H Detox

[Lone Deranger]

Hi there Bluelighters!

I've been smoking heroin for three months, one-two bags a day average. So today is my first day of my first detox, and till now i can manage perfectly the symptoms (about 24 hours since my last dose). My question is: should i expect far worse symptoms tomorrow (after 30 hours)?

Btw, i'm going cold turkey.


Thanks to everyone that makes this forum a wonderful place for information and help.

 

[neversickanymore]

Since it has been twenty four hours since your last dose.. you may be in the clear. The half life or heroin is really short and I would assume that you are experiencing the worst withdraws right now. You will likely feel around what you are feeling now for a couple days. Here is some information On H and half life, half life and detox and half life. Once you are through the withdraws then the true battle of addiction may become what you will need to focus on. Here is some info on POST ACUTE WITHDRAW SYMPTOMS or PAWS. Congratulations on taking a big step.. your habit will just increase if you go back out and you will not have such a nice detox next time. If you find you are experiencing PAWS then I would look into addiction and the ways people successfully deal with it. WAY TO GO:D

http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/morphine.htm

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/08/life-drug-detoxification.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-acute-withdrawal_syndrome


Thats a sunrise.. if it gets a little ruff remember your almost there and if you slip back into the the dark you will most likely have a much harder time of it.. hang in there you have this

 

[Sepher]

Hmmmmm, I dunno neversick, heroin withdrawal always peaked day three for me. Half-life is short but total elimination from the body I think is measured in days rather than hours, two to three days and that's where your symptoms peak IME.

Lone Deranger, that's not to say things are going to get very much worse. They may do a bit though, best be prepared for it if they do. In the grand scheme of things a three month habit is a short one, and withdrawal tends to get worse the more times you detox. First time detox, short habit, shouldn't be too bad. Withdrawal will be uncomfortable, but hopefully bearable. Certainly much, much easier than any you'd go through further down the line if you continue to use, so try and nail it now.

Are you aware of Loperamide ( Immodium )? If you find things do get worse, and begin to feel like you're not gonna get through it cold turkey and need to bail, that could be a major help to you. Should alleviate the worst symptoms, won't interfere with withdrawal or string it out overmuch. There are many, many threads on here on using it as a detox med if you search for them.

Keep us updated, let us know how you're doing. We'll support you through it as best we can between us, OK? You can get through this. Lots of us have. Good luck!

 

[neversickanymore]

The way I kinda try and guage it is figure out from the dose and half life how long till the substance is eliminated and then add on about three and a half days. Since Lone D is fortunate to be working on kicking a relatively small habit that was of a shorter duration, and as you said for the first time, I would not be surprised if he is able to get off with a little slap on the wrist this time.. I dont know how exstensive the brain would have changed in that period. If lone D is really lucky he will find that he is just a little physically dependent and not addicted at all and once he gets past the physical withdraws maybe he will not have to face an addiction. granted without knowing the size and quality of the bags it is hard to predict how long total elimination from the body will take but i guess if we just go for a gram..

half life work up for a gram at 120 minutes (2 h)

1-.5 2
.5-.25 4
.25-.12 6
.12- .05 8
.02-.01 10

IMO at ten hours he would be about clean.. so I would believe that he would be about fourteen hours into detox at this point.. If he is feeling relatively good there is a chance that his use was small enough and short enough that he did not have to many brain changes such as turning those extra opiate receptors and thus may not have anything to bad to come... If this is not the case then I he will get progressively a little worse, what do you think about sixty more hours?, and then finally feel that release. I hope he got lucky as I know you do to sepher. We shall have to see. Please keep us informed as to how you are doing Lone Deranger.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Heroin converts to morphine in the body. Morphine generally has a half-life of anywhere from ~1.5 to 7 hours depending on the person, so if you think of about 5 half-lives as the practical elimination time for a drug (97% eliminated) morphine should be pretty much eliminated by 7.5 hrs to 35 hrs. BUT that is based off of morphine and only if someone only uses it once. One study of chronic heroin users found the following average elimination time for morphine: 29.2 to 118.8 hours. The latter is almost 5 days. I think day 2-6 are the worst for most people, a peak in the severity of WD at around day 3 is very common. It of course depends on how much heroin you use, how often you normally use it, your ROA, and your individual body.

However, if withdrawal symptoms are still manageable at 24 hrs that is a very good sign, it may not get too much worse. Try not to "expect" or stress about your WD symptoms getting worse, that can be like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hang in there!

Nice sunrise neversickanymore