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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Need Help/Advice with Heroin Withdrawal

Puntr

Puntr

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
87
Location
Los Angeles
Evening Bluelight,

I first started using heroin back in Sept.'12, and at that time it was every other weekend. That soon turned to every weekend. Eventually, during my winter break from work and school, I took the plunge and it became a near every other day habit. That's since December 26, 2012. It's not February 25, 2013, and I've had enough. It's breaking me financially and I just wanna get out before it gets any worse. Problem is the withdrawals. I first attempted to go cold turkey, but that failed. So next I wanna plan a taper off method. Basically it would entail me smoking when the withdrawal symptoms get bad, and at that point smoke only enough to make them bearable, not to get high. Would something like this work? Or if I do this, am I simply delaying the true withdrawal symptoms.

Please, any advice would be really great! I start university in about 5 months, so I want to be clean by then.

FYI, my habit, once it was every other day, involved me picking up a .6 bag, and smoking it over 24-36 hours, then repeating. So for almost 2 months exactly to date, I've been smoking that much heroin. Never IV'd, I have an irrational fear of needles.
 
I would call your fear of needles rational, because they take lives and stick a rusty butter knife right through them.

My advice, quit now. You're on the right track, you start school in 5 months so you definitely need all the time you can get to be totally normalized. As for you taper plan, it can work if you are exceptionally strong willed and extremely cautious not to just get back into full use. It is pretty hard and I suspect most people cannot do it on their own. Tapering will delay the symptoms, but they will be milder after supposedly. I find tapering to be sort of useless, because it puts you into an uncomfortable state during the whole taper, and then also during the withdrawal. Cold turkey is definitely the best detox method in my opinion, its's 3-4 of severe discomfort and then it starts getting better. I would strongly recommend this, there are many techniques you can use to ease the acute withdrawal symptoms.

You smoke dope once every other day, that's not too bad. It could be way, way worse. If you absolutely can't stand the withdrawal from cold turkey, then i would suggest a short suboxone taper, starting at 1-2mgs and going down to .25mgs and then jumping off. Good luck and congrats on making the right choice.
 
Mmh...taking it whenever you need it to scare off WDs is never gonna get you off it :\
I don't think tapering off heroin with heroin is a very realistic method. Are there any less strong opiates you could have access to to do that (eg. codeine)?
So yeah, tapering with weaker opiates would be my first piece of advice, but if that isn't possible I would go CT. It'll suck for a few days but it goes away quickly and you'll be so happy to have kicked it that fast rather than dragging it out with a long and painful taper.
But I really think tapering with heroin is a recipe for failure.
Good luck!

@Crashing, don't you think going on bupe would just turn his habit into a much bigger one?
 
Kratom is the answer (+ loperamide, vitamins, standard wd best practices). When I return from work, I promise a write up on why I think you should purchase some, what it will do for you, and how much it has helped both myself and many, many other people.

A strong dose of Bali kratom tea will alleviate a good portion of your wd from that habit.

More to come.
 
Crashing said:
As for you taper plan, it can work if you are exceptionally strong willed and extremely cautious not to just get back into full use.
Click to expand...
^This. The hardest part about tapering is that it's extremely difficult to force yourself to do it. IF you can do it it will reduce the severity of withdrawals but not eliminate them.
 
I was a terminal junkie for two years straight, IV, boosting, gutters, the works,obviously with a long run up before that stretch. I'm clean now. I tried to quit via every single method, save ibogaine, that you can find online.

I will tell you this, it is worth it, it won't seem like it when you're ill but it is worth it. You'll soon realize that you feel the same or better sober than when you're maintaining. I never knew a single serious addict who tapered, especially not with dope itself. You always find an excuse to add a little extra, or rationalize taking it a bit early, if anything you may bring your habit down a bit, but probably you'll just make yourself sick.

The miracle for me was high dose loperamide. There have been dozens of threads about whether it works or not, all I know is that I quit with zero physical discomfort using it. There's no way it was placebo for me, cold turkey I would pretty much require hospitalization after 40 hours clean, with lope I barely felt uncomfortable at all.

Let me preface this in the interests of HR. There is nothing known about the effects of using loperamide in such high doses, there has been some speculation that since it resembles a molecule called MPTP it may cause Parkinsonism. All I can tell you is my circle and I used it to get clean, there were no outrageous negative effects, beyond nausea til we dosed right and being blocked up. It could also lead to bowel impaction, though I found a good dosing rhythm so that wasn't an issue for me.

Also do take it seriously, I'm new to this forum so I'm not sure if it's appropriate to discuss dosing, especially when this topic may or may not be HR depending on your point of view. I do know that a serious Heroin habit will eventually lead to death, so a method which may or may not be bad for the body is certainly a step up in my opinion.

There are lots of threads on Loperamide, I will answer any questions you have here or via PM if you like, and if the mods don't object after this post I will tell you the dosing that worked for me, and what might not be dangerous for you to take. Please post here or PM if you're going to try it. I will tell you this, I wasn't sick at all, I wasn't anxious or depressed, it was a bloody miracle.

Definitely talk to me more before taking it, there are dose ranges on the internet ranging from the ineffective to the insane. I'm here for you with any support I can give, so if I can help in any way please let me know.
 
If you're strong enough to taper off dope, with dope, then it will probably make the w/d less severe when you have to go through it. But there are very few people who are strong enough to do this. I know I'm not.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. Upon re-thinking, I decided that cold turkey is the best way to make sure I quit. I bought myself some valerian root, and a pack of loperamide (did some research on how it helps extremely for some). I also have 8 1mg ativans to use. These are the only things I have at my current disposal, and quite frankly I'm hoping it's enough to get me through these next 4-5 days.

Since I have a 9-4 office job during the week, I plan on dosing 2mg of ativans the following 3 days to hold off the anxiety I tend to get in withdrawals. Once the weekend rolls around, I can deal with the rest of the effects by just laying in bed in misery if I have to, it's mainly the work-week I gotta get through. Here's hoping that the withdrawals will be over fast. My last dose was ~6pm today, so upon waking up for work tomorrow, the hell starts.
 
^I agree CT is probably the best way to go. You sound prepared, a few OTC drugs could help as well (stuff for nausea, diarrhea, etc.). Just remember it'll only last a few days! Goodl uck :)
 
Just wanted to check in with you guys and let you know that today is the first day I woke up without any aches or pains. Still feel a little anxious, but it's loads better than yesterday (it got so bad I actually broke down and cried begging for it to stop). Now it's time to get back into my old hobbies of working out and being social again! Thank you guys so much for your input! It's greatly appreciated and even though I don't know any of you guys personally, it was nice knowing in the back of my mind that I had people cheering me on! :)
 
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