Comments on: What Is It Like To Suffer From Heroin Addiction?

By: zed hex

zed hex — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:13:46 +0000

Deterrence?:
HIV and Hep aren’t much of a deterrent. If you’re desperate, and our oh-so-wise “superiors” have decided that access to clean needles encourages drug abuse, then people will share needles and infect each other. But if you have good access to clean syringes, then you have no risk.
Effect on Life?:
Total – and I liked it that way for a long time.
What precluded me from seeking help?:
I didn’t want any help. The only problem I had was that the damn stuff is illegal.

By: Spade

Spade — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:07:58 +0000

The withdrawal syndrome we have been discussing is what is termed ‘primary’ or ‘early’ abstinence.
A substantial portion of the physical symptoms of this stage seem to depend on the activity of a part of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus.
Opiates depress this area and it would therefore be expected to become hyperactive during withdrawal.
The locus coeruleus is an important center in the brain’s fear-alarm system, and such hyperactivity would be consistent with the marked anxiety and agitation withdrawing addicts report.
Fortunately for withdrawing addicts, other drugs beside the opiates can depress this region and one of them is clonidine.

By: Lise22

Lise22 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:14:29 +0000

No addict cares about the risk of infection. They just want to get high. Alot have a death wish so the risk of disease that could kill them is an added bonus. Most heroin addicts have attempted to quit many times and it is the terrible withdrawal that brings them back. Most know they are addicted and don't want to quit. It is a lifestyle not just an addiction. Many use it to numb both physical and emotional pain. As they approach rock bottom and lost almost everything they care even less and just keep getting high until they die, go to jail or do quit. I know many who don't do heroin anymore but have been on methadone for over 20 years. Many start with pills, then smoking it and then needles and once they start running they don't back to crawling. Many love the rush of the needles, not the drugs in them. I knew one girl that would shoot up Vodka.