F.U.B.A.R.
Bluelight Crew
While I do get where you are coming from, there is no such thing as a 'small' heroin habit if physically dependant on daily use to negate withdrawal and while symptoms can be much more severe the heavier the aggregated amounts are that you are using, the duration of the syndrome is not usually a factor due to the short duration and half life of the drug.
I managed to get through multiple cold turkeys before I got locked in by my substitute Rx (all with inevitable relapses) and while different people react differently, I believe that my experiences were more or less consistent regardless of whether or not I had been using just one bag a day or more. It would usually take a full 24 hours from my last dose before the discomfort really began, peaking on day 3 (which on many unsuccessful occasions would be the day I cracked) or 4, before tailing off rapidly after that. I may have been luckier than some but I would find that by day 5 some sleep would be possible and that once I had managed to get a reasonable nights worth (day 5 or 6) I would be 80% there and from a physical standpoint at least, free from withdrawal symptoms by day 7.
I am sure that even with your prior experiences telling you that it drags out a little longer than it may have done with me, I am sure by day 17 you will be fine. Just make sure that you stick with it as it is too easy to slip up but hopefully extra rewarding with the trip and all.
This.
I think you'll be fine. The only opioids with a withdrawl syndrome really longer than 17 days are methadone, buprenorphine and fentanyl patches.
The later sometimes surprises people as they assume that due to fentanyls short half life, fentanyl patches should have a very short withdrawl period. In practice though, the nature of transdermal patches mean that a depot of the drug builds up under the skin which takes a long time to fully dissapate.
If you've just been using heroin then I imagine your withdrawls will be over in 7-10 days and anything still lingering past that point will be minor and you should feel yoyrself getring better every day after that.
I hope you enjoy your trip and remember, every time you go through withdrawls, it gets a little bit tougher every successive time and once you've been dependant, you get that way again after a shorter and shorter period of time with each successive period of use i.e. if it took you 2 months of continuous use to get dependent the first time round, after you've gotton clean you may find yourself becoming dependent again after only a week of continuous use... the next time after only a few days etc.etc. This really would be an ideal time to knock it on the head for good.
And this.
Never underestimate the power of opiates to plunge you into your own personal hell, regardless of opiate or size of habit.
My first rattle lasted 10 days - and that was only a 'baby habit' of a ten bag a day for a few months. It reached a peak after three days then gradually subsided for the remainder. The only reason I didn't cave in was because of work commitments which made it impossible to score (I wasn't aware of codeine CWEs or loperamide as I didn't have the benefit of resources like Bluelight). By day 10, I was feeling better, so I went and scored again. Since that time I never managed to go more than 3 days in withdrawal because as mentioned above, it gets harder everytime.
But if you can make 17 days, you should be feeling fine.