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Cocaine Trying to help a dying buddy get off Crack

acklac7

acklac7

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
1,861
Hey all,

One of my buddies made some bad decisions a few years back and has spent the last five years on the streets. He’s now in the end stages of congestive heart failure, and is near death.

Lately he has been getting aggressive and anxious and I thought it was due to lack of nicotine, but today he finally admitted it was due to lack of crack (he’s been denying he’s using drugs for the past two years...)

At any rate he’s been clean for three weeks , and he says the physical addiction is now overwhelming. He says that a 20 rock of crack will do him fine, and that he’s not going to go abusing it he just wants to smoke it once.

I’m afraid if I turn him down he’s going to go back to the streets and wind up dead within a month. Literally it took the guy 10 minutes to climb a flight of stairs when he got released from the hospital a week ago.

What do I do?
 
Unusual situation. A dying crack head wants more crack; does one provide it?

I dunno. How near death is he? Meaning is it certain? Imminent?

For usually younger users there is a certain type of cocaine-induced heart damage called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (also called "broken heart syndrome" because, aside from crack users, it is only usually seen in hysterical women). This is usually pretty manageable. If he's older who knows what it is. I'm guessing he's older and its more complicated than that.

Would i give a rapidly dying man crack if he wanted? Absolutely. Would I give a slowly dying man crack? Probably not. Maybe though. What's clear is if you do he will die faster. Its up to you to decide how fast it is and if its warranted to speed it up to alleviate some discomfort.

The thing to understand is that you don't smoke crack just once. A single 20 rock is like one chip from a bag of potato chips, no one eats just one. A single rock of crack is nothing but a tease. Crack cocaine is nothing but a tease, youre just trying to recreate that first rock.

Still i wouldn't be above it personally if it were a particularly terminal case facing imminent death.
 
I don't think I could give a man in that scenario more crack. Like Negrogesic said, no one does crack once. Unfortunately it sounds like crack has been the main contributor to his current situation and giving him crack is likely to make his condition much worse or possibly kill him.

Sounds like he's at the apex of his addiction and nothing will satisfy him except more crack. It's an awful scenario and he probably won't listen to reason at this point.
 
Yeh, no one is ever satisfied with just 'one more hit'.

You said that "the physical addiction is now overwhelming". Did you mean the psychological addiction? If he's telling you that he's physically addicted he's lying. If he's really been clean for three weeks then he doesn't need that shit anymore. I personally would advise not helping him in his quest. If he's going to do it, he'll do it without your help - there's no need to make you an accomplice.
 
i gave a dying man his last cigarette. i was in hospital, on the smoking terrace, he and presumably a relation came up and his relation explained the situation so i had no reason not to believe.

i have never regretted that. its not down to me to deny a someone one of their final pleasures.

so i completely agree with negrogesic, it depends on what he means.

tbh though, i have been insanely addicted to crack and i would say anything to convince whoever i was with to let me use. if there's a chance he can survive if he stops smoking then you shouldn't give it to him.
 
negrogesic said:
Unusual situation. A dying crack head wants more crack; does one provide it?

I dunno. How near death is he? Meaning is it certain? Imminent?

For usually younger users there is a certain type of cocaine-induced heart damage called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (also called "broken heart syndrome" because, aside from crack users, it is only usually seen in hysterical women). This is usually pretty manageable. If he's older who knows what it is. I'm guessing he's older and its more complicated than that.

Would i give a rapidly dying man crack if he wanted? Absolutely. Would I give a slowly dying man crack? Probably not. Maybe though. What's clear is if you do he will die faster. Its up to you to decide how fast it is and if its warranted to speed it up to alleviate some discomfort.

The thing to understand is that you don't smoke crack just once. A single 20 rock is like one chip from a bag of potato chips, no one eats just one. A single rock of crack is nothing but a tease. Crack cocaine is nothing but a tease, youre just trying to recreate that first rock.

Still i wouldn't be above it personally if it were a particularly terminal case facing imminent death.
Click to expand...

End-Stage congestive heart failure. Terminal. He's sick. Really sick.

I would say he's definitely slowly dying, although things have been rapidly picking up the pace the last 6 months.

I sort of figured that was the case with crack, like that's what I've always heard, you can't just smoke it occasionally. It's always more more more.
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Yeh, no one is ever satisfied with just 'one more hit'.

You said that "the physical addiction is now overwhelming". Did you mean the psychological addiction? If he's telling you that he's physically addicted he's lying. If he's really been clean for three weeks then he doesn't need that shit anymore. I personally would advise not helping him in his quest. If he's going to do it, he'll do it without your help - there's no need to make you an accomplice.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I wasn't sure if there was a Physical addiction or not. I'll talk to him about it.
 
falsifiedhypothesi said:
Unfortunately it sounds like crack has been the main contributor to his current situation and giving him crack is likely to make his condition much worse or possibly kill him.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine him surviving so much as a mild 24-hour bender at this point. His testicles are the size of a grapefruit due to fluid retention issues. He's in rough shape.

I'm ok with him getting high, like just once a day, but I'm terrified he's going to go on a bender whilst on the streets, and die.
 
negrogesic said:
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (also called "broken heart syndrome" because, aside from crack users, it is only usually seen in hysterical women).
Click to expand...
Just want to correct this, Takotusubo cardiomyopathy occurs for lots of reasons. It’s not common for just women although they are more susceptible. It’s caused by release of stress hormones (catecholamines) which basically interrupt the proper functioning of the heart. This can happen through divorce, losing a partner, opioid withdrawal, cocaine use and even good events like marriage or big surprises.

In response to the OP, I know if I was dying I would want whatever the fuck was gonna make me happy and less stressed even if it killed me quicker. I wouldn’t want a slow death, I’d go out with a bang.
 
cracks not good though. ☹

Unless, it's your last crack.

uh do i have to use emoti,
would prolly help 😉
 
PrincessDiz said:
Just want to correct this, Takotusubo cardiomyopathy occurs for lots of reasons. It’s not common for just women although they are more susceptible.
Click to expand...

Don't want to derail this much further but according to a HMS publication on the subject:

"More than 90% of reported cases are in women ages 58 to 75."

(Though i don't believed its discussed here there appears to be a link between estrogen and it's occurance.)

www.health.harvard.edu

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (broken-heart syndrome) - Harvard Health

Broken heart syndrome occurs when someone experiences sudden acute stress, which can weaken the heart....
www.health.harvard.edu www.health.harvard.edu
 
negrogesic said:
Don't want to derail this much further but according to a HMS publication on the subject:

"More than 90% of reported cases are in women ages 58 to 75."

(Though i don't believed its discussed here there appears to be a link between estrogen and it's occurance.)

www.health.harvard.edu

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (broken-heart syndrome) - Harvard Health

Broken heart syndrome occurs when someone experiences sudden acute stress, which can weaken the heart....
www.health.harvard.edu www.health.harvard.edu
Click to expand...
I should have worded it better. Yes it’s like 8 times more common in women than men. I just didn’t like your reference to “hysterical women” it’s an incredibly antiquated misogynistic term. You are right about estrogen being a possible factor, the fact it happens more in older women is because they’ve gone through the menopause and the lower levels of estrogen increases the risk.
 
It's a tough call man. I would want to get high before I die too, but crack is an incredibly fiendish drug. I have never done crack but I know what cravings feel like on a binge and i'm afraid that even a small amount might lead him into to a lethal binge.

Sorry that you have to watch your friend go through this, good luck to both of you.
 
falsifiedhypothesi said:
It's a tough call man. I would want to get high before I die too, but crack is an incredibly fiendish drug. I have never done crack but I know what cravings feel like on a binge and i'm afraid that even a small amount might lead him into to a lethal binge.

Sorry that you have to watch your friend go through this, good luck to both of you.
Click to expand...
It's like cigarette cravings x999
 
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