TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
LoL, & I thought you were a male, haha! Money always makes me happy......
Better than any drug imo, always has been for me.
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whats worse depression or opiate addiction?
- Thread starter itsok
- Start date
LoL, & I thought you were a male, haha! Money always makes me happy......
Better than any drug imo, always has been for me. 
cire113
Bluelighter
you missed my point man, long term opiates make depression way worse... read what i said carefully
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
I understood what you said & that is your opinion.......my opinion is that long term opiate use & having depression afterwards is no worse than having severe depression w/o drugs, imo of course. At least you are getting something out of using drugs when depressed.
Another thing is, just because 90% of the people cant control themselves while using opiates doesnt mean the other 10% will go down the same road.
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
- Joined
- May 17, 2011
- Messages
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Still sticking to my story that opiate addiction is worse than depression, for several reasons. Can't go into too much detail right now- I'm on my phone and too wasted to have a serious discussion- but I'll post more later. For now, all I have to say is this: like I said earlier, opiate addiction has no easy cure, it can lead to death/jail time/overdose/withdrawal/etc. But I'll write more later when I'm on my laptop.
And yes Wolfman, my username has everything to do with the fact that I am and always will be a loyal Burton fan :D
And yes Wolfman, my username has everything to do with the fact that I am and always will be a loyal Burton fan :D
thelostBoys-i dont remember but have you ever kicked a bad opiate habit and suffered thru the depression afterwards?you are honestly saying that depression is the same as someone suffering from non drug-induced depression?i disagree as the post withdrawal depression from opiates was agony and lasted a long time(years)
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
Hmm, lets see......I started drinking at a young age the whole way up to college & years later I was still drinking & I quit because I was sick & tired of the b.s. & headaches the hangovers caused. No group to help me & no withdrawals & no depression afterwards. Probably because ive always been into sports & it kept me busy.
I will never get the chance to get addicted to oxycodone because ive taken it off & on for a year but got bored of it, got to the point where it disgusts me. I still cant figure out why people love that shit so much because I could never get a euphoric feeling from it.
Only thin I ever was addicted to was gambling on the horses, 1990-98. Was it tough to walk away? Sure because I loved going to the track, heck me & a couple friends would get high on weed sometimes before heading there. Anyway, I just filled my time up with other activities.
Once you quit drugs, you gotta fulfill the emptiness that will come from not doing the drugs, so you better stay busy or thats where the depression sets in.
I wont do heroin so I wont find out what thats like.
^^well then how can you possibly comment on whats worse, depression or opiate addiction if you have never battled opiate addiction??no offense but i have battled both and trust me, the post withdrawal depression from opiates is agony...you will NOT just go out and exercise in this condition..its everything you can do to get out of bed and take a walk around the block..your body is weighed down,your thoughts are so trampled and muddled you cant think straight, you are completely drained of energy, no ability to experience pleasure, no libido, you are a zombie...when i would get depressed before drugs i felt pretty bad but not god awful...
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
Huh?? Ive been taking oxycodone over the past year & just quit cold turkey because its not for me, meaning I find oxycodone non euphoric & not fun at all. Maybe im wired differently from others but I didnt get any withdrawals from it. Did Morphine past 3 weeks & quit 2 days ago, just got disgusted of it & thats it.
Im no hardcore heroin addict if that what you want to know. I use to have a serious gambling addiction but quit on my own w/o anyones help. Sure it was tough but it didnt cause me any depression, i just occupied my time with other things.
Ive also talked to people & even people on here & we all dont agree with which one is worse because we all have our opinions.
Not everyone will go threw withdrawals the way you went threw them so imo, its a double edged sword talking about which is worse.
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
By the way, I had the gambling addiction in horse racing for 8 years & lost a lot of money & I didnt quit because of money problems, I quit because I finally got disgusted by it.
I still go to the track to this day to hang out with friends & watch a football game & what not & dont have any cravings at all to bet, not one craving believe it or not. Can you walk into an opium den or someones house that has heroin laying around & do the same? Can you control yourself with will power? Its in the person whether you wanna quit or not & I still stand by my statement of "pure depression" is worse than an opiate addiction. Meaning you didnt get depressed because of drugs.
I still go to the track to this day to hang out with friends & watch a football game & what not & dont have any cravings at all to bet, not one craving believe it or not. Can you walk into an opium den or someones house that has heroin laying around & do the same? Can you control yourself with will power? Its in the person whether you wanna quit or not & I still stand by my statement of "pure depression" is worse than an opiate addiction. Meaning you didnt get depressed because of drugs.
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
- Joined
- May 17, 2011
- Messages
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So, to elaborate on my post from last night... I feel like opiate addiction is worse because, like I said, I have been through opiate addiction as well as been diagnosed with both clinical depression and PTSD. I know that's not enough so I'll give a few specific examples.
First, let me give you small history about my experience with depression. I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression when I was 16. This was treated with medication for about a year, until I realized that I didn't want to be on medication for the rest of my life. I was determined to fight it on my own, so I stopped taking the meds and I started doing other things. It only took about a year for it to clear up completely on it's own after that. And seriously, the things I did to achieve this were relatively simple. Sometimes it was just a matter of forcing myself to get up, take a shower, and go out with friends. I would ALWAYS feel good at the end of the day when I would force myself to go out and do something fun. Exercise, change in diet, and positive thinking were the other major factors in reversing my depression. Your thoughts are a powerful weapon. If you keep telling yourself you're an amazing, beautiful person with tons to offer, eventually you'll start to believe it. If you force yourself to think of happy things instead of depressing ones, after a while your mood will lift on it's own. Even forcing yourself to smile can help; it's been scientifically proven to create a lifted mood because of the way the movement stimulates the brain. (http://www.wireheading.com/dbs/index.html) I also started to take St. John's Wort, fish oil, iron, potassium, vitamin D, and B-12 vitamins. I'd sit out in the sun. I'd pamper myself and get all dolled up, because it's true: when you look good, you feel good! I started finally talking about my problems, being angry when I needed to be angry, and crying when I needed to cry. I just let myself feel. All of that stuff combined was a huge step in fighting my depression on my own. I was depression-free and a very happy person for a few years until I joined the military, which is when the PTSD hit, and which is what I believe was a large factor in my addiction to opiates. As far as the PTSD goes, even the worst of the symptoms have cleared exponentially over time on their own. So there you have it: living proof that depression is easily curable by a few completely natural and easy methods. Or you can always just keep taking the anti-depressants. Either way, two easy fixes and you'll be good to go.
Opiate addiction is far more complicated, far more painful, far more dangerous, and far more depressing. So. Reason #1 I feel opiate addiction is worse: Your only two choices are to keep getting high, or try to quit for good. And they both suck. And no amount of exercise, change in diet, or positive reinforcement on your part is going to help you with either of them. If you stay on the opiates, one of three things will happen. One, you'll lose everything- money, your family, your job... I mean everything. Two, you'll end up in jail- whether it's for possession or for something you were trying to do to keep your high. Depression doesn't drain your bank account or send you to jail. Three, and reason #2 I feel opiate addiction is worse... you'll die, whether it's through a failure in your system or an overdose. Depression doesn't kill you. Reason #3: Even if you make the "right" decision and get off the opiates, it's not a quick fix by any means. You still have hell to pay. You're either just replacing one opiate for another, safer opiate (and by safer, I mean the government is regulating your addiction instead
) like Subs or Methadone. This is just maintenance and a way to avoid withdrawals. Which brings me to reason #4: Aside from the obvious fact that opiates can kill you, opiate addiction is JUST as much physical as it is mental... unlike depression. It doesn't matter if you quit cold turkey, taper down, or get on Methadone or Subs and try to wean yourself down. Once you completely quit ANY opiate, you go into severe withdrawal. Pain you can't possibly try to imagine unless you've been through it yourself. Everything hurts, even your insides hurt. It makes the little aches and pains you get with depression sound like heaven. Your system is literally going haywire because it doesn't know how to function on it's own anymore. It's like your body asks itself, "What the hell am I supposed to do with my digestive and respiratory and circulatory and nervous systems without my opiate receptors being occupied?" Also unlike with depression, and like someone else said earlier, you can't just force yourself to get up and exercise, or go out with friends, or even eat. You can't stay hydrated, or keep your anxiety and depression levels down, or keep your temperature regulated (chills and cold sweats in the middle of summer FTW), or stop the bone and joint pain and muscle aches... not even with Ibuprofen. Your body literally won't let you do even the most basic of things. I've never heard of depression physically preventing anyone from eating, sleeping, walking, etc. Depression doesn't make you feel like it's snowing outside in 80 degree weather with blankets wrapped around you. Depression doesn't cause any sort of aches or pains that some sort of pain killer won't cure. And of course, with opiate addicts, the only pain killer that can cure it is the one that we are forbidden to take. The withdrawals alone should be enough to help you understand why opiate addiction is worse than depression. But anyway. Reason #5 I feel opiate addiction is worse: With opiate addiction, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Clinical depression was a walk in the park compared to the way I felt in withdrawals... hell, even the way I feel now after a year of being on the Subs. I'm still a confident person and I still have tons of ambition, but at the same time... none of it matters. It's like all the progress I made from my depression was annihilated, and then some. At least with clinical depression, I could still find enjoyment in small things. In opiate withdrawals, even petting my freaking dog would make me cry. Opiate addiction puts you into a black hole. Even if a person does manage to get off and stay clean, the threat of relapse is always lurking just around the corner. Just seeing a Vicodin could change everything in the blink of an eye. It's so easy to fuck up your life all over again, and so hard to force yourself not to. Reason #5 I feel opiate addiction is worse kind of ties in to the last one. Sooner or later, and especially as we get older, we are likely to be forced into a situation that will require us to take some sort of strong pain killer aka opiates. So unless they develop some sort of miracle painkiller that's as strong as opiates but isn't actually an opiate, most of us are going to have to take them again eventually. We won't have a choice. And saving the least for last, here's reason #6 I feel opiate addiction is worse: there is a stigma associated with opiate addicts that clinical depression doesn't have. Would you tell a depression person, "Hahaha you're depressed, so you're a fucking loser... you should just go cut yourself"...? No, you wouldn't, unless you were a heartless bitch. Most people would just want to help you. While most people have finally acknowledged that addiction is in fact a disease, a lot of people still don't take it seriously and refuse to acknowledge that we are actually suffering a lot of the time. I have had a few people straight up throw my addiction in my face. My brother actually told me once, "Your life is worthless anyway, why don't you just go take some more Vicodin," and then threw his prescription at me. That's like the equivalent of telling a suicidal person that their life is meaningless and worthless anyways so they should just go and off themselves, and then handing them a gun. It's not okay. I've had people admit that once they found out I was trying to get clean from an opiate addiction, it changed the way they thought of me. Even though I was still the same person. A lot of people don't want to help you, they don't care to try and understand what you're going through. In their eyes, it's your fault for getting addicted in the first place and you deserve to suffer... and you sure as hell aren't going to bring them down with you, so they're going to get the hell away from you now. A lot of people are ignorant; when they think "opiates", they think "junkie"... and that you're just going to get them in trouble or try to get them hooked too. Which is screwed up, because it's not even like that. Doctors and medical professionals will treat you differently sometimes too; some might even refuse to prescribe you something that you might actually need, like benzo's, just because it has addictive properties. Because getting addicted to opiates means that you'll become addicted to everything else too, of course. All of these things are absolutely ridiculous, but it's a prime example of what happens when you have the stigma of being an opiate addict. Even the people who mean well don't get it or take it as seriously as it really is. I've been told that I just need to get off of the Suboxone already, that I should have just dealt with the withdrawals, that they couldn't have been that bad in the first place, and so on and so forth. Or they ask me why I got addicted to begin with. Or they'll forget and I'll receive a Facebook or text message every once in a while saying, "Hey I have some Vicodin/Percocet/Oxy I need to get rid of, do you or anyone else you know want any?" Do they really think that if I didn't have to be going through this, I wouldn't be? Because trust me, if I could be completely opiate free right now, including the Subs, I would be. It's just not that easy, plain and simple. It's not like you just decide you want to get off of opiates one day and then it magically happens. And no matter how many times I try to explain this to certain people, they still don't understand. They don't know what it's like to have to take a pill every morning just to make it through the day and feel somewhat normal, and that if I don't take my Suboxone, it will feel like I'm being physically and mentally tortured for some indefinite amount of time. When I tell people it's because I'm not ready to get off the Subs and I don't want to risk a relapse, they ask me why I'm threatening to take Vicodin. I am not threatening to take anything for crying out loud, I'm saying that if I get off of it before I'm ready, the risk of relapse is much higher and a very real possibility. It's so freaking frustrating, I swear you can't win. It's a lose-lose situation. Depression isn't at the receiving end of all this bullshit the way opiate addicts are.
Anyway, those are my and probably most other opiate addicts reasons. People with clinical depression just don't have to deal with all of that stuff on top of being depressed. They still have CHOICES in their lives. The only choices opiate addicts have both suck. If a depressed person decides to "quit" depression, they can do it without going through withdrawals and without feeling like they're being tortured every second of the day. Another thing that seems to make opiate addiction worse: opiates can completely screw up your brain chemistry... like for real screw it up. Look up PAWS if you don't believe me. I mean, it kills your brain's natural pleasure center after a while. No more dopamine = no more smiling when you see a rainbow, or a cute puppy, or a sunset. All of the small pleasures in life are gone after a while. I can still find some sort of joy in things, but not anywhere close to the way I used to. I'm not 100% off of opiates yet so I guess I won't know for a few more years, but I'm just hoping I didn't do some sort of permanent damage and that I'll still be able to feel things once I get off of the opiates for good. I'm not saying that depression is a walk in the park either, but compared to opiate addiction it kind of is.
So there you have it. And I am getting off my soapbox now
First, let me give you small history about my experience with depression. I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression when I was 16. This was treated with medication for about a year, until I realized that I didn't want to be on medication for the rest of my life. I was determined to fight it on my own, so I stopped taking the meds and I started doing other things. It only took about a year for it to clear up completely on it's own after that. And seriously, the things I did to achieve this were relatively simple. Sometimes it was just a matter of forcing myself to get up, take a shower, and go out with friends. I would ALWAYS feel good at the end of the day when I would force myself to go out and do something fun. Exercise, change in diet, and positive thinking were the other major factors in reversing my depression. Your thoughts are a powerful weapon. If you keep telling yourself you're an amazing, beautiful person with tons to offer, eventually you'll start to believe it. If you force yourself to think of happy things instead of depressing ones, after a while your mood will lift on it's own. Even forcing yourself to smile can help; it's been scientifically proven to create a lifted mood because of the way the movement stimulates the brain. (http://www.wireheading.com/dbs/index.html) I also started to take St. John's Wort, fish oil, iron, potassium, vitamin D, and B-12 vitamins. I'd sit out in the sun. I'd pamper myself and get all dolled up, because it's true: when you look good, you feel good! I started finally talking about my problems, being angry when I needed to be angry, and crying when I needed to cry. I just let myself feel. All of that stuff combined was a huge step in fighting my depression on my own. I was depression-free and a very happy person for a few years until I joined the military, which is when the PTSD hit, and which is what I believe was a large factor in my addiction to opiates. As far as the PTSD goes, even the worst of the symptoms have cleared exponentially over time on their own. So there you have it: living proof that depression is easily curable by a few completely natural and easy methods. Or you can always just keep taking the anti-depressants. Either way, two easy fixes and you'll be good to go.
Opiate addiction is far more complicated, far more painful, far more dangerous, and far more depressing. So. Reason #1 I feel opiate addiction is worse: Your only two choices are to keep getting high, or try to quit for good. And they both suck. And no amount of exercise, change in diet, or positive reinforcement on your part is going to help you with either of them. If you stay on the opiates, one of three things will happen. One, you'll lose everything- money, your family, your job... I mean everything. Two, you'll end up in jail- whether it's for possession or for something you were trying to do to keep your high. Depression doesn't drain your bank account or send you to jail. Three, and reason #2 I feel opiate addiction is worse... you'll die, whether it's through a failure in your system or an overdose. Depression doesn't kill you. Reason #3: Even if you make the "right" decision and get off the opiates, it's not a quick fix by any means. You still have hell to pay. You're either just replacing one opiate for another, safer opiate (and by safer, I mean the government is regulating your addiction instead
) like Subs or Methadone. This is just maintenance and a way to avoid withdrawals. Which brings me to reason #4: Aside from the obvious fact that opiates can kill you, opiate addiction is JUST as much physical as it is mental... unlike depression. It doesn't matter if you quit cold turkey, taper down, or get on Methadone or Subs and try to wean yourself down. Once you completely quit ANY opiate, you go into severe withdrawal. Pain you can't possibly try to imagine unless you've been through it yourself. Everything hurts, even your insides hurt. It makes the little aches and pains you get with depression sound like heaven. Your system is literally going haywire because it doesn't know how to function on it's own anymore. It's like your body asks itself, "What the hell am I supposed to do with my digestive and respiratory and circulatory and nervous systems without my opiate receptors being occupied?" Also unlike with depression, and like someone else said earlier, you can't just force yourself to get up and exercise, or go out with friends, or even eat. You can't stay hydrated, or keep your anxiety and depression levels down, or keep your temperature regulated (chills and cold sweats in the middle of summer FTW), or stop the bone and joint pain and muscle aches... not even with Ibuprofen. Your body literally won't let you do even the most basic of things. I've never heard of depression physically preventing anyone from eating, sleeping, walking, etc. Depression doesn't make you feel like it's snowing outside in 80 degree weather with blankets wrapped around you. Depression doesn't cause any sort of aches or pains that some sort of pain killer won't cure. And of course, with opiate addicts, the only pain killer that can cure it is the one that we are forbidden to take. The withdrawals alone should be enough to help you understand why opiate addiction is worse than depression. But anyway. Reason #5 I feel opiate addiction is worse: With opiate addiction, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Clinical depression was a walk in the park compared to the way I felt in withdrawals... hell, even the way I feel now after a year of being on the Subs. I'm still a confident person and I still have tons of ambition, but at the same time... none of it matters. It's like all the progress I made from my depression was annihilated, and then some. At least with clinical depression, I could still find enjoyment in small things. In opiate withdrawals, even petting my freaking dog would make me cry. Opiate addiction puts you into a black hole. Even if a person does manage to get off and stay clean, the threat of relapse is always lurking just around the corner. Just seeing a Vicodin could change everything in the blink of an eye. It's so easy to fuck up your life all over again, and so hard to force yourself not to. Reason #5 I feel opiate addiction is worse kind of ties in to the last one. Sooner or later, and especially as we get older, we are likely to be forced into a situation that will require us to take some sort of strong pain killer aka opiates. So unless they develop some sort of miracle painkiller that's as strong as opiates but isn't actually an opiate, most of us are going to have to take them again eventually. We won't have a choice. And saving the least for last, here's reason #6 I feel opiate addiction is worse: there is a stigma associated with opiate addicts that clinical depression doesn't have. Would you tell a depression person, "Hahaha you're depressed, so you're a fucking loser... you should just go cut yourself"...? No, you wouldn't, unless you were a heartless bitch. Most people would just want to help you. While most people have finally acknowledged that addiction is in fact a disease, a lot of people still don't take it seriously and refuse to acknowledge that we are actually suffering a lot of the time. I have had a few people straight up throw my addiction in my face. My brother actually told me once, "Your life is worthless anyway, why don't you just go take some more Vicodin," and then threw his prescription at me. That's like the equivalent of telling a suicidal person that their life is meaningless and worthless anyways so they should just go and off themselves, and then handing them a gun. It's not okay. I've had people admit that once they found out I was trying to get clean from an opiate addiction, it changed the way they thought of me. Even though I was still the same person. A lot of people don't want to help you, they don't care to try and understand what you're going through. In their eyes, it's your fault for getting addicted in the first place and you deserve to suffer... and you sure as hell aren't going to bring them down with you, so they're going to get the hell away from you now. A lot of people are ignorant; when they think "opiates", they think "junkie"... and that you're just going to get them in trouble or try to get them hooked too. Which is screwed up, because it's not even like that. Doctors and medical professionals will treat you differently sometimes too; some might even refuse to prescribe you something that you might actually need, like benzo's, just because it has addictive properties. Because getting addicted to opiates means that you'll become addicted to everything else too, of course. All of these things are absolutely ridiculous, but it's a prime example of what happens when you have the stigma of being an opiate addict. Even the people who mean well don't get it or take it as seriously as it really is. I've been told that I just need to get off of the Suboxone already, that I should have just dealt with the withdrawals, that they couldn't have been that bad in the first place, and so on and so forth. Or they ask me why I got addicted to begin with. Or they'll forget and I'll receive a Facebook or text message every once in a while saying, "Hey I have some Vicodin/Percocet/Oxy I need to get rid of, do you or anyone else you know want any?" Do they really think that if I didn't have to be going through this, I wouldn't be? Because trust me, if I could be completely opiate free right now, including the Subs, I would be. It's just not that easy, plain and simple. It's not like you just decide you want to get off of opiates one day and then it magically happens. And no matter how many times I try to explain this to certain people, they still don't understand. They don't know what it's like to have to take a pill every morning just to make it through the day and feel somewhat normal, and that if I don't take my Suboxone, it will feel like I'm being physically and mentally tortured for some indefinite amount of time. When I tell people it's because I'm not ready to get off the Subs and I don't want to risk a relapse, they ask me why I'm threatening to take Vicodin. I am not threatening to take anything for crying out loud, I'm saying that if I get off of it before I'm ready, the risk of relapse is much higher and a very real possibility. It's so freaking frustrating, I swear you can't win. It's a lose-lose situation. Depression isn't at the receiving end of all this bullshit the way opiate addicts are. Anyway, those are my and probably most other opiate addicts reasons. People with clinical depression just don't have to deal with all of that stuff on top of being depressed. They still have CHOICES in their lives. The only choices opiate addicts have both suck. If a depressed person decides to "quit" depression, they can do it without going through withdrawals and without feeling like they're being tortured every second of the day. Another thing that seems to make opiate addiction worse: opiates can completely screw up your brain chemistry... like for real screw it up. Look up PAWS if you don't believe me. I mean, it kills your brain's natural pleasure center after a while. No more dopamine = no more smiling when you see a rainbow, or a cute puppy, or a sunset. All of the small pleasures in life are gone after a while. I can still find some sort of joy in things, but not anywhere close to the way I used to. I'm not 100% off of opiates yet so I guess I won't know for a few more years, but I'm just hoping I didn't do some sort of permanent damage and that I'll still be able to feel things once I get off of the opiates for good. I'm not saying that depression is a walk in the park either, but compared to opiate addiction it kind of is.
So there you have it. And I am getting off my soapbox now
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
^^^^^^
Im debating if I should read the book you wrote above, LMAO!
Im debating if I should read the book you wrote above, LMAO!
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
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Wait, are you seriously saying that drug use can't make you depressed? I thought it was already a widely known fact that drugs such as crystal meth and opiates kill the brain's pleasure center. I seriously hope you meant something else by that, because I can't imagine someone honestly believing that long-term drug use doesn't have a negative effect on your brain and your emotions.
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
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- May 17, 2011
- Messages
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That's completely up to you and whether you want to inform yourself about what opiate addiction is actually like compared to clinical depression. Comparing the actual mechanics of depression to opiate addiction isn't something that can be summed up all simply in a few sentences, but I did it anyways because someone sent me a PM and politely asked me to do so on this thread. If the fact that I wasn't being lazy enough to give people a half-assed response bothers you, then you don't have to read it. But seriously, I was considerate enough to go into detail and give a well-thought out response; there's no need for you to be rude about it. Writing a lot isn't exactly a crime against humanity.
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
No, I meant it has yet to put me in a depressive state. Actually anything ive been addicted to like my 8 year gambling stint didnt even put me in a depressive state after I quit. I actually felt more alive afterwards & refreshed.
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TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
That's completely up to you and whether you want to inform yourself about what opiate addiction is actually like compared to clinical depression. Comparing the actual mechanics of depression to opiate addiction isn't something that can be summed up all simply in a few sentences, but I did it anyways because someone sent me a PM and politely asked me to do so on this thread. If the fact that I wasn't being lazy enough to give people a half-assed response bothers you, then you don't have to read it. But seriously, I was considerate enough to go into detail and give a well-thought out response; there's no need for you to be rude about it. Writing a lot isn't exactly a crime against humanity.
LoL, im not rude, its just the way I speak. This subject in this thread can be won on either side imo. Everyone is different & has their opinion on the matter & just because you went threw horrible withdrawals, depression & what not doesnt mean everyone else will.
Not everyone is on the same level of addiction you or every Tom, Dick & Harry are on. If me & you jump off a bridge, does it mean we both will get injured or die? I suppose its the luck of the draw & same goes with drugs.
My horse racing gambling addiction was serious compared to the opiates I have encountered past 14 months. Not saying you dont get depression from drugs because you do & the fact is you do because you gotta fill those feelings of what its like when you were high with something else, thats the key.
TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
I have a question, whats worse......having your dick cut off like John Wayne Bobitt or an opiate addiction? I mean, the depression this guy went threw I would imagine an opiate addiction is a walk in the park.....just trying to make a point. everyone has to deal with different situations so you really cant correctly answer the question the OP asked.
cire113
Bluelighter
^^^ Lmao dude... and at the all your other posts... The truth is its
purely subjective
purely subjective
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TheLostBoys
Bluelighter
^^^ Lmao dude... and at the all your other posts... the fact that you took oxy for a year straight and experienced "no withdrawals" explains it all for me
purely subjective
I wasnt taking oxy every day, im not crazy but the most I took oxy at one time was 2 straight weeks every day. Anyway, it is what it is & like I said before, everyone has an opinion.
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
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- May 17, 2011
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Just to clear things up about how opiates specifically cause depression.
"Opiate addiction is recognized as a central nervous system disorder caused by continuous opiate use. Extended opiate abuse leads the nerve cells in the brain to stop functioning as they normally would and stop producing natural endorphins. Because the body is receiving opiates and is no longer producing endorphins, the nerve cells start to degenerate and cause an opiate addiction."
In other words, the brain sees the opiates as endorphins, so the brain stops producing it's own endorphins and begins to depend on the "fake" endorphins instead. Even after you quit, it takes a while for the brain to remember how to produce endorphins on it's own. Which is where PAWS comes in. Sometimes it takes years for the brain to get back to normal. The severity and length depends on the person, but the fact of the matter is that opiates literally DO fuck up your brain. Like, your brain has legitimately been damaged. All you can do is wait for it to return back to normal. That's why opiate addiction is different from other addictions; you can't really compare it to a gambling addiction. Becoming chemically dependent on something and becoming dependent on gambling are two COMPLETELY different things. Gambling doesn't kill you, for one. Chemicals do. And for two, gambling doesn't feed your brain fake endorphins. That's probably why it is easier for you to keep your willpower at the horse races than it would be for an opiate addict to keep theirs in a room full of opiates. Because your body and your mind are not physically dependent on gambling- that sort of addiction is purely a mental thing.
I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on inside the body during withdrawals and why it causes those symptoms. Like, the scientific medical explanation for it. Can't find much though. Mostly it just lists the symptoms and says "Your body is used to feeling no pain." But that doesn't make much sense or break anything down into an actual process. I feel like knowing what's REALLY going on inside your body during that time would make it easier, but blah. Can't find anything so far. I guess I'll just keep looking.
"Opiate addiction is recognized as a central nervous system disorder caused by continuous opiate use. Extended opiate abuse leads the nerve cells in the brain to stop functioning as they normally would and stop producing natural endorphins. Because the body is receiving opiates and is no longer producing endorphins, the nerve cells start to degenerate and cause an opiate addiction."
In other words, the brain sees the opiates as endorphins, so the brain stops producing it's own endorphins and begins to depend on the "fake" endorphins instead. Even after you quit, it takes a while for the brain to remember how to produce endorphins on it's own. Which is where PAWS comes in. Sometimes it takes years for the brain to get back to normal. The severity and length depends on the person, but the fact of the matter is that opiates literally DO fuck up your brain. Like, your brain has legitimately been damaged. All you can do is wait for it to return back to normal. That's why opiate addiction is different from other addictions; you can't really compare it to a gambling addiction. Becoming chemically dependent on something and becoming dependent on gambling are two COMPLETELY different things. Gambling doesn't kill you, for one. Chemicals do. And for two, gambling doesn't feed your brain fake endorphins. That's probably why it is easier for you to keep your willpower at the horse races than it would be for an opiate addict to keep theirs in a room full of opiates. Because your body and your mind are not physically dependent on gambling- that sort of addiction is purely a mental thing.
I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on inside the body during withdrawals and why it causes those symptoms. Like, the scientific medical explanation for it. Can't find much though. Mostly it just lists the symptoms and says "Your body is used to feeling no pain." But that doesn't make much sense or break anything down into an actual process. I feel like knowing what's REALLY going on inside your body during that time would make it easier, but blah. Can't find anything so far. I guess I'll just keep looking.
xburtonchic
Bluelighter
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- May 17, 2011
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That's why you never experienced withdrawals, jsyk. Two weeks isn't anywhere close to enough time to develop a full blown opiate addiction. It takes at least 6 weeks (generally) of continuous use for your body and your brain to start recognizing the opiates as "natural" and start ceasing to function the production of it's proper chemicals... the ones that it normally produces. And by continuous use, I don't mean like one or two oxy a day for two weeks. I mean like, 5-6 oxy or insert-your-other-opiate-of-choice-here a day, and then gradually increasing that dosage over the course of 5-7 weeks.