Opioids Former IV Opiate User and Blood Pressure

[MilkyBuns]

Hello. I am a former IV opioid user who has been completely clean for 5 years. Back when I was in the depths of addiction, I was injecting heroin, roxicodone 30s and 15s, dilaudid, and very rarely cocaine. Since I have turned my life around, I have finally found a decent job with health insurance. I started visiting the doctor (after about 10 years of never seeing one), and discovered that I have high blood pressure (hypertension stage 2). The doctor recommended I try to correct this on my own, before giving me medication, by eating a healthier diet and exercising more. I have done this, but my blood pressure still remains pretty high. The doctor told me he was very surprised to see my blood pressure so high for a person of my age. I am also not overweight. I feel pretty fine otherwise.

It has been constantly nagging in my mind that this may be a result of all the shit that I've injected in the past, and I was wondering if anyone here has any knowledge about this subject. I was contemplating telling the doctor about my past, but am fearful about being looked at like a scumbag. I'm also wondering if there would even be any point in telling him. Like what could even be done about it anyways? Is there any way to clean out pill fillers/whatever the fuck else is in my veins? Does anyone have any experience with this? I've been trying to find information about this around the net but haven't had much luck.

 

[Scrofula]

Having high blood pressure despite agonizing over diet and exercise is just the plight of modern man in an industrialized world.

IV drug use can do a number on a person's body, but you admit you don't have a good reference point in the last decade. For all you know, it used to be a lot worse back when you were using; you might have been a jump-scare away from fatal aneurysm.

There's just no way to know if your current high blood pressure is due to past drug use, or if you're just one of the other hundred million humans currently living with the condition.

I only pretend to have an MD when I imagine scar tissue in your veins causing less elasticity. That would be how it is with cholesterol plaques and "hardened arteries"--after enough fatty matter gets deposited in your arteries, your body treats it a bit like an infection, getting inflamed and forming scar tissue that narrows the opening and increases pressure. But it seems like a stretch for IV drug use.

There can be complications with heart valves, but that's something your doctor would hear with her stethoscope. And you can die quite suddenly when an undissolved bit of chalk from a crushed pill clogs in the wrong spot. Any stuff left after five years would be sealed off by now, though, with no way to find it or do anything about it.

Most of the time I advise caution in letting your GP in on past drug use (not with ER docs or specialists). Doctors are humans, mostly, and they have biases. A person risks their insurance company putting them on a hassle-you-over-every-pain-complaint and Rx forever list.

In your case it sounds like you're ready for lifelong opioid abstinence, and serious about getting healthy. In that case, your actual doctor might be a qualified expert to answer your questions.

 

[MilkyBuns]

Thank you. I really appreciate the response. I never really thought about the fact that it could have actually been worse for all those years prior. I'll continue working on eating healthy and exercising, and I'll mention it to the doctor next time I go in if the problem still persists.