...this is the biggest break I have had off b in 17 years...
Hope your well FUBAR & Blondin
Good to hear, and potentially interesting that (as far as I can see from your posts) it has happened organically, a result I would assume of you simply growing out of the lifestyle and getting so sick of the pissing around involved as opposed to the admirable, but sometimes flawed approach at an all or nothing detox which often sees users losing interest in active behaviour change due to initial failures, which despite being disheartening, are of course more common than first time success stories.
A statistic that used to be thrown around a lot in smoking cessation was the notion that it takes most committed quitters an average of 3 attempts to finally stop permanently, something that I believe has some truth to it based on the successful ex smokers I have encountered. While the 'if at first you don't succeed' notion is certainly transferable to initial attempts at heroin or other drug and alcohol detoxes, I think that the fundamental difference lies in the power of intoxicants to suck you back time and time again.
Most folks I know who managed to give up smoking only relapsed once or twice during typical moments of weakness (socialising + alcohol) and were so angry at themselves for undoing a lot of hard work for something they had begun to learn they didn't miss at all, rarely made the mistake again as despite nicotines genuine addictive properties the drug is (IMO) mainly used through force of habit. However, with genuine intoxicants there is always a strong reason, albeit a stupid and illogical one, to use again as that first bag / drink is so heavenly that it is more difficult to avoid a full and prolonged relapse, as even the most jaded addict still has those moments of bliss where they think that they can justify all the accompanying misery and general disappointment based on that occasional good sesh.
Seeing as I am on a good rant here, ill finish off with cotton fever. Before I was prescribed methadone, I rarely injected due to how effective the drug was when smoked compared to the high, unnecessary risk with regards to IV. But half way through my addiction history, due my desperation to break through the methadone tolerance coupled with the half strength gear that unfortunately became so prevalent in the first half of this decade following the drought, I started to inject regularly and while I still smoke most of my gear (I only usually shoot the first bag after which I top up to nod levels by tooting the rest) it did not change the fact that I was now an IV user by definition as opposed to exception. My naivety with the practise (as I have never socialised with other users with the exception of 2 close friends) meant that I discovered the ultra skanky but unfortunately effective practise of leftover cotton shots via a documentary and it only took a couple of these ill advised instances before I got my first dose of cotton fever.
Somehow, despite some initial fear and the extreme discomfort, I soon realised what was happening to me and why, despite being unfamiliar with the term and following the rapid recovery (one minute your feeling maximum sick, yet only an hour later I felt 80% better) I became instantly blas? with how potentially serious it can be, experiencing it twice again from what I can only assume was some randomly transferred sepsis during administration, as my initial experience was at least enough to deter me from doing cotton shots ever again. Again, as uncomfortable as it was, it dissipated after 4 - 6 hours as on the first occasion, although the last episode left me in pain for days after due to how badly my muscles were aching from all the dithering, shivering and convulsing my body had gone through.
While most people get through it as I did with little to no permanent damage, I believe I am not the only person to treat what could always develop into serious blood poisoning as little more than an occupational hazard and if one is injecting unsterilised street drugs they are always open to catching a dose, as only my first incident could be directly blamed on the contamination of the cotton filter.
