• The Dark Side 💕 Welcome Guest 💕
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads Urgent Hotlines
    Bereavement Mindfulness
    Suicide Support Anger Management
  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Looking like an Addict. Lifestyle v. DOC v. All drugs

Cohesion

Cohesion

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
1,069
Location
Portland, OR
Why can I detect if someone is an addict by the look on their face?

How can I get this "addict essence" out of my own face?
 
I think it can be harder than alot of people think to see if someone is a abuser or addict by thier face. its usually thier appearence. Dress nice and clean up and i doubt anyone will peg you as a addict. Get enough sleep so you dont have bags under your eyes and don't go out if your eyes are gonna give away that your high out of your mind. I use drugs heavily but no one expects me to be "that guy" and are shocked when i tell them.
 
stop doing drugs?

when i stopped, my face started to change, I don't have that scruffy look anymore. I have no track marks, etc.etc..

if all else fails wear make-up
 
It's more of an essence. It sounds pseudo-sciency, but guesses hit close.

I don't think I'm as beautiful as I could/should be. And I look older.


[[Mostly, I take pharms (sometimes overusing, all prescribed).]]

*****
A similar thing can be noticed in cigarette smokers and alcoholics. Even sharply dressed, I think I can detect someone's drug use with small margin of error
 
Sometimes you can just sense it from somebody because you've been through it too, it's more intuitive. Heavy drug users can develop a sickly appearance but this could be caused by any number of other things as well.

Eating enough food and sleeping can do magic.
 
You can also tell if someone does opiates by their finger nails. The scars remain even after you get clean. Can't hide those from me and I can't hide mine.
 
TINK said:
You can also tell if someone does opiates by their finger nails. The scars remain even after you get clean. Can't hide those from me and I can't hide mine.
Click to expand...


Fingernails? What on earth do u mean, like long or dirty?? I use/abuse opiates & i've never forgotten to keep mine looking fine. Peculiar comment imo.
 
TINK said:
they will have ridges and large nail beds.
Click to expand...

I have had ridges on my nails all my life, long before I ever injested a single opiate of any type. I inherited them from my mother, who most definitely is not now, nor has ever been, addicted to opiates. Where did you hear this???
 
I think an addict can tell an addict, because we know the behavior so well, its built in us. I can spot weird mannerisms or marks that I recognize in myself on other addicts. And there's smells as well...

When I was using my face turned grey, I was underweight, I was always shaking, I was sweaty a lot, I got weird bruise-looking things on my body from poor circulation, my eyes just looked exhusted... I probably had weid breath from smoking drugs and my mood was bizarre ad unpredictable. I once had a homeless person tell me to lay off the drugs.
 
This is all bullshit. If you take good care of your self. Sleep ,eat and dress nice. You won't look like a opiate user at all. With stims it's a differant storry though.
 
i can usually tell an opiate user from clothes/lack of hygiene but not all opiate users are unclean....i know a lot of people in my area are heavy stim users tho and i can tell by their face. they have drawn in cheeks, eyes seem to pop out of their head...bad skin
 
Hmm i rarely actually look like a addict unless im in serious withdrawal then ya i look like your stereotypical junkie from any movie. But then again i could just have a really bad flu ya know ;)

Even during my worst bouts of opiate addiction where i was shooting up about 6 times a day i never really let myself go. I always ate (unless i was in bad withdrawal) so i never got skinny to the point where anyone would say it was unhealthy, i never neglected my hygine (unless in bad withdrawal), i don't dress like a druggie (again unless im in bad withdrawal then it's whatever clothes that arent soaked in sweat), etc. So unless im in withdrawal the only tell tale signs of me being on opiates are the pin point pupils and the sorta depper rougher "junkie voice" i get when using alot.

When i was a alcoholic i looked really bad sometimes though. Way too skinny, i looked alot older at 21 then i do now at almost 29, bags under my eyes from never sleeping enough or getting the right sleep and i just looked plain unhealthy. Also after binges on stimulants (coke/crack or dextroamphetamine) i can look a proper mess too.
 
xpensivtaste said:
i can usually tell an opiate user from clothes/lack of hygiene but not all opiate users are unclean....i know a lot of people in my area are heavy stim users tho and i can tell by their face. they have drawn in cheeks, eyes seem to pop out of their head...bad skin
Click to expand...

Ugh.. this hits close enough to home.

I'm not a heavy stim user (don't do coke, and there's no speed where I live), but have been known to take large doses of Adderall.

I've lost about 20 lbs since I started 8 months ago, and make a real effort to keep my face plump, not drawn in. And meditation keeps helping with relaxing my eyes so they don't pop.

Getting back into health ftw.

@Android: Looking a proper mess 8) and Of COURSE I will show up for family Christmas after 2 days of no sleep. Dressed WELL. There ya go.

(LOL@ getting called out for it and being surprised I didn't pull it off.)
 
Last edited:
You can't tell and please don't tell me you can. You likely just assume that a lot of insecure/shady looking people are on drugs, and maybe got lucky once or twice actually identifying addicts.

But if I showed you 20 pictures, with addicts randomly mixed in, I guarantee you couldn't pick out more than 10% of them. I'm not trying to be mean I mean just listen to what you're saying. Addiction has A LOT of parallel side effects that can be associated to a long list of other disorders. I do think sometimes they have similar behavoirs, but those behavoirs can be caused by too many other things.
 
I think it all depends on how you look after yourself while high. Hygiene/eating right.
For most junkys thats the last thing on their mind. Its alot easier to spot a meth head than opiate addict, unless their on mmt! bye bye clean skin &pearly whites
 
pillzcrusher said:
I think it all depends on how you look after yourself while high. Hygiene/eating right.
For most junkys thats the last thing on their mind. Its alot easier to spot a meth head than opiate addict, unless their on mmt! bye bye clean skin &pearly whites
Click to expand...

Thats a huge fucking generalization don't you think? Also why would someone addicted to methamphetamine be on MMT and how would that make them look like less of a meth addict?
 
^the above (pillzcrusher) said unless the opiate addict was on mmt, not the methamphet. addict.

Anyway, no one would ever guess I was a drug addict - UNLESS they saw me right now, in withdrawal. Then, it's evident. I look like all hell. When using (all day everyday... it's been many years now), I look like any other 'non user'. ;) If anything I'd say it's not in your appearance but in 'what you do'. Less trips to the bathroom (depending on substance, etc), doing certain body movements, etc, or having certain things around the house, or in the refrigerator (grapefruit juice only, for example, ha!).

I'd definitely argue with anyone who said they can always (as, you can't) spot an addict. Some?, yes. All, no.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top