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william burroughs ideas on what exactly heroin/opiate addiction is??

sarajenni88

sarajenni88

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I recently read JUNKY by William Burroughs for the fifteenth time lol. And I'm curious on everyone's opinions on a couple on his very interesting concepts about junk and "junkies"

1. He writes that when kicking junk in a Lewiston hospital he began to formulate the idea that kicking is merely an allergic reaction. Basically when his daily shots were switched from Demerol to an allergy medication, his w/d symptoms greatly improved.
But what I have researched is that when ppl in w/d take Benadryl...RLS increases and they in fact feel worse...ideas?
I know I may be oversymplifying this concept because I don't quite understand it...

2. This idea is very interesting and I'm looking forward to opinions: "junkies" as some may call us are in a constant state of growth. Burroughs therorizes that because most users and going back and forth between a well state and a sick state, they never stop growing new cells to compensate for the junk addicted cells dying during w/d. Thus junkies look.younger and live longer than none users.....very interesting.

Let me know ur ideas and if I put this in the wrong spot I'm sorry...:)
 
Burroughs was a smart guy but totally of when he talked about opiate addiction being an allergic reaction or similar to one..Burroughs was never able to get clean, died on methadone..

the only thing that helped opiate withdrawals for me were benzos(they calmed me) or opiates..i tried benedryl and many other Otc meds, not much help..
 
Lol. That's what I thought about it to. But I have heard many ppl agree that opiate addicts look younger than our sober counterparts?? I haven't found that true in my experience but I am still young so who knows how I'll look in 20 years? But the living longer thing? I find it hard to swallow...
 
Gonna move this to DC. Doesn't fit the OD Guidelines and DC is the closest place I can think for it to go. You DC mods can close it or whatever you want if you think it doesn't fit their either.

OD---->DC
 
Good looking out, for the time being we are going to keep this open.


opiates are deceptive guys. when someone is at their best and high on opiates they definately may look younger because of less hormones, giving them an adolescent look, but don't think for one second that it's a life preserving tonic they are shooting into their veins, meth users look better than your average baggy eyed junkie.
 
Yeah I'm gonna call bullshit on that allergy nonsense. What I will say is that opiate withdrawal is very much a mental ordeal, I find that if I'm just sitting around lying in agony my withdrawals are very bad but if I can manage to keep my mind buisy then my withdrawals are noticeably less intense, this is not to say that there's no physical withdrawals, just that mentality proves to be quite a factor in how strong my withdrawals are. Also, like you pointed out antihistamines make me restless as fuck and even delerious if I've been without sleep for a couple days...
 
he also said that when you kick dope that all your dope dependent cells die off and your body has to grow brand new cells, so people who cycle on and off are way younger. I have noticed that people who cut off limbs while in the throws of meth psychosis tend to have younger looking arms and legs, because they cut off the old ones and new ones grow back into place. I think most meth negative side effects are caused by gmo foods tho. Ps I like meth so I may be rationalizing.
 
Burroughs was a great writer, but he had no clue what he was talking about in regards to the science of how heroin affects the brain and body. Of course, it was a very long time ago, so nobody knew what we know today. With the internet and technology advancing, a lot of study has been done, and now that research can be spread via online and people can actually learn how things really work.

So, interesting theories, but not actually how it works.

Loved the book though, as well as his other works. I really liked Cities of The Red Night and The Wild Boys (of course Naked Lunch obviously too).
 
T
Mr.Scagnattie said:
Burroughs was a great writer, but he had no clue what he was talking about in regards to the science of how heroin affects the brain and body. Of course, it was a very long time ago, so nobody knew what we know today. With the internet and technology advancing, a lot of study has been done, and now that research can be spread via online and people can actually learn how things really work.

So, interesting theories, but not actually how it works.

Loved the book though, as well as his other works. I really liked Cities of The Red Night and The Wild Boys (of course Naked Lunch obviously too).
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Yes!!! His work is awesome and he was a very interesting guy. Honestly I've never done heroin (and I don't plan too!#!) So I was interestested in seeing other ppls opinions.
Its funny but even today I've talked to ppl who claim opiate addicts do look younger??
I read wild boys but I had a hard time getting thru naked lunch. It was hard for me anyways to follow it!!! That's why I enjoy his other works.. s.easier to swallow.
 
^opiate addicts may look younger if they have a consistent supply + enough $ left for food. Once all the money is spent on drugs and they start yo-yo'ing from withdrawal to well everyday they usually look like shit.

lol, at the cell rejuvenation hypothesis. I remember reading that a while ago and thinking, man I hope that is true.
 
sarajenni88 said:
T
Yes!!! His work is awesome and he was a very interesting guy. Honestly I've never done heroin (and I don't plan too!#!) So I was interestested in seeing other ppls opinions.
Its funny but even today I've talked to ppl who claim opiate addicts do look younger??
I read wild boys but I had a hard time getting thru naked lunch. It was hard for me anyways to follow it!!! That's why I enjoy his other works.. s.easier to swallow.
Click to expand...

Well ironically enough, I know a lot of people who had bad acne, whatever, who once they started doing heroin, it went away totally. So, it definitely does make some people look younger.. I know a lot of older dope fiends in their 40's and 50's who look 35. Ha. It's booze, crack, meth, that kinda shit that ravages the body and skin so bad, makes you look all worn out. With dope, it's the indirect effects like lack of eating, not drinking enough water, personal hygiene, etc, that makes people look like shit.. not the drug itself as in the case with alcohol or meth for example. Theoretically, if you still ate right, drank enough water, just took care of yourself, and only did opiates, no booze or stimulants, you could look totally fine.. and with good skin. Hah.
 
Mr.Scagnattie said:
Well ironically enough, I know a lot of people who had bad acne, whatever, who once they started doing heroin, it went away totally. So, it definitely does make some people look younger.. I know a lot of older dope fiends in their 40's and 50's who look 35. Ha. It's booze, crack, meth, that kinda shit that ravages the body and skin so bad, makes you look all worn out. With dope, it's the indirect effects like lack of eating, not drinking enough water, personal hygiene, etc, that makes people look like shit.. not the drug itself as in the case with alcohol or meth for example. Theoretically, if you still ate right, drank enough water, just took care of yourself, and only did opiates, no booze or stimulants, you could look totally fine.. and with good skin. Hah.
Click to expand...

I had my coke days in my 20s, then it was opiates since then..all kinds, ending in 12 yrs on methadone and two on sub. I'm almost a yr clean, but I swear I've aged ten yrs in the last three while I tried to kick meth and sub..and finally did after five attempted jumps..
Opiates seem to really be fairly easy on you physically...it's the WDs that take their toll.
 
Seyer said:
Yes, we are leaving this thread open but that decision is up to the moderators.
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Haha

Burroughs came from money and his parents basically supported him through at least his forties. For some reason I see him as an old school Dash Snow. Ok, allow me to rephrase - Dash Snow is a poor poor man's Billy Burroughs. Ahh, whatever you get the point.
 
^^^^^ yes. He writes about not having to work because of his parents. But then of course he had to turn to crime when his habit grew....I know Jim Carroll died...and he kicked his habit in his early twenties and stayed clean (well from what I've learned) but he looked so horribly sick when he died...he looked at least 15 yrs older than he was!! He was a BRILLIANT writer. His BOOK OF NODS is incredible. He's one of the writers I look up to the most... in the sense of his writing!!!
 
Ziggy stardust said:
I had my coke days in my 20s, then it was opiates since then..all kinds, ending in 12 yrs on methadone and two on sub. I'm almost a yr clean, but I swear I've aged ten yrs in the last three while I tried to kick meth and sub..and finally did after five attempted jumps..
Opiates seem to really be fairly easy on you physically...it's the WDs that take their toll.
Click to expand...

Yeah detoxing is really rough on you, both mentally and physically.
 
Mr.Scagnattie said:
Well ironically enough, I know a lot of people who had bad acne, whatever, who once they started doing heroin, it went away totally. So, it definitely does make some people look younger.. I know a lot of older dope fiends in their 40's and 50's who look 35. Ha. It's booze, crack, meth, that kinda shit that ravages the body and skin so bad, makes you look all worn out. With dope, it's the indirect effects like lack of eating, not drinking enough water, personal hygiene, etc, that makes people look like shit.. not the drug itself as in the case with alcohol or meth for example. Theoretically, if you still ate right, drank enough water, just took care of yourself, and only did opiates, no booze or stimulants, you could look totally fine.. and with good skin. Hah.
Click to expand...

This is actually really true. Into my early 20s I had to use face wash twice a day to keep from breaking out. But oxy just dries out my skin in general so I really only need it once now, and just to clean, not to stop acne. It does something bad on my hands though, they're always too dry.

I think Burroughs had some interesting ideas about opiate addiction, which were at least as right as anyone else's at the time. Really interesting guy, I'm gonna have to check out Cities of the Red Night, I don't think I've read that one.
 
^^

Yeah check that one out. You'd dig it.

Also, if you're a fan of Burroughs, then you'd like Bukowski too. If you wanna read about total hedonism, alcoholism, drugs, sex, and just overall misogyny, he's your guy. Hah. [h=3][/h].
 
^^

Hah awesome. Yeah, my girlfriend saw "Women" on my nightstand, picked it up and read 2 pages, then threw it across the room saying it was anti-women alcoholic trash. ;) I said, "But that's why I like it, baby." Haha.
 
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