Opioids NOW I get it, casual opiate user - NO such thing.

[Legerity]

Opiates are not some mystical category of drugs that somehow have their own laws of addiction that are different from other drugs, although the particulars may be unique to different substances. Addiction has to do with a person's relationship to a substance or activity, it is not completely based on the chemical structure of a substance although that certainly plays a role. How many people go into a hospital and get morphine for whatever reason, and then leave without ever touching it again? My friend was having leg surgery and didn't like taking the morphine because it made him drowsy. Yes, some people actually do not care for the effects of opiates. Some people prefer stimulants. Some prefer psychedelics. Etc, etc, etc.

If you take a group of opiates lovers then yes it may not be easy to find somebody who is able to moderate them but this sample is not necessarily representative of all drug users or the general population.

Any drug can be used moderately and any drug can be used heavily. And casual use of any substance is not guaranteed to just be one step in the process to addiction later on.

 

[InvisibleEye]

I've only heard about these "casual" opiate user on internet forums.

I call it the foundation of an addiction.

I've never seen anyone stay "casual" after they started off small, like tabs, etc. Always turns into a full blown addiction eventually. You're not fooling anyone but yourselves.

While I agree that all addictions started out as 'casual' use, I wouldn't go as far as saying that it *always* spirals out of control. I honestly believe that a lot of drug users aren't interested in being constantly high - for some of us, drug use remains associated with certain specific activities (music, art, etc...), and does not fatally lead to full blown addiction. As for opiates, of course, as they are extremely powerful and addictive, 'casual' use might prove way more difficult to maintain than with other drugs, but keep in mind that not everyone is in the same state of mind when they try it for the first time, and not everyone is necessarily interested in experiment it again. I just think you're generalizing a bit here.

 

[katharsis]

I've been on different prescribed opiates for around 3 years now.
First i got Tramadol, went to Tilidin and now I'm on Hydromorphone.
I've tried to have fun with them, but they're really just not my thing and whenever my pain level allows I try to skip dosing/lower the doses and use other pain medication. I even got an ulcer from too many diclofenac, so I really have to be careful now with NSAR .

After 3 years I still feel weird and unpleasant in a certain way whenever I'm "on" and the only positive effect I ever felt was reducing the pain my dissolving joints give me.
Coming down is always a mix of rising pain and at the same time feeling better as sobriety kicks in .

So yes, I guess there are people who just don't like their dope .

 

[Strongheart]

i think it just depends on the user and the amount of control they have and also what is going on in their life and what triggers them..there is alot of factors

I totally agree. It all depends on the individual. Some people have addictive personalities or other underlying factors. Ive done opiates here and there but I always made sure never to do it for more than a few days straight. I would always take days off or weeks. Its all about self control since these are physically addictive more than anything. If you keep your self control and use it occasionally you wont have a problem. I havnt had any problem with any drugs. The only drug I ever did on a daily basis for months and months on end was smoking the green...and after smoking for most of 2010 and 2011 I had to stop. July 4Th was the last time I smoked becauase I have a job I might take that requires drug testing and I also am tired of the marijuana high. All this talk about opites makes me want to get some right now lol. And if I do I wont abuse it because I know the seriousness of it all. My dad was a dope head and my ex gf was one as well. We used to do it together but it would totally piss me off how she couldnt just take a break. She had no control over her usage and it angered me because I used to enjoy sniffing it and she would always have to bang it. To each is own. I havnt done any since we broke up either. Its been a while..

 

[itsok]

What about an addict learning from his/her mistakes and gaining coping tools, but uses opiates like once a month like a period. And this person does not to use to cope emotionally or numb grief. I'd like to think it is difficult, but not impossible; and that many addicts may be casual users when they are on their way out of daily use.

It's like not all addicts will just stop one day. Probably, most addicts will transition, and use less and less, use casually, until it stops disrupting their lives or perhaps not at all (but it is just impossible to think of never ever using again- its just a set up for failure).
---
and Strongheart- i think that if i had had witnessed directly the horrors of opiate addiction maybe I would have been more careful. I know that what allowed me to be a 5 yr casual methamphetamine user and ultimately to quit was seeing how much it fucked people up, physically and mentally, and for years or a lifetime.


As a society, on a whole, we hide junkies and addicts even though they/we living in hiding in plain sight. By keeping so hush-hush, I was so naive and never exposed to addicts or addictions until I became one myself. Or maybe I would have still became an addict anyway? A little fear in context of addiction, for all drugs, especially opiates, is good and something I didnt have until it was too late.

 

[Strongheart]

and Strongheart- i think that if i had had witnessed directly the horrors of opiate addiction maybe I would have been more careful. I know that what allowed me to be a 5 yr casual methamphetamine user and ultimately to quit was seeing how much it fucked people up, physically and mentally, and for years or a lifetime.


As a society, on a whole, we hide junkies and addicts even though they/we living in hiding in plain sight. By keeping so hush-hush, I was so naive and never exposed to addicts or addictions until I became one myself. Or maybe I would have still became an addict anyway? A little fear in context of addiction, for all drugs, especially opiates, is good and something I didnt have until it was too late.

You are probably right about that, but to me it wasnt fear of addiction, it was more of knowing how people carried on as addicts and how disgusting it looks to everyone around them and how they will always choose dope as #1 and family and friends will always be #2. Thats what made me not even want to be like that.. No matter how fucked up my priorities in my life are till this day, I know I will never let any drugs be #1 in my life and putting everything else below them, to me thats when drugs just arnt fun for shits n giggles any more and they become a serious monkey on your back..

Having a dad as a junkie most of my life definately made me never want to bang it in my veins thats for sure. He was a functioning addict from the age of 16 until he was 55 years old. He finally stopped for good somehow he finally got sick and tired and moved down south and looks like a completely different person.

I just remember how embarrassing it was because I always knew when he was high and I knew that people who were keen to drugs knew he was also. Coming to pick us up from school late, all doped up, bringing us to the ghetto to cop to use us an an excuse incase he got busted for being there, oh I was just taking my kid to the store to get some potato chips or some shit...nodding out while standing up in stores and shit while my sister and I just stood there trying to get him to leave so we didnt have to deal with the stares from employees and other shoppers. He would leave us in the car and come back like an hour later...All I knew was that every day I saw him like that I never wanted to be like that.

Then when I got into Vicodens and Roxys through friends in my late 20s I really enjoyed the high but knew I needed to be responsible. I knew it was physically addicting and doing it for more than 3-4 days straight would get me physically hooked so I would only do it at night with friends or when I was home for the day relaxing not having to go to work or anything. I never liked going to work high on anything. To me there was always a time and a place and drugs and work were not a good combo at all. Seeing my ex gf start using after she told me she hadnt used since she was younger and then she met some girl at work who used to do it and that got her back into it all over again..seeing her all strung out and how she supposedly wanted to stop was even worse. I bought all the stuff to try to get her to detox and ease the withdrawl as much as possible but she didnt even try because deep down , she really didnt have the desire to stop. Then she started fucking her boss and turning tricks and it caused more and more fights and I left. I still think about her and wonder if she is ok but shell never talk to me again because she hates me for exposing her to her friends and how I reacted, and rightly so, because I told her when we first met how devastating it was having a father as a junkie and how it would crush me to have to have any other friends or family like that in my life after I finally saw my dad go away and stop and wasnt around me like that any more. It would have been easier if she just left me when she started using again instead of diong it behind my back thinking i wouldnt know.

As to the original poster, I can see how taking it recreationally can get out of control especially when you finally get an unlimited supply that insurance pays for. Its easy to let it get out of control when taking pills because it seems so harmless and clean when you dont have to snort or shoot anything. The physical part is what makes it snowball and the comfortable feeling you have when you have that cdonstant supply and no reason to want to stop. Riding that gravy train.. Good thing you did stop and got through your withdrawl and I hope you dont relapse because you will be better off and your liver and body will thank you for it.

 

[Cyc]

Yes, I feel relieved and physically better than I've felt even at the peak of the "good times" and just flushed my stash of 120 percs down the ol' toilet.

Fuck sakes

 

[verso]

I am not a drug advocate, and heroin is not a drug that I would recommend anyone try, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone experiment with any substance at all; the truth is that dependency and addiction are both very real risks that come with experimental behavior, and there is no way for a person to know for sure whether or not the substance that he or she is about to ingest will become one that he or she will soon depend upon. It's rolling the dice, spinning the wheel, putting a gun into one's own mouth, praying that the gun is unloaded and pulling the trigger. It's not a chance that I believe is ever worth taking, but we are human, and we do it anyway.

I regret trying heroin not because I have become dependent upon the substance (I haven't), not because I am now an addict (I'm not), but because I could have become dependent upon the substance and because I could have become an addict. In retrospect, it wasn't a risk worth taking, but I took it.

I can understand why one who has become an addict might like to believe that the substance is inherently addictive; it's one's weakness, a chink in the armor, and the experience is both hellish and devastating. But I see very few differences between a substance like alcohol and a substance like heroin. There are many who will drink alcohol for the first time and go on to find a place for it in their lives away and apart from the more important things (work, family, and so on...), but there are many others who will discover that alcohol is a substance they cannot find a place for in their lives without it completely taking over their lives.

The difference I find between many alcoholics and many recovering heroin addicts is that the alcoholic understands it is a weakness he or she has but than many others do not, whereas the heroin addict will shake his head to me and tell me that it's the substance, it's heroin, it's just what it does each and every time to every single user and it's not a weakness in themselves but the almighty, unbelievably addictive heroin. I just have a hard time believing that, based upon what I have read, what I have observed, and what I have experienced.

 

[What was it?]

I've only ever been to hell and back from benzo withdrawals......somehow I always keep opioids in check, despite craving them more. But at least they don;t completely knock out the CNS like benzos....so one actually realizes one is craving and abusing drugs.

 

[What was it?]

it IS the substance with heroin (at least with reasonable doses). The rush is the quintessential 'perfect moment' in this universe. I've decided to keep it for retirement so I can have some sort of normal life until then.

 

[FlyBoy81]

Yeah, I think you're wrong there man. Alcohol and opiates are both addicting substances, but they are on different levels. It's like comparing having sex with kim kardashin and Kirstie Alley or something. Sure, they're both fun and you will still get your nut, but the experience is on a whole other level.

I don't think it's appriopriate to compare alcoholics to junkies.

Oh, and to the OP, I think everyone or most people are casual opiate users....AT FIRST. That creeps up, and before you know it you're addicted. I don't feel like a lot of people get "hooked after their first hit."

Another think is, with alcohol...you have to drink a LOT, and for a LONG TIME to become addicted. Whereas with opiates, it's usually like 2-3 weeks and you're in withdrawal if you stop.

 

[laCster]

i'm a casual opiate user, but probably only because of my shitty connects lmfao...

 

[verso]

i'm a casual opiate user, but probably only because of my shitty connects lmfao...

I feel like this should be a "FML." lol

I don't know, but I have nothing more to say, really. I think that comparing the two, heroin and alcohol, is entirely reasonable because, well, some of us may prefer Kristie Alley to Kim Kardashian or Kim Kardashian to Kristie Alley; personal preference and individual body chemistry is what will ultimately decide one's drug of choice, and that's exactly what it is, one's drug of choice.

To say that heroin is a drug that no one can use responsibly and that everyone will become addicted to is like saying, "Hey, but we can all agree that Kim Kardashian is just the pinnacle of sexiness, right?" No.

 

[NeighborMike]

Im a casual user, have been for years

Other then that all i do is smoke weed, i do opiates weekend nights just to get super chill and relax while i watch TV movies or some type of sporting event. its never hindered my quality of life at all

 

[FlyBoy81]

I feel like this should be a "FML." lol

I don't know, but I have nothing more to say, really. I think that comparing the two, heroin and alcohol, is entirely reasonable because, well, some of us may prefer Kristie Alley to Kim Kardashian or Kim Kardashian to Kristie Alley; personal preference and individual body chemistry is what will ultimately decide one's drug of choice, and that's exactly what it is, one's drug of choice.

To say that heroin is a drug that no one can use responsibly and that everyone will become addicted to is like saying, "Hey, but we can all agree that Kim Kardashian is just the pinnacle of sexiness, right?" No.

Uh, it's you again....you can have her man!

 

[SkagKush]

i dont really know any casual opiate users......

 

[_mistresspoppy_]

I am a casual user... Thanks to my boyfriend. He has the pills, and he only let's me have them every few weeks. While it may annoy me that he treats me like a child, it's probably for my own good. If I had access to an UNLIMITED supply of hydrocodone, I'd do it alot more, but since I can only get ahold of 2 or 3 pills at a time, I ration them more carefully. I usually take 15 mgs hydrocodone every other weekend or so, sometimes less often, just depeneds. Does anyone know if this will make me develop a tolerance, or don't I use them often enough?

 

[SkagKush]

^ you will not build a real tolerance using once every two weeks, however you can develop a mental tolerance...what i mean is you will be very used to how 15mg feels and may require more.....

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

^ you will not build a real tolerance using once every two weeks, however you can develop a mental tolerance...what i mean is you will be very used to how 15mg feels and may require more.....

^ that could be quite dangerous if that happens.. i thought about that logic and it would ultimately eventually lead to an OD if that kept happening.
Because if the person keeps upping their dose because they require it mentally because they "get used" to the feeling, but are not physically dependent or build a tolerance physically.. they raise their dose too high once and it can lead to an OD.
I think the "getting used" to the feeling mentally would eventually turn into a physical tolerance as the user ups the dose.
I am not sure what i am getting at here, but i just figured i would share my thoughts i got when i read that.

EDIT: and i don't mean the poster you were answering because they have a controlled amount they can get, but just drug users in general that can get as much as they want and think they can control it.

 

[verso]

Uh, it's you again....you can have her man!

So she walked out on ya, huh?