question about needle use

[steve137]

how quickly will needle marks and bruises appear? can that happen from one injection? my semi-gf told me she slipped last week and used. she said she bought two bags and used three times. there were marks on bith arms, she said she really doesnt know how to use needles. she has seemed clean for a couple months, but i noticed a change recently. i saw the marks last night, but she said she used liek a weeke ago, however i hadn't noticed them before.

a few months ago her family discovered a great deal of bags, pipes, needles etc. so she does have past use. i am trying to figure if this was a one time slip or has been happening.

[Freedom1990]

From my own personal experience as an IV drug user, one day max for bruises to appear. Marks show immediately.

You're being fed a line of crap, my friend.

[anvilhead]

semi-girlfriend?

agree with freedom......addicts have a terrible capacity for truth telling ESPECIALLY when it comes to their using. i suggest you seriously ponder whether you want an active IV drug user running rampant thru your life.....

[steve137]

how long do the bruises last?

[SpeedyJason]

My dad is a herion addict. Track marks appear very quickly, one day max like anvilhead said. I'm not sure how long the bruises last. It depends on if they keep injecting in the same spot I think. I would say it varies.

[Freedom1990]

Originally Posted by steve137

how long do the bruises last?

What does it matter, honestly?

You're being lied to. Is this acceptable behavior to you?

[steve137]

i guess i jsut want to know when it was from for my own head. she disappeared late saturday night and took her sisters car without permission from 4am to 12 noon sunday without a note or phone call. used the excuse there was an emergency, that her friend was od-ing, it was like a pulp fiction story. later that night she admitted she slipped last week and she showed me the marks. i am just trying to piece together if it explains her disappearance. my thought is she went and did drugs and fell asleep.

[anvilhead]

are you really buying ANY of that story? is it ACCEPTABLE to you to have your semi-gf DISAPPEAR, take someone else's vehicle without permission - i think the other word for that is AUTO THEFT - and then mysteriously enough have track marks show up on her arms? i'm sorry, i guess i'm not quite getting what it IS you are looking so hard for? there's a LOT of stuff right there in your FACE........

[SpeedyJason]

Jesus. Give the guy a break...
Sometimes it's hard for people to realize what's right in front of them. Or it's hard to believe it.

Chill out a little. It's a big issue, but there's no need to go "ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS?!!"

Steve, they're right though, don't buy into her lies okay? Addicts lie a lot, I should know because I am one and so is my dad. I grew up with one and now I am one.

[steve137]

no, i am not buying the story. this is someone who has been in my life for a while and we ahve been trying to move forward. four months in she slipped. i know addicts lie- my cousin has been one my whole life. i have seen friends go down too when i was younger. this is my first experience at my age with someone using. yes, i guess i should run immediately because i know where this is going. for my own piece of mind i want to try to see if anything she says is beleiveable, even though i am sure it is not. or even possible i guess.

[outtolunch]

She was using in December. She was using in January. And no doubt she's using today. This is what addicts do.

They will inject in out of the way places, too. They will snort the stuff and not leave a trace. Bolting off in a stolen car is just another day in the desperate life of many heroin addicts.

Watch your wallet, checks, credit cards and ATM card.

[anvilhead]

would that it were ANYTHING but the truth huh? cuz the TRUTH sometimes just sucks.....it's harsh. anytime we are dealing with drugs and addiction it's gonna be ugly, brutal, and nobody wins. right now you are actually more involved with her DRUG USE than you are with her....is she clean? is she using? where'd she go? is she lying about using again?

i know you want so much more from a relationship. and you deserve so much more from a partner. right now she has some serious demons to do battle with and that's kinda taking up all her time - drugs will suck her soul out her left ear and there won't be much left. maybe just for now, taking a few giant steps backwards wouldn't be a bad thing? maybe let her work thru this however she needs to? it's bad enough being the addict and fighting against the disease, it's tougher yet to be the bystander and try to fight what you cannot see or feel......

[steve137]

i intend to go to more naranon meetings. my fear is that i would be abandoning her. but, i am understanding that this is not my responsibility and that i did not cause anything.

ah, this is what i was womdering all along, if there is this one slip up (that she has admitted to) is that enough to beleive that she needs help? or, is it expected that there will be occasional slip ups along the way? i know this sounds naive, but the truth as harsh as it can be is better than a lie.

[outtolunch]

Relapse is addiction, not recovery.

And taking off in a stolen car is not a one off slip. She needed to go to wherever she went.

[anvilhead]

aw steve, if this was really your CAUSE, don't ya think she'd be doing a lot BETTER? she's an addict, and that's gonna play itself out. so far in your posts, the only one i hear desiring any type of recovery for her is YOU. as much as you'd like to believe it, from everything you shared, she's been using with regularity, YOU just haven't busted her.

all we know is what we have TODAY....this MAY be as good as it gets. her intermittent-to-constant drug use....the disappearing acts....the lies....the bruises. a very serious concern with IV drug users is the potential RISK to infection from other users. god knows where she goes to get the sh!t, where she gets the needles, if they've been used already. that's not scare tactics, that's REAL steve. addicts aren't usually the most sanitary when using and when they're jonesing hard for their dope they'll take just about any risk, and not even consider the consequences....every injection site is open wound......every occasion of use further progresses the disesase of addiction.

take care of you. you can't help someone who doesnt' want help. you can't rescue her. she has to summon the strength and desire from within......

[Callie]

My AH's bruises showed up pretty quickly (24 hours). Initially they were red and inflamed and looked like goose eggs/knots. They were sometimes oozing too. Remember that it's not only in the arm. It is ANYWHERE a vein can be found. Feet, neck (jugular) or sometimes on the back of the arms as opposed to the front. There would be knots for weeks after also.

[steve137]

agreed.

as for where she gets the drugs- co-workers. needles are clean as she manages to steal them from diabetic father. yes, it is all a big red flag.
she said she was afraid to tell me because she was afraid to lose me, but i know she has to fix herself andi haveto care for myself as well.

[anvilhead]

i just want to clarify.....she SAYS she gets drugs from her co-workers.....she SAYS she steals her diabetic father's needles.....those things MAY both be true.....tragic nonetheless.

it sure feels good for a moment when somebody says they don't want to LOSE us....we feel important, NEEDED, special. however when we are dealing with an addict, it's often a big fat hook......cuz we get to thinking we CAN make the difference, we CAN get them well, we ARE that special.

how much did you know about drugs before you met her? how much of your life has been consumed with HER drug use? we gotta think about this stuff........we gotta look at what has happened to the quality of our OWN life as we attempt to save theirs........

[Callie]

Listen to Anvil Steve - she knows her stuff from an addicts point of view. If it's a semi girlfriend, I would run fast and hard for the hills and leave her in your dust. You cannot save her.

[ksaun]

I'm in the same boat as you Steve, My friend is a heroin addict and I was asking all the same questions your asking now. And not that long ago I might add. Here is what I have come to learn. If you think she is using she is. If her mouth is moving she is lying. And, there is NOTHING you can do to help her if she doesn't want help.

The lying was for me was the thing that really started to get to me. I got the same lines from Amie that your getting from your girl. "I don't want to lose you", "I'm not using, Im just tired, I havent been sleeping". "these are old track marks". Trust me I have heard them all.

She was in a meth treatment program since last august. I know she was going because i took her every day myself. I encouraged her, told her how proud I was of her, was there for her when ever she need me. But in the end she wanted the drugs more. Her drug dealer cousin and her addict BF made it soooooo easy for her to fail. In all I think out of the 5 months I was taking her to the clinic, I honestly believe she was not using the first 2 weeks. The rest of the time I think she was using to some degree or another.

She would lie about everything even stuff that I would think to myself why would you lie to me about that?? I knew with every fiber of my being she was lying to me. Yet still I dismissed what I was seeing with my own eyes. I listened to and accepted her lies. Started to question myself. Was I just being overly sensative or protective. The answer is and was a big fat NO! You are seeing the truth. A truth about someone you care about that you don't want to accept or believe. Trust me I get it.

I'm taking some time away from my friend to work on getting MY head straight again. My hope is you do the same. Trust me brother I feel your pain. For me the friendship I held so dear is gone. She has her road to go down and I have mine and for right now they are going in opposite directions. Maybe some day our paths will cross again, and if they do I hope she is clean, happy, and has a good life. But for now I HAVE to walk away as much as it hurts to do that its something I have to do for me.

In the end you have to make your own choices in life. All I have to say is choose wisely, she will only get worse until SHE is ready to get better.

[littlebird77]

I have to agree...

"ex-addict" who doesn't know how to use needles very well uses this method as a relapse.

Bought two bags and shot up three times?

Marks a week later?

Originally Posted by Freedom1990

You're being fed a line of crap, my friend.

[mellowchick]

How quickly bruises appear is going to depend on how easy a person bruises. In my own experience, my bruises would appear within hours at times. If I got asked about them I could I come up with a lie so fast, my head would spin.

[Callie]

My AH would proudly show his arms, but if you checked the BACK of his arms, his feet and his neck, they would tell another story. Your posts have addiction written all over them. Read around SR. Run, run fast and far away. You're only facing pain. Let it go she's NOT worth it. Run, - mark my words - run!!!

[ksaun]

Originally Posted by Callie

My AH would proudly show his arms, but if you checked the BACK of his arms, his feet and his neck, they would tell another story.

Mine hides hers with a hair scrunchy around her arm. I don't know who she thinks she is fooling. Who wears a hair scrunchy on their arm at the elbow?

:wtf2

[outtolunch]

I probably could have lived my whole life without knowing that " packing" meant....up the ole rectum. And now you know, too.