become accustomed to doing heroin every morning then automatically becoming energized and happy and kind, that now i barely want to even get up in the morning knowing i'm not going to feel that way. it's like trying to become that way normal takes me all day and by the time i actually feel decent it's time for bed again. i just want to be able to feel like i did on heroin without it, as dumb as that sounds. maybe i'm not explaining this right

I get 100 per cent what you mean. this is why i dont want to give up heroin and why i am contemplating whether i would lead a happier life if i stayed on it for either the rest of my life or else the foreseeable future.
 
Unfortunately it does take a while for things to steady out when stopping opiate use. It's also something that doesn't happen on its own - you have to put some work in too.

Try forcing yourself to do one thing per day that means something to you. Also accept that life will seem empty and that this is perfectly normal in your situation. I came off of heroin about 4 years ago and the longing still remains, it doesn't eat me up but it's there. I put a LOT of effort into building a new life afterwards as well - moved away from my area, made completely new friends and began to play and write music again. Now I'm half way through a nursing diploma and more settled than I think I've been in years.

What I'm saying is that it does happen with time and effort, there's definitely hope. The main thing you need to do is put some distance between you and heroin. Don't get tangled up in thoughts about never using again or whether there's a point where you could do it again, for now just stay away and lay some foundations for your new life.

It's a struggle to be sure but it also has a lot of rewards......what they are is for you to find out.
 
your story sounds similar to mine, it was a bad breakup that led to my full immersion in opiates, I haven't done heroin, mostly poppies and pills, but before the breakup my life was good. I play music professionally and even manage to make a living at it, it keeps me busy, sane, alive, but I still haven't gotten off the opiates, just tapered way down. My life is still good in a lot of ways but I still battle with that depression and feeling of emptiness and self medicate with opiates. even though I'm not off opiates I'd just try and stay busy if I were you, it's hard. I had to force myself out of bed the other morning exhausted and aching and depressed, in mild withdrawal, but I just took a bunch of immodium and a klonopin and did a recording session and amazingly felt a million times better by the end of the day. stay busy, sometimes all it takes is forcing yourself out of the house to go do something that takes you out of yourself.
 
I started binging on Oxycotin because of depression. Life has its issues and how you deal with them is up to you. Some of us go to the extreme... Oxycotin makes you instantly feel happy! And you forget about all the problems in life. I have been doing them everyday for at least 10 months. And before that it was on and off (moderation, shoulda just stayed doing that).

Well now I'm using suboxone and my mind as been so depressed. I'm trying to re-establish old hobbies and trying to find how my life was before this opiate binge started. Its so hard, today I was so fucking depressed it wasn't even funny.

You seemed to have a good life prior to your heroin use, but I can't judge, we all start for our own reasons. The thing is, is that something triggers your opiate binge, and that's the key to avoiding it, you have to find your way and means to staying sober, and its so hard. My life was pretty fucked up even without opiates, so finding my way to sobriety will be a tough challenge, but I brought this up upon myself and I'm gonna have to deal with it the best I can. I haven't even consulted drug counselors yet, but I may have to give in and surrender my pride.
 
I've been through intense periods of hardcore addiction, both exaserbations & remissions of either completly drug/alcohol free & abstinent---to the other type of remission, which I refer to as "functioning binge user." After about 3-4 months abstintence (with occasional pill popping say one week out of the month) I felt fine. The time I'd been a daily user of meth & pills for years---I got arrested & spent 17 days in jail. It was the 11th day I really started to feel better because when you're in jail, you don't realize the creature comforts you don't have while locked up, little things like shampoo & a pillow & decent mattress to sleep on.

In a way, that helped coz by the time I got out, EVERYTHING felt better, but I was done with the physical kicking. I asked God to relieve the obsession, which did happen & why I was clean 2 years. Life wasn't all hunky dorey after that, as you well know life has ways of slinging shit in your face. The wrong anti depressant fucked me up, but that's another story. Before all that--this book called "Sex, Drugs, Gambling, & Chocolate" by Dr. A. Thomas Horvath saved my ass because it explained the scientific reasons behind cravings & tools you can use that work very well. They did for me, which is why for 2 years once I stayed IV meth free for 90-120 days, took off work 5-7 days & made sure I was responsibility free, no driving, work, leaving the house for those 3-4 vacations no more than one week long.

I did my teenager (bag of speed) got wasted, recovered 2 days, went back to work & abstinence until the next vacation in 90-120 days. The tools were bomb in helping to NOT cave into a craving even when you feel like dog shit.
 
Original Poster would be a superstar patsy if some notion of gods were part or parcel of his world post addiction .
 
Try forcing yourself to do one thing per day that means something to you.

This is excellent advice and it's worked for me. One thing I highly recommend, even if it's not the "meaningful" thing you do that day, is to force yourself to go running or do intense cardio in the morning.

Some people get endorphin highs off doing weights. That never really worked for me. Surfing is perfect but it depends on location, and I also think that it's critical to choose an activity that you can engage in within an hour of waking up.

Even when I'm clean and fighting my normal depression, my motivation seeps away during the day so it's important to hit it as quickly as possible. That way, no matter how the rest of the day goes, you've accomplished one positive thing for yourself.

And that positive thing will not only be combating your depression with the endorphins it produces, but it will be re-training your brain to produce its own endorphins. So you're healing yourself from your addiction at the same time.

When I was absolutely dead-depressed and suicidal, I forced myself to go running everyday, and it made a huge difference in my life. Probably kept me alive. From a psychological viewpoint, no matter what else happened that day, I had accomplished something positive for myself.

Hopefully you're not suffering from an injury. Intense exercise is really fucking amazing at improving life after opiate addiction. If you're injured, or you're older, then take it a bit slower, but 45 minutes to 1 hour of fast breathing and sweating a day will really make you feel better.

Then start adding regular musical performance, recording, creative activities. More outdoor activities, martial arts or yoga, meditation, even walking a lot will really help to improve your post-dope life. And they'll help to keep you dope-free.

There were a few periods in my life where my life consisted of doing all of this stuff and working in a creative field. And life was pretty good.

After having suffered a couple of spells of full addiction, deaths and losses and a pretty traumatic spell of injury and re-injury and massive depression, I look at a life like that and think I'd be thrilled to be leading it after having gone through this shit.

Maybe it will work like that for you too. You've battles in front of you, but you definitely also have battles you've fought. Being addicted to dope and fighting depression isn't that easy actually. It's pretty rough. You've toughened up a bit and learned a lot about yourself I'm sure.

I wish you the best and hope that you can gain some peace and satisfaction soon.
 
I think

Im not sure but i think we need to find our excitement or what ever it is besides dope that we can look forward to and/or work towards. Find the solution to this loop-hole we are stuck in. Could be a lover or a higher power.... it doesnt really matter if it gets the juices flowing.

There is something besides dope that can satisfy us.

I have no room to talk.. im in the same boat.
 
It takes a lot more than a couple of weeks to "feel normal" once you get clean. Most of us have forgotten what "normal" feels like, so even when it does happen it's unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

What dose of Seroquel are you on? Unlike the antidepressants, anti-psychotics like Seroquel work fairly fast so if you get your doctor to adjust your dosage you should notice a difference within a couple of days. The right dose of Seroquel also lessens the intensity of your feelings, which can make it easier to get used to feeling your emotions again.

Conventional wisdom is that it takes about a year to think and feel "normally" after getting clean - that's why it's strongly suggested that you don't make major life changes in other areas for the first twelve months - but that doesn't mean there's no change and improvement during that time.

Support groups aren't always a good thing - they can become a "misery loves company" thing and make you feel worse. If that's happening for you, then you might want to look at a one on one form of support.

Don't be afraid to tell your doctor what's not working for you. Some stuff, like practising good sleep hygiene, exercising, and eating well you can only do for yourself, but your doctor has a lot of tools at their disposal which can make that easier.

When anything has been central to your life for a long time, you're going to notice its absence a lot until you find new things which are central to your life. Just as the drugs became central to your life over time and by degrees, it's going to take time for new things to take their place, but eventually you will find some other things which "click" for you and which become important to you. In the meantime, be prepared to try lots of new things and don't worry if you don't immediately find anything which brings you pleasure and satisfaction - for now your job is simply to try them.
 
ive been using heroin for over a year, only smoking..and i stopped once for 3 months, went to rehab, was put on suboxone but shortly after i relapsed because i never actually did regain the "happiness" or "normality" of feeling; and here i am again, 2 weeks sober, and i still dont feel like myself at all..i'm on anti depressants (welbutrin & celexa) i was diagnosed with insomnia and given (seroquel) which doesnt work. i take suboxone occasionally but i'm not dependent on it anymore. basically this time around i half assed the process, took suboxone one day, nothing the next day, etc until i wasnt physically dependent. but how long does this emotional shit usually last? i mean i went 3 months before and never felt normal, and it sucks to know that im only 2 weeks into it this time. my family makes me go to NA meetings and i can honestly say that just makes me feel worse. it's like being uncomfortable with myself all the time. i know its that whole "warm blanket" shit where now im actually "feeling" but how long is the process generally when a sober mind starts becoming use to feeling again..:|


I feel the same way as you do. I was an iv heroin user for quite some time and i've been off for 2 long ass months, felt like forever. I'm still waiting for the day I am able to feel "normal" again. I was prescribed loads of crap by tons of doctors but nothing really works. I was on zoloft for depression, seroquel for insomnia, 2 naxo stuff for my restless legs during withdrawal. And now I'm on Concerta for ADHD.
I tried kratom and immodium help during withdrawals because try were said to have a small opiate buzz...hell it didn't do shit to me. But idk maybe that could help you?
I like talking to other addicts and ex addicts because I feel like I'm not being judged. I suggest you looking for someone to talk to? Even on blue light. It just feels good to know someone out there understands a bit.
Oh yeah, if you want back emotions stay off the seroquels! They make you zombie like and feel no emotions!
 
Wow, this thread is incredibly discouraging. I'm an opiate addict myself who was just looking into getting myself checked in rehab tomorrow. After reading this, I feel like I have ruined my life forever by getting into opiates. If your depression is as bad as the depression I get when im in WD, then I dont think I can go through 2 months of that without blowing my brains out. I almost feel as though I'm better off staying on my opiate too to ward off depression.Sorry to be a downer OP, but I honestly wish you the best , and will soon be battling the same thing you are.
 
adubwakka..don't give up bro.
i've come a long way with a lot of problems and relapses since this post.
but right now i feel great. and ive been off heroin. trust me, it's shitty. i'm not going to lie to you.
and i know you've probably heard this a million times, but every day gets better and better.
just give it the time and the effort and i swear you will get out what you put in.

my cousin was an oxy addict for 7 years..right now hes 3 months sober and i've never seen him like this in my life since hes 10 years older than me..ive always known the standoffish irritable cousin. now he wakes up and hes in a good mood, has fun doing things i would never have fun doing without heroin..seeing him that way made me want what he had..so i'm doing it..

rehab is a waste of money unless you want to stop. if you don't want to stop you're going to get out of rehab and just start up again. this time around i have the attitude of wanting it, that was my problem the first time. i was in a really dysfunctional relationship that revolved around heroin, the girl was abusive and a total lying slut. this time around i have an amazing supportive and CLEAN girl, and my outlook is simple. I have the resources to become what i want to be. I have family in the music business, an uncle in the band pennywise, a cousin in the band neo geo, epitaph and universal records connections, I myself want to be a rapper. the past 4 years of heroin use hindered my career..i couldn't do a show without being high, i couldn't deal with managers and promoters because i didn't want to deal with talking to anyone or giving money to my producers because i would have rather spent it on heroin..but i've been promised by my musician family members that if i obtain this clarity and stay clean in my life..they will finally take me on board and make my career something more substantial. Since i've been clean i've been giving a record deal with a label that is putting out an album of mine in stores, itunes, and other online stores. I know to GET this dream, i need to KICK this demon. Find something you want in life more than anything. if you know what youre fighting for, it's easier to keep fighting. one day things will be normal, and better than ever.
just keep that in mind. opiates did ruin my life. maybe they did ruin yours as well. but remember thats only temporary..youre not going to feel that way for the rest of your life without opiates. you just need to keep your head up homie. things will fall into place.
 
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