Opioids morphine addiction question

[casualdruguser]

What exactly are the negative affects of a morphine addiction if you ignore the financial aspect? What if you are very well off and money is not an issue - what exactly is the harm in regular morphine use given that you can eliminate the issue of doing illegal things and stealing and such things in order to get the money for your habit.

I can imagine that one risk is that you will damage your veins from repeated injections, but provided you are not shooting up multiple times a day and rotate your sites and live what is otherwise a normal healthy lifestyle, i am curious to know what the other issues are.

 

[dez79]

I think if u look for happiness everyday in a chemical there must be something else u r craving ,? Meh gimme morphine I'm in pain !

 

[casualdruguser]

I think if u look for happiness everyday in a chemical there must be something else u r craving ,? Meh gimme morphine I'm in pain !

Thanks for the response, but please can we keep it on topic. I am not interested in discussing reasons why one begins using morphine in the first place or whether you should or shouldnt use.

 

[sekio]

1. Tolerance eventually develops and dose escalates. Eventually you can't dissolve enough morphine in 1mL and have to do multiple doses.
2. Average person doesn't have easy access to sterile injectable morphine or 4-6 clean needles a day
3. Rebound effects will develop as soon as you develop a tolerance and these often lead to increased dose frequency
4. Morphine can constipate, often severely, at high doses.
5. Continuous opioid usage can mess with psychological reward of all sort (e.g. make you content to sit around all day eating sweets)

 

[Ruby Slippers]

Let me tell you. I know a couple of trust fund junkies. Large trust fund, like they could be doing the coolest shit in the whole world without money ever being an issue. Instead they sit in utter filth shooting up heroin everyday and never go anywhere. Sad but true story.

 

[shoo-bop]

Sekio's points about tolerance, constipation, and reduced reward sensitivity are all very pertinent. Regarding the tolerance, I'd add that the higher it is, the harder it will be to effectively medicate you for pain relief if and when you really need it. And, additionally I'll add that the hormonal effects of chronic opioid use can impair your sex drive, potentially cause infertility, reduce immune system function, reduce muscle strength, and increase your risk of osteoporosis. Chronic opioid users also have a higher incidence of heart disease, and I suspect the stress caused by the repeated cycle of intoxication/withdrawal (which could still happen in a muted way even if you were able to regularly redose) may contribute to that. The risk of overdose goes without saying, especially if you've built up a contextually-conditioned tolerance and are using very high doses, but then use in a different context that doesn't signal your tolerance response. Aside from that, the constipation is the most acutely dangerous risk, and can actually cause severe injury or death!

 

[sekio]

Oh, the last thing I was gonna say is chronic opioid use can mask the development of painful conditions or mask acute pain in such a way you allow damage to your body without noticing. High dose morphine can mask e.g. a dental infection raging out of control, and it can also supress pain enough for you to falling asleep in an awkward position and pinch a nerve or artery, for instance.

 

[shoo-bop]

Oh, the last thing I was gonna say is chronic opioid use can mask the development of painful conditions or mask acute pain in such a way you allow damage to your body without noticing. High dose morphine can mask e.g. a dental infection raging out of control, and it can also supress pain enough for you to falling asleep in an awkward position and pinch a nerve or artery, for instance.

That reminds me of a nerwspaper story I read a number of years ago about someone who fell into a prolonged sleep on high-dose opioids, and awoke to find that her pet dog had eaten part of her face!!

 

[serotonin2A]

If given free access to morphine with no oversight many addicts will find it very difficult to regulate their use. That is because the rewarding effects of each dose prime you to want to do more. So even if you are very high, often you will feel like doing even more. That drive is made even worse because tolerance builds to the euphoric effects at a greater rate than the sedative effects. Because of that, people with severe opioid addictions can cycle several times a day between being over-sedated and non-functional to being sick and non-functional when it is time to re-dose. And during the over-sedated phase, pushing the dose a bit can swing you closer to dangerous respiratory depression. The outcome is that some addicts will just sit around all day and do morphine, and they won't be able to do normal things like hold down a job. Eventually you can get so tolerant to the rewarding effects that the morphine doesn't really make you feel all that euphoric.

This assumes that you have an unending supply of pure morphine. If you are obtaining it from an illicit source then you also have to contend with periodic supply interruption, arrest, getting ripped off, getting sick because you bought weak product, buying contaminated product, or overdosing because the purity was too high.

 

[casualdruguser]

Thanks for the replies, that is good information and much appreciated. Im not well off because of a payout of some sort, but because i have a good IT job. My morphine use is limited to once a week on the weekend (maybe twice a weekend). I use most of the time with a friend of mine who has been using for many years without addiction problems. He is limited by his finances much more than me, but i look at his situation and it makes me think that it is possible to use without addiction.

It has been going on for a number of months now. I do find myself thinking about it during the week a bit, like looking forward to it, but i feel i can keep it under control and im well aware of how addictive it can be and for that reason i have a rule to myself that i wont ever use during the week because i know it could be a slippery slope.

The reason for my question isn't because i plan on getting addicted, but i was just curious because i've had a hard time finding out what the risks of regular morphine use is without it all being about addiction. Your replies are much appreciated.

Ripped off and product contamination is something i would be worried about, but my source is the friend i shoot with who has a long term source of medical grade morphine that comes in proper sealed containers

 

[smackydowners]

the risks above are all valid, but your biggest risk is addiction. the odds are majorly stacked against you or anyone else shooting opiates.

probably the biggest risk to you at present is something awful happening--a bereavement or relationship ending etc.--and you getting the urge to obliterate the pain with morphine.
just because you're cool now doesn't mean anything. no-one ever plans on getting addicted. if you want to keep your job and your life, id get out now. you've had fun, right? so maybe quit whilst you're ahead.

and sorry, i don't mean to sound like a righteous cunt, but you really are playing with fire, and the fact that you more than likely won't take one bit of notice of me speaks wonders about how much of a dicey dicey group of drugs opiates are.

 

[pbuilder]

the risks above are all valid, but your biggest risk is addiction. the odds are majorly stacked against you or anyone else shooting opiates.

probably the biggest risk to you at present is something awful happening--a bereavement or relationship ending etc.--and you getting the urge to obliterate the pain with morphine.
just because you're cool now doesn't mean anything. no-one ever plans on getting addicted. if you want to keep your job and your life, id get out now. you've had fun, right? so maybe quit whilst you're ahead.

and sorry, i don't mean to sound like a righteous cunt, but you really are playing with fire, and the fact that you more than likely won't take one bit of notice of me speaks wonders about how much of a dicey dicey group of drugs opiates are.

It's true, when I was in major denial about my growing habit I woulda scoffed at your post thinking you were full of shit. But that's the insidious opiates already fucking with logical thought process. Some how they make you believe you're the 1 percent that won't get addicted. Honestly, if your using every weekend, you are already not that 1 percent OP. Check yo self before ya wreck yo self. - cube of ice

 

[BeachBum4u]

Heck, you just about described the life of a pain management patient (PMP). Regular supply via 30-day scripts, use everyday of the year, regular supply, no real financial damage (hopefully one has an insurance card) and no need to do anything illegal. However, I won't address the injection issues because someone in PM would never be injecting the drug (in theory). In this circumstance, the drug would do little harm in all reality but the tolerance issue could become very real. A doctor may periodically be willing to raise your dosage based on your feedback and his knowledge of the drug but at some point he'd have to put a halt to repeated increases. Then you'd have to be good with where you are. I just thought it was interesting how what the OP described and what a PMP deals with aren't too different.

 

[d1ahp]

It has been going on for a number of months now. I do find myself thinking about it during the week a bit, like looking forward to it, but i feel i can keep it under control and im well aware of how addictive it can be and for that reason i have a rule to myself that i wont ever use during the week because i know it could be a slippery slope.

The reason for my question isn't because i plan on getting addicted...

This was pretty much how I thought of it before I got addicted.

It was Friday night only thing at first, which slowly spread to Friday and Saturday, then Sunday. Then one of those weekends you have a hard time lifting off on Monday, so you do a little shot. Perfect. You tell yourself you'll definitely limit your use from now on, since you were never supposed to do it in the beginning of the week. And you actually might halt for a bit. But then you give into it and allow yourself to cross your boundaries more and more since it never seems like there are any actual consequences to your use. Then one day you find yourself calling in sick to work because you went a little too hard for a couple of days in a row and now you're withdrawing. Slowly the need for instant gratification grows stronger and stronger, and the distorted reality becomes the necessity to be free.

The sad thing is that, anyone trying to warn you comes off as a smug asshole. They did to me.

 

[DubbyCee]

If given free access to morphine with no oversight many addicts will find it very difficult to regulate their use. That is because the rewarding effects of each dose prime you to want to do more. So even if you are very high, often you will feel like doing even more. That drive is made even worse because tolerance builds to the euphoric effects at a greater rate than the sedative effects. Because of that, people with severe opioid addictions can cycle several times a day between being over-sedated and non-functional to being sick and non-functional when it is time to re-dose. And during the over-sedated phase, pushing the dose a bit can swing you closer to dangerous respiratory depression. The outcome is that some addicts will just sit around all day and do morphine, and they won't be able to do normal things like hold down a job. Eventually you can get so tolerant to the rewarding effects that the morphine doesn't really make you feel all that euphoric.

This assumes that you have an unending supply of pure morphine. If you are obtaining it from an illicit source then you also have to contend with periodic supply interruption, arrest, getting ripped off, getting sick because you bought weak product, buying contaminated product, or overdosing because the purity was too high.

Serotonin is spot on! Depending where you are getting the morphine from, you will have to deal with the people in the drug game and also run the risk of getting caught. You can inject all day every day and not mess your veins up if done accordingly. When reading your post it made me think of myself for a second (not bragging or anything like that) but I'm well off and I'm prescribed heavy stuff fentanyl 50mcg patch (48hrs) Xanax 2mg (2x a day) oxycodone 20mg (2x a day) which I've been doing for almost 10 years now. You get a tolerance quick!! You want to achieve that high you first got and then the next thing you know you're almost out of meds and you don't see the doctor for a couple more weeks. Then that is when you resort to the streets. Plus, the biggest negative of it all is you become a slave to this drug and have to have it just to get out of bed.

DC

 

[Erikmen]

Couldn´t agree more.

 

[Treefa]

What exactly are the negative affects of a morphine addiction if you ignore the financial aspect? What if you are very well off and money is not an issue - what exactly is the harm in regular morphine use given that you can eliminate the issue of doing illegal things and stealing and such things in order to get the money for your habit.

I can imagine that one risk is that you will damage your veins from repeated injections, but provided you are not shooting up multiple times a day and rotate your sites and live what is otherwise a normal healthy lifestyle, i am curious to know what the other issues are.

1.) If your not broke, idk WHY the fuck anybody would inject.....you won't be around to enjoy the wealth that makes you wealthy enough to indulge a morphine habit without ever missing a dose, lol.

2.) EVENTUALLY after a few years, morphine alone will not be enough to give you the fleeting feelings of satisfaction it ONCE provided, and you'll have to start throwing some cocaine in with your morphine, and after a few more years you'll have a heart attack/stroke.
Easy way to die, hard way to live...

3.) Alas, when your brain is SOOO fucked up, the only motivation you have will, indeed, be more morphine, and as much as I LOVE morphine, it too will let you down, no different from any other drug/person/thing.

4.) Last but not least, HYPERALGESIA, morpine may begin to WORSEN your pain instead of helping (at this point any "high" will be long gone), and you'll probably decide to go the way of Kurt Kobain..


MODERATION, is key, with everything, not just narcotics , every damn thing you do in this life MUST be done in moderation.

 

[wezface]

Oh, the last thing I was gonna say is chronic opioid use can mask the development of painful conditions or mask acute pain in such a way you allow damage to your body without noticing. High dose morphine can mask e.g. a dental infection raging out of control, and it can also supress pain enough for you to falling asleep in an awkward position and pinch a nerve or artery, for instance.

Or fracture a metatarsal at work and don't notice until it's healed improperly something like two years later.

True story.

 

[johnloperamide]

I think that everyone thought like you at some point, that they would not get addicted and that they would keep it once, twice a week... I had my rule with hydro where I could only use a max of 2 days in a row and then wait 5 days minimum... and guess how that ended?.. Maybe you'll be able to control it for a while but eventually like someone else mentioned something bad will happen in your life and you instinct to deal with that stress, that pain will be to use morphine, it is that simple... just like I'm sure you've gotten drunk after getting hurt by someone sometime, you WILL do the same but with this crap...

I failed on quitting PST twice now and I am now on day 5 and I feel like I've finally made it but the first time I failed was because the very same day I had decided to quit and had prepared everything to do so, I received some bad news about someone I cared a lot about moving to another city and my first reaction was to get high all fucking week for basically 2 weeks till now this week I finally stopped....

The fact that you have asked this question is proof of your doubts in managing your habit, you have already admitted you look forward to during the week and it is only a matter of time till stress makes you dose all the time... I also I am thinking about using PST only every once in a while after I detox so YES, I am full of shit as I'm writing this but it's easier to be logical when you talk about someone else, we are all still right though... You SHOULD stop, but of course you won't list to us and nor will I listen to my own advice to you

 

[dez79]

Man takes drug , drug takes drug , drug takes man ...oldie but a goodie , I would love to be "drug free " but my bad knee won't play the game so morphine makes life bearable . whatever gets you threw mate best wishes