Casual opiate user to daily IV in just three short weeks

[JustferFun]

I love being opiated and have been a recreational opiate/ opioid user for years (pills, pods, tramadol, kratom, insufflated heroin). Even as a "recreational" user, though, I still have been through several mild/ moderate withdrawals. Maybe I'm just a notch above recreational status.

Anyways, long story short, I met a girl who is a full blown addict (although I didn't know that from the start). We were attracted to each other and, naturally, things progressed. I have always had a healthy respect for the power of opiates and would never go more than two days of snorting heroin. I was deathly afraid of addiction and withdrawal.

Next thing you know, BOOM, I'm shooting heroin for 3 weeks straight, using cocaine as an appetizer!

This girl was basically living in my apartment, so the shit was around me all the time. I would never have imagined a scenario where I'd be snorting, much less shooting, heroin for that many days in a row.

Snorting that shit is useless after about two days, IMO. I don't know how people can afford a daily "up the nose" heroin habit. I'm not uncomfortable with needles so I decided to just do it because snorting was becoming pointless.

Honestly, there wasn't that much of a difference as far as I was concerned. The initial rush of IV is nice but it's not like a huge difference, overall. Other than a difference of a few minutes of onset, it's the same effect. I just wanted more bang for the buck.

Anyways, it's amazing how fast the days piled up. It's all kind of a blur now. By the end, I kept doing it because withdrawal started to set in and I started with the very dangerous thought process of "what's one more day at this point?" I'm disappointed in my total lack of discipline. I'm currently going through withdrawal but it's being helped a lot by Maeng Da kratom. It could actually be a lot worse.

That's basically it. Just wanted to share my experience. Heroin is as powerful as I always thought, but this time I fucked up majorly and didn't give due respect. The girl situation was the difference maker here. I don't blame her for the situation, but my self control and judgment are a bit diminished when the opposite sex is involved!

 

[dankhead88]

Can you please edit that for Bluelight? SWIM isn't used and is often discouraged here and offers no protection from the law.

Other than that, heroin will do that. I've been through withdrawal quite a bit off of heroin. Some mild, some severe. If you can get some days off work or school, treat it like the flu or some stomach fucking food borne illnesses. Give yourself fluids and food and take some immodium ad for diarrhea and some NSAIDs for some pain management. I will give you a warning. The restless leg syndrome part is the hardest part about the withdrawal in my opinion. But if you're prepared and become sober again, you can either

A. stay clean
B. Chip
C. back to dependency

It will be harder to chip once you've experienced addiction.

but that's what I do. Everyone has their own ways of becoming clean or fighting withdrawal.

 

[JustferFun]

Can you please edit that for Bluelight? SWIM isn't used and is often discouraged here and offers no protection from the law.

Other than that, heroin will do that. I've been through withdrawal quite a bit off of heroin. Some mild, some severe. If you can get some days off work or school, treat it like the flu or some stomach fucking food borne illnesses. Give yourself fluids and food and take some immodium ad for diarrhea and some NSAIDs for some pain management. I will give you a warning. The restless leg syndrome part is the hardest part about the withdrawal in my opinion. But if you're prepared and become sober again, you can either

A. stay clean
B. Chip
C. back to dependency

It will be harder to chip once you've experienced addiction.

but that's what I do. Everyone has their own ways of becoming clean or fighting withdrawal.

Sorry about the SWIM thing. I haven't posted here for a very long time. Is that in the FAQ?

EDIT: Fixed

 

[dankhead88]

Nah but definitely check out the FAQ. I think this thread I got some info for last time. Bunch of useful stuff and hang in there mate.

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/569872-The-Opioid-Withdrawal-Megathread-and-FAQ

 

[Johndoedoe.junk]

The restless leg syndrome part is the hardest part about the withdrawal in my opinion.

As far as the restless legs I've found that potassium helps me with this. Try popping a couple potassium pills or eat a banana or two if you can keep it down. Benzos can help calm down the anxiety portion if you're experiencing that and also can help with the sleeplessness but don't overdo it on the benzos or you'll likely have some rebound anxiety to deal with once you're through plus you don't want to add another dependency to the list. Good luck to you.

 

[simco]

...
you can either

A. stay clean
B. Chip
C. back to dependency

It will be harder to chip once you've experienced addiction.

but that's what I do. Everyone has their own ways of becoming clean or fighting withdrawal.

dankhead, i'm curious about your experience with chipping after addiction (that's where i'm at right now). how long have you been able to keep your H use to a level that doesn't induce physical dependence? any tips on pulling this off? personally, i've been holding myself to a rule that at least 3 days need to elapse between using. seems to be working, though i know it will almost surely go south eventually. also, i don't let myself IV.

most discussions of chipping that i've seen are dominated by warnings that heroin is all but impossible to use without developing an addiction (and rightly so). for the most part, those discussions are also aimed at people who aren't experienced with smack. i'm curious to hear/discuss chipping for folks who have already had a habit.

 

[VMC75088over]

What is the meaning of SWIM ? why is it not used ?

 

[simco]

SWIM stands for "someone who isn't me," and it's used on some forums in place of "I". for example: "SWIM wants to try heroin" vs "I want to try heroin." It's typically used in hopes that it will help the author avoid self-incrimination when discussing illicit behavior. But as noted in the Bluelight User Agreement (http://wiki.bluelight.org/index.php/Bluelight_User_Agreement_(BLUA)), it doesn't have any legal effect and makes posts read awkwardly.

 

[dankhead88]

dankhead, i'm curious about your experience with chipping after addiction (that's where i'm at right now). how long have you been able to keep your H use to a level that doesn't induce physical dependence? any tips on pulling this off? personally, i've been holding myself to a rule that at least 3 days need to elapse between using. seems to be working, though i know it will almost surely go south eventually. also, i don't let myself IV.

most discussions of chipping that i've seen are dominated by warnings that heroin is all but impossible to use without developing an addiction (and rightly so). for the most part, those discussions are also aimed at people who aren't experienced with smack. i'm curious to hear/discuss chipping for folks who have already had a habit.

Keep it on the weekends or days off. Although my main ROA is IV. It's harder to pull off and I've slipped up a little. I don't mind withdrawing on the weekends, as long as it's not too severe yet and I have the freetime for myself. My mistake is adding meth to the mix and it's damn near impossible to not use meth occasionally, but that shit's compulsive and I couldn't fall asleep without a sedative and unfortunately I only had heroin at hand for meth comedowns, which lately, became a habit of meth in the morning, small doses of both midday, heroin at night. When the weekend comes though, I'm ready to fight my illness with any OTC meds I can throw at, but yeah, I was IVing heroin twice every week whilst staying sober and working out on the weekdays. I CAN maintain heroin, I CAN'T maintain meth comedowns on a business day. I've had .3 heroin last me for 3 weeks as long as you tell yourself that

1. You don't want to get a tolerance and dependency again
2. You don't want to experience the pain of severe withdrawal again
3. You don't want to spend money everyday on dope just to feel normal
4. You would rather use it to reward yourself rather than to maintain yourself.

It's all perspective. My other philosophy is if I've been using on the weekdays, I get off on the weekends and then start next weekend if I want to. Believe it or not, I can become sick with half a gram of dope unopened, because logically, I know if I use it, it's only going to get worse and tapering takes forever for something that wasn't too long of a habit. Meth I feel is a trickier drug to quit. You use it and you'll be wired until the next day, but then you won't feel good to work, so you use more and somehow manage to get sleep, only to feel lethargic and mixed up with fog and sloppiness. I find meth much more destructive than heroin, because a weekend use of meth = a very tiring and unfathomable work week until you get some shards, but once you crash and get all the sleep you can get, you're good to go again unless you've really used a fuck ton with having no care for your body. 2 days of meth = 3 whole days of sleep/rest

As for mild to moderate opiate withdrawals, I look at them as sick days. Bed rest, fluids, OTC medications.

It's not the quitting part that's hard. When you have a job, it's to find the time to quit that's the hard part.

Best of luck to you simco and don't ever lose track of how much you're doing.

 

[VMC75088over]

Thanks Simco

 

[simco]

dankhead,
thanks for outlining that. i totally agree that keeping track of how much dope i'm taking is crucial to keeping the genie in the bottle. of course it's tricky with street drugs due to purity variation, etc. still, i try really hard not to let the dosage inflate.

i totally believe what you're saying about meth. never done it myself. but being that stimulated for that long seems fuckin exhausting!

take care.