Exercise and Heroin/Opiates

Hey guys,
Is it safe for someone who does a small to medium amount of heroin a day to exercise? I was wondering about the effects on the heart - straining, that sort of thing.

I used to do power yoga (Vinyasa Flow Style from a tv show called INHALE) before I became an addict, and would like to start building back up some strength that way. Also perhaps doing some power walking/lite running around the neighborhood.

Would the drugs have any negative effect on an exercise routine? I have always wondered that. Considering our reputation as being complete lazy scumbags. 8)

Thanks in advance, as I searched this forum and didn't see anything relevant to my question.
Gwen

er yea should be fine...i used to be a cycle courier, but i wasn't very often high at work. my ex as well. she was. you'll be dandy.

i against i said:

er yea should be fine...i used to be a cycle courier, but i wasn't very often high at work. my ex as well. she was. you'll be dandy.

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Cool. Also, I'm a snorter not a shooter and my goal is not to nod but to be easier dealing with the everyday crap life keeps throwing me. So yeah, I'm kinda high all the time. Am sure this may change down the road as tolerance gets bad, etc. But generally only doing a small bag or two a day.


Thanks i against I !
Gwen

no problem. you know this but there are less destructive and better ways to deal with life, all the best.

^^ yes of course, but coming from a harm reduction standpoint I don't want to give myself a heart attack or somesuch. Not proud of addiction, but it is working for me so far. I do realize that some day it will not.

yea i hope i didn't sound patronizing. opiates are relatively easy on the body.

Whenever I take opiates (pills) I find that I am actually able to do more than when I am sober. Its strange, I know, but I dont feel tired as fast...softball/running/etc

It may be worth noting that opiates actually keep me awake for some reason and seem to give me more ambition...which is odd from what Ive read.

I worry about pushing too hard and putting too much strain on my heart sometimes, so I generally don't push myself too hard, but I've gone on somewhere around 100+ runs where I was either on dope or oxy. Most were usually between 3-5 miles, so I've probably ran over 400 miles while high on heroin or oxy. I even ran a 5 mile road race a few years ago (which is one time I did push, despite being on a drug that will slow my heart rate). Obviously if you're too fucked up or too high, you're not going to be able to exercise, so when I say I was high on them doesn't mean I was so high I was nodding off or anything.

The only difference I've noticed with working out while on opiates is that I don't feel like I get as many gains or don't see improvement as quickly. However I think this is more of a result of having a reduced appetite and not eating healthy which I tend to do on opiates.



I just want to point out that even if I haven't had any problems yet, it doesn't mean this hasn't put strain on my heart or possibly damaged it in some way that has not yet manifested itself. I'm not a doctor. I'm a heroin user who happens to enjoy running, and I've had no issue with combining the two thus far.

I was a high school/collegiate soccer played whilst nursing an opiate addiction. It definitely slowed me down a bit but I don't think there's much chance of opioids increasing your likelihood of dropping dead whist exercising.

On a side note I too used to get high to 'get thru the day' didnt end well. No more soccer, became sickly and looked like a holocaust survivor, broke as a joke, almost had to drop out of school... The usual

I will worn you, be very careful cycling on drugs on a road. You get that "evreything is ok" feeling. Heroin tends to dull the need to wanna exercise as they fight eachother so try and exercise more.

Your hearrt will be fine but avoid stimulents and cardio.

I was part of Army ROTC in university for 3 years while supporting an IV heroin habit. I ran 3-5 miles daily, about 1000 push ups (broke down into many sets) and about 1000 situps (again many sets) on top of that. Had no issues AND I have a pre-existing cardiac arrhythmia. Was in great shape but opiates/opioids hinder natural testosterone production =\.

The problem with balancing exercise and opiates, at least for me in the past, was that opiates took precedence over everything else going on in my life, including diet/exercise. A good routine (the actual exercise and then the eating that should supplement it) is something that requires a person to live according to a schedule, and I was never able to stick to a daily schedule while I was a heroin addict. Also, I didn't "eat the part" because it was often the case that eating would kill a high, or that I was too sick to keep food down. And I couldn't justify spending my money on (more expensive) healthy food, and ended up eating a crap diet so as to move more money to my drug fund. As well, I found that a lot of the motivating reasons for me to exercise weren't as important to me while I was a slave to the poppy, so it was hard to stay dedicated to keep working out. Opiates work to satisfy short-term "needs" and instant gratification, whereas fitness is build around long-term goals and working toward a sense of happiness and well-being. It just clashes too much over time.

Can it be done? I'm sure that short/mid-term fitness goals can be accomplished while using opiates regularly, but it would require a lot of discipline. At the end of the day, though, why not just use the mind/body/spirit benefits that exercise alone gives to help treat the underlying issues that are making you want to self-medicate with heroin? You'll see that a lot of people, myself included, relied heavily on exercise to help them in early recovery. It works, it really does!

In terms of "safety," others covered it well. It's not that dangerous to the body at low doses, so you should be okay.

^This, I managed for a few years but copping dope to stay off sick became my priority because if I was sick, nothing else was possible (similar to how without recovery nothing else is possible). Gains were very small at that, nothing particularly great came out of it, H always motivated me when I had it to get things done, so it was in a sense a performance enhancer (didn't fatigue as easily, could focus on my goals, etc) after the initial nod/high wore down to the normal high (about an hour after the shot).

The heroin munchies.

Hey!
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my second or third ever thread question. All of the advice/suggestions were helpful and awesome. Here's a question based on the RedLeader quote below:

RedLeader said:

Also, I didn't "eat the part" because it was often the case that eating would kill a high

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My problem is:
a) H makes me want to clean the house or act like an autistic child. Today, for example, I couldn't sit still - I went to the store - spent way too much time checking out hair products, then hung out in the backyard checking trees for ants and cicada shells. I did all of my laundry, got my lunch ready for work tomorrow. All done having used an amount not too high or not too low - so I'm not nodding, I'm not sick, I'm perfectly in the middle.
b) And then....I get the dope MUNCHIES.

Anyone else get munchies on dope?

So, yeah, I'm getting fat. This is why I want to start exercising a little (when this heat lets up). It's not just constipation weight it's going everywhere. And back when I lived alone I didn't eat. All of my money went for dope. Now that my dad died and I'm living with my mother, there's always food. She makes lists, I add to them, etc. BUT when I lived alone, I lived on virtually nothing as everything went to dope and I maybe got a 99cent cheeseburger twice a week, but that was about it...

I react the same way when on the "perfect dose". I'm very productive and detail oriented (get obsessed over little projects, cleaning, etc. Luckily my old job needed that type of skill) and I got the munchies, "morphine munchies" as I call it. Usually its a bunch of sweet/salty/greasy food thats high in carbs or fats. When the opportunity arose, I ate so much food sometimes, and just fall asleep after XD

gwencooper said:

b) And then....I get the dope MUNCHIES.

Anyone else get munchies on dope?

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I ordinarily don't like chocolate, but while I was going through heroin addiction I was eating Hershey's with Almonds bars on a daily basis. It was weird, I just felt like I 'needed chocolate.' Once I got clean, I went back to not really liking it.

Other than that, I didn't really eat all that much, and in fact lost weight through my addiction by just eating comfortably (I typically eat more than I am cofortable with to maintain the body I want for athletics, and lost this commitment during my addiction). And I said before, my eating habits went to crap. I'd eat what was convenient, not what was good for my body. This is never a good thing, but when you're doing heroin, the damage that the poor diet is doing is pretty well hidden.

So, yeah, I'm getting fat. This is why I want to start exercising a little (when this heat lets up). It's not just constipation weight it's going everywhere. And back when I lived alone I didn't eat. All of my money went for dope. Now that my dad died and I'm living with my mother, there's always food. She makes lists, I add to them, etc. BUT when I lived alone, I lived on virtually nothing as everything went to dope and I maybe got a 99cent cheeseburger twice a week, but that was about it...

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If you are deadset on continuing to use opiates, then I would try and budget money for diet and exercise each week/month and do not dip into this for drug money ever. The world is a good gym, so really if you can get a good pair of running shoes, you're set at least for cardio. Try and find a good routine for bodyweight strength exercises, especially those that focus on your core. A twenty minute jog to a local park, for a twenty minute bodyweight workout, followed by a twenty minute jog home is a good way to spend an hour.

And try not to do the eating in binges thing, either. Try and keep your meals modest and throughout the day. Drink enough water to compensate for both the exercise and for the toll the drugs take.

I think eating chocolate while doing heroin would make me sick.

worst for me is when i'm off i can't be bothered to do shit and just eat a load of junk food and alcohol to get a similar kind of brain reward. and get fat.

saw some friends who i hadn't seen for say 6 months when i last saw them i was at the start of my h addiction and end of a several month stimulant binge so was pretty skin and bones for some one who rode 250 miles a week, first thing they said was "you've got fat!" (im only12 stone, probably went down to about ten, 5'10" back then) so it will fuck around with you.

soon it's going to be a choice between h and food, cycling and the bus, and you know which is going to win. mass exercise high as fuck with no food. at least i've got some reserves built up. haha!

I forgot I started this post. I am in the same position NOW, AGAIN. Although this time I have a job that pays weekly (which sucks because if I have a $200 bill to pay, I pay $50 a week for the whole month). I can't work out at work. Like, I can't go out for a walk during lunch and come back sweaty. I am an Executive Administrative Assistant. I am the EA for the two owners of the company. And I had to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe as NOTHING fit in May when I got the job.

I even had to KICK - the employee handbook they mailed me 3 weeks out, along with my job offer, said "mandatory new employee drug test". I did the Chicago Hospital Medicaid Detox, but on my own - two friends who did it told me how it went:

Day One: 30mgs methadone (3*10mg tabs) in morning. 30 more in evening. Anti anxiety and sleepers if needed. (I have loads, I see a shrink who has no idea about the dope and is very loose with the kpins and loreazapam (sp).)
Day Two: 30 mgs in am; 20mgs in PM (same thing with the anti-anxiety and sleepers)
Day Three: 20mgs am; 20 mgs PM
Day Four: 20 mgs am; TEN mgs at 6pm when you're released.
When you leave: GET THIS CRAZY SHIT! you get a script for vicodin 7.5 or 10, xanax BARS (?) and sleepers. Doesn't THAT defeat the entire purpose?
Apparently you can do this medicaid detox once every 30 days. I'd do it just to lay around and take methadone and watch TV and sleep and you also get to pick your food - order whatever you want on menu; break, lunch & dinner.
(Anyone else ever hear of this in Chicago - they're not giving it to the PR people with the one way plane tickets, I'll tell you that!)

So I did it. Without the bonus prescriptions, although I do get KPIN and Ativan from the shrink which I took quite a bit more than my usual.
I was hating myself and shitting everywhere for at least 4 days. By 7 days I started kind of sleeping. By 14 days the fog sort of left my head. By 21 days I found out I didn't need to take the drug test. As I work for a company that does construction (but the office is NO JEANS, NO TENNIS SHOES, TIES(?) for MEN) I had to go out and buy all new clothes (at least 6 days worth - so I could wear one while the others were being washed).

I'd love to get a bicycle. I should look on Craigslist or something for a cheapie one speed schwin for girls. I think I said I get paid weekly so it's impossible to save money. I make sure each week I save 300 for dope to get me through the week (after the bills - which are brutal because my unemployment cut off in december, and got the offer in early may, started on the 26th or so) and end up doing a couple of mgs of methadone on the inbetween days. I'm lucky to have a connection for the tablets. But that won't be forever because his doctor is taking him from 9-10 10mg tablets per day to 8 or something like that so he doesn't have the supply he used to have. So i gotta be careful. Or start paying him more.....!

Enough about me. I have 50 pounds left to lose. Any suggestions out there - we can start a new thread if you like?
Love,
Gwennie - who is thicker than a snicker!

ps haven't been writing lately, just reading - Chicago is not represented the way it used to be! What's up Chinky? Cheffy? Where is you? I need some Belgian waffles STAT! LOL

You want to lose 50 pounds? How much have you lost so far? Do you monitor caloric intake daily or at least get rough estimates to gauge your natural eating tendencies?

Opiates, regardless of the chemical structure, are suppressive to some aspect of the body. They function by depressing the neurological transmissions that go from your spinal cord to your brain to suppress pain.

They also inhibit other activities such as digestive motility. Hence why eating a bunch of morphine will make you constipated as hell. If you want to get technical with a correlation then altering and possibly suppressing the efficacy at which your G.I tract mobilizes food, utilizes nutrition and expels fecal matter could put a damper on other priorities such as losing weight. I'm not here to judge at all so hopefully that vibe wasn't given off. We all got our vices and virtues, but ya just have to find the balance between moderation and indulgence. If not then trying to achieve the other healthier goals will be a tunnel with no light at the end.

Good luck with everything, though. When I was younger I could hardly function messing around with substances let alone trying to actually be a half ass productive human being.