Safe time between shots?

[indicameds]

Hey, Ive recently relapsed on heroin. And as I sit here and keep hitting back to back, I cant get it out of my mind. Its a question Ive never stopped to ask my self or anyone else. Is there a safe ammount of time to wait? So your not goin to fast and running the risk of it building up and an overdose happening? Thanks ahead. And Im not asking for dosing advice or anything, I know my limits and everything of that nature. Just about the redosing. Thanks ahead to anyone for any help.

 

[Coraline]

I have never done H. I think we would have to know your tolerance. How long time has passed since your relapse, what was your tolerance then vs now. I hear most people over dose because they think they can do the same amount as before. How much are you doing? How often? How strong is the H? There are a lot of variables to consider.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

If you are injecting heroin (provided you are sure you have injected properly and it has gone into the vein) then you can feel the onset of effects very rapidly, within around 30 seconds, and the effects quickly peak within around 15 minutes, but waiting about 30 min before taking more just to be safe is probably best.

Of course that does not eliminate the risk of overdose, it only ensures you are feeling the full effects of the heroin before redosing so you can better gauge whether or not to take more or how much more to take.

 

[indicameds]

Hey, thanks for the input and advice guys. Its appreciated. And yes Swimming I am injecting it. I know all the round about times such as onset and peak. I was mainly just wondering if it can buildup in between shots. Like if I take .3 and my breathing gets heavy is there a certian amount of time I should be waiting before taking my next shot? Like if I take .3 and then 5 minutes later I take another point 3 is it gonna be like taking .6 where if I would of waited 45minutes before taking the next .3 then Id be ok. Im confusing myself now, but I hope you see what im trying to get at. Thanks

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Ok so here is a rough timeline of a typical IV shot of heroin (of course it can vary from person to person):

onset 0-30 seconds
peak after 15min
plateau from 30min to 2hrs
"afterglow" from 2hrs to 4hrs
end of experience around 4hrs (it will remain in your system a lot longer than that and in people who are physically dependent it will keep you from going into withdrawals for longer than 4 hrs, but 4 hrs is usually around how long the very noticeable effects/high last).


So if you take more heroin before the end of plateau period, it will be fairly close to adding that dose on top of the dose you already took. You may notice less euphoria if you are really high already and your opioid receptors are already saturated, but the risk of overdose is still there.

If you redose during the afterglow period, the risk of overdose will still be higher than if you had taken no previous heroin that day, but it is going to be lower than if you took more heroin while you were experiencing peak/plateau effects from your previous dose. If you wait until after the noticeable effects of the previous dose were gone (over 4 hrs from the injection, depending on the person), your risk of overdose is going to be much lower. I can't guarantee that you could, say, take the maximum amount of heroin you are normally capable of taking without OD'ing and be fine though. I know I've had plenty of times when I was definitely still feeling the effects of IV heroin after 4 hours or more.

The best thing to do is take smaller shots, space them out a bit and just do enough to get you feeling good instead of trying to take the max amount that doesn't cause you to OD. Trying to get as high as possible without ODing can be a very fine line and so many factors can affect the amount which would cause an OD, it fluctuates from day to day, plus the potency of the dope you're getting can fluctuate a lot. There is no precise cut-off time where taking a big dose before that point would cause you to OD while taking it after that point would guarantee you'd be fine. Err on the side of caution and pay attention to what your body is telling you. Remember you can always take more but you can't undo it if you've taken too much.