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Needle Obsession Advice

60units

60units

Greenlighter
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
40
Location
Richmond, Virginia
As many people who inject their drugs know, the chemical addictions aren't all that makes quitting tough. Many users develop a bit of a relationship with their means of administration. Just like a lot of pot smokers name their pieces and treat them as a familiar friend, some of us are obsessed with the needle.

Once the withdrawals and cravings have somewhere subsided, this distraction remains and can be a big factor in relapse. Does anybody have tips or advice on how to overcome this? I recently went to college and have decided I need to keep heroin out of my life but I'm finding it harder and harder to stop thinking about shooting something up.

I used the search function and found lots of threads talking about the needle "addiction" but very little advice on what to do about it. If I missed something a link to an old thread would be much appreciated.
 
i know exactly what you are talking about, when i think about getting high, i think about flicking the rig in the light to make sure there is nothing but that wonderful yet horrible brown liquid. and seeing the blood come into the syringe.

well IMO there is not much you can do to overcome it. it just takes a willings to quit using. with that you know what the syringe will bring, well not the syringe itself but you know what im saying. over time the obsseion, will turn into thoughts, and those thoughts will just make you laugh about how bad the obsession made you become.
 
This is not an easy task see I didn't use needles but sniffed alot of opiates. Many times I will step into the closet (where I did the stuff) and think there's something there waiting for me. But I'm done with it and still feel strange if that makes any sense. :(
 
its hard, im constantly thinking about needles. with time it gets a bit easier though
 
it's part of the brain's reward system. Needles = pleasure after a bit of decent IV use. Plus nerves & vessels start to shrink away from the surface, and it doesn't hurt much when tapping spots done repeatedly before.

yeh gotta break the reward-cycle. When cravings hit, do something else pleasurable so your brain starts to associate that particular activity with pleasure.... rather than heroin & your works.
 
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Needle obsession is the worst. When i quit but was still on drug testing i once but a rig only to see myself register and not shoot any drugs!
its the worst fucking obsession ever. I know how u feel man everything used to remind me of a needle even holding a pencil in my hand....
Trust me on the fact that it gets much easier i got about 6 months and i though i still think about it i dont get obsessed and shaky and shit.

whenever you think of a needle just immediately think of your last withdrawl and not the fuckin high that came after or change the topic, if u dwell on the idea, which at first seems like a good thing to do, itll be worse so changes your thought track soon as u start thinking about rigs.

in the restaurant i worked at this summer a frequent customer would shoot his insulin right by the window table like 2xs a week... IT killed me everytime seeing a rig... i just wanted to bounce work and get some shit.
You just gotta know your stronger than that shit, think about something else if needels appear in your head,and know that its gets easier!
 
Coincidentally, I just spent the night at a friend's father's house last night....

He's 48, looks 60, recovering junkie (long time clean) and Type 1 Diabetic. He had spikes all over the place! If we had known each other better, I'd ask him how he does it, but I'd just met him.

So, obviously, it can be done.
 
I thought I was a bit of a freak, having this needle obsession. Thank you Bluelighters for helping me realize I am not alone in this obsession. I do think that we've got an excellent group here that has provided some very good advice. ;)
 
to be honest i have not shot up in about 3 years and that was only a slip up. i havent been on a shooting binge in 6 yeaars next month being my aniversary off the rigs. i know exactly what u mean for me it was seeing the blood come in when i pulled back. disgusting i know but it still gives me butterflies just thinkin about it. it gets easier over time but i still dream about it sometimes to this day. i dont think the thoughts will ever go away i just do a lot of praying. and i can not look at a needle at all for any reason whatsoever. these thhoughts will dim over time though i promise but i dont think they will evry b truly gone, good luck and god bless
 
I know exactly what you mean. I don't crave drugs anymore, just needles. It's been three years since I last shot up and I still miss it. Getting tattooed really helps me, it hurts so bad that I don't want a needle to touch me ever again but the end result is so much prettier than getting high.
 
Intravenous drug use is a highly ritualized behaviour, and, after time, the ritual becomes just as important as the drug itself. I would shoot water or saline into my arm if it was all I had in the house, just to get a needle high. I always shot up in the same place, the half-bath on the first floor of the house I lived in at the time. Sometimes when I didn't have any drugs I would go into the bathroom and shut the door, deriving some pleasure from it. I stopped using five years ago, but it's only been four since the last time I shot up.

All I can say is that it does get easier. Part of my job involves handling needles, drawing blood, and giving injections, and it's really unusual for me to get a trigger from a needle.
 
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