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UNHAPPY777 02-06-2009 10:31 AM

Heroin
 
Can someone please give me the signs of someone using heroin? Does it have a smell? What are withdrawls like?


Thank You

Callie 02-06-2009 11:15 AM

needle marks, red swollen gooseggs on the arms anywhere on the arms, front, back, the neck (jugular), the feet, toes. Nodding out (falling asleep while standing up - check out youtube - you can see what nodding out looks like.)

I don't know what it looks like or smells like. Maybe ask on the SA board for more info?

outtolunch 02-06-2009 11:20 AM

Heroin is my daughter's drug of choice. She was not living at home for the majority of time she was initially in active addiction. I had no idea, thus my screen name.

She returned home and asked for help. I lived with her, in active addiction, for 5 days before placing her in rehab. She was constantly texting. She would awaken like clock-work and bolt out of the house, to meet one her dope buds, who had been circling the area, waiting for her. Her life was so very simple, steal/scam and make a connection and repeat. Absolutely nothing else mattered. If there was a delay in getting funds or dope, she had bad flu-like symptoms. And yet, she could bolt from her " death bed" once she made a text message connection.

She relasped upon returning and living at home ,this past summer and again, I never noticed the whole dialated pupil thing. It was all about her behaviors, the texting, the missing work, the bolting and never ending chaos so that I focused on the chaos instead of the root cause.

So for me, it was not about appearances. She never nodded out in front of me or displayed track marks and yet she was an IV user. She did not smell different. It was all about the actions/behaviors, which never lie.

cece1960 02-06-2009 11:42 AM

Ditto what OTL said.
There's parculiar manic behavior that arrives when my AS does heroin.
His eyes change too...lighter shade and pupils the size of the head of a pin
I can also tell from his voice on the phone...it gets higher and rapsy. Like when someone is trying to pretend all is well.

Hurtbad2505 02-06-2009 11:49 AM

AS would nod off easily, black and blue 'marks' on the insides of his arms. I didn't know this at the time, but I guess they get 'itchy'...scratching arms, etc. when they are high.
Most telling was the money that was spent with nothing to show...belongings disappearing, etc..

UNHAPPY777 02-06-2009 12:12 PM

Thanks to everyone that has responded!!!! Well it's funny because I didn't know what kind of drug that my husband was/is using. But if you read my previous post you will find that the girl who I thought he was having an affair with would text him 30-40 times a day. He also nods off and has bolted out of the door with a phone call. He can be in a deep sleep and I can be outside working out, the next thing I know he's fully dressed and out the door. Has anyone else ever experienced the fact that their hygiene deteriorates? Can you smoke heroin or only use IV? I never see the marks on my husband either....

OUTTOLUNCH---- What would your daughter be saying in her texts? Was it all drug related?

outtolunch 02-06-2009 12:35 PM

My daughter would never let her cell out of her possession. Had she, I woud have, at the time, been right on it, snooping away. I did however, see some of the bills and saw she was racking up serious hundreds of texts a day.

Lots of my daughter's dope buds were absolutely filthy. When she finanlly returned home at the end of her run, she was indeed filthy and only had the clothes on her back., not even a change of underwear.

On the last night before she went off to rehab, she and her dope bud had been picked up by the Police. He was charged with posession. She went in heart attack mode ( age 19) and they transported her to a hospital, who called us ( or anyone who might be inclined to pay). She had been doing 'speedballs" that day, a combo of cocaine and heroin. Most heroin users are polysubstance abusers, meaning they will do any drug, any time.

Heroin can be smoked, snorted or injected. My sense is that there are a lot more heroin addicts who smoke and sniff, than inject. There is also poppy tea which is brewed from legal pods of particular varieties.

I could have lived my whole life, just fine, without knowing any of this.

Callie 02-06-2009 12:38 PM

Ditto about the multiple texts,calls, bolting out the door. Sleeping alot, alot and taking forever to "wake up or get his day started". Yes, my AH would normally NEVER not take a shower first thing in the morning. I had to remind him that he'd not showered in 2 days. Always cared about his hair, clothes etc. With the heavy drug use he could care less to throw on a hat and walk out the door wearing 2 day old clothes. You can smoke and use heroin IV. As far as the marks, AH always had an excuse and they were hard to see on him. He'd do the feet alot or the backs of his arms as opposed to the general locations so I wouldn't notice them.

Hurtbad2505 02-06-2009 12:38 PM

hygiene definately deteriorated...AS would go days and days without a shower..ick..
Heroin can be smoked and snorted also. According to my AS, most eventually go to IV use as it makes a little go a longer way...:c029:

Callie 02-06-2009 12:40 PM


Originally Posted by outtolunch (Post 2096645)
My daughter would never let her cell out of her possession. I did however, see some of the bills and saw she was racking up serious hundreds of texts a day.

DITTO, DITTO, DITTO - the cell phone and multiple calls/texts are key.

I could have lived my whole life, just fine, without knowing any of this.

Isn't that the truth. AH's counselors have asked if I'm a psychologist or a nurse because I know so flippin' much.

UNHAPPY777 02-06-2009 01:32 PM

Wow thanks for all of the helpful info. My husband is really particular about his feet. He seems to keep his socks on all the time. He says that he has ugly feet but, soooo what I think he would keep his shoes on at the beach if he wouldn't look like a ******.

Has anyone ever looked at their eyes and they appear to be crossed? It's funny because this girl would text him sooo many times and he would text maybe once out of 20 times she texted. I have a restraining order on her because of her disrespect of calling the house and texting my phone. But, that doesnt seem to stop her. Most normal people would stay out of my path but, she doesn't care.

My husband has gotten better with his hygeine but, he use to be one of the cleanest people I knew! He would iron his boxers.

Can anyone tell me if their loved ones denying using all together from the begining and it felt like you had to play inspector gadget? How many love ones have been MIA for days....Do they do this until the run out of money or drugs? Help any info would be great!!!
My husband has started sleeping in his car inthe driveway. We live in a fairly large home for CA it's 3000 sq ft.. Why not just sleep in a different room. Could it be that he is continuously using drugs in the car... What happend to the man I use to know:(

timetogo 02-06-2009 01:53 PM

Awww Unhappy.....I'm so sorry you are going through this -- it can be soooo crazy making!

"Can anyone tell me if their loved ones denying using all together from the begining and it felt like you had to play inspector gadget? How many love ones have been MIA for days....Do they do this until the run out of money or drugs? Help any info would be great!!!
My husband has started sleeping in his car inthe driveway. We live in a fairly large home for CA it's 3000 sq ft.. Why not just sleep in a different room. Could it be that he is continuously using drugs in the car... What happend to the man I use to know"


Even though my AH's DOC is alcohol and cocaine, he would always always deny it. He comes home completely drunk in front of all three of us (16 & 18 year old daughters) and gets up the next day and says he wasn't!! It is a manipulation that's meant to make you question yourself so you think you're crazy -- and it makes you feel crazy!!

As for MIA -- that was/is very common. The longest for me was 5 days at which time, he came home and announced he had spent $7000. When I asked where and on what he replied, what does it matter? I don't know about the sleeping in the car thing other than maybe it's the "nodding off" others were talking about.

I often wonder where the man I used to know went -- my husband looks like him, many times acts like him, sounds like him. It has taken me a long time to realize, it's not him anymore -- so sad to watch

hugs to you.....

UNHAPPY777 02-06-2009 02:03 PM

Thanks TIMETOGO

You know it's funny because I wonder wht they just don't say I'm doing drugs. They made the choice to start so it had to be a conscious decision. I know some addicts start off using pain pills for accidents or chronis pain. Buit, others just do it because it was their choice. What happend to making that conscious choice and sticking by it. Just as BOLD as they come in and blame us for little things they need to blame themselves for big things. They seem to have made a choice for us to destroy our families. So, if they putthat much into making decisions for us than thye should make the decision to tell the truth about using. I know they have moments of clarity. Why not use them to be honest?

ksaun 02-06-2009 04:59 PM

Just as everyone else has said, my addicted ex-friend would do everything mentioned. She would Nod off in the car constantly, go out in public in pajamas, not shower, itch constantly, have an oversion to light, Sleep all day. The list goes on and on. She would shoot up on her arm, then try to cover it up with a hair scrunchy. Now who wears a hair scrunchy on their arm at the elbow???

It would take me calling 8-10 times sometimes more to wake her up. Her voice would get raspy and her speech would slow, slur and be very hard to understand, her stomach would hurt. And she would lied about everything and I mean everything. Never noticed the pin point pupils myself though. But the fact is believe what your seeing and not what they tell you.

Maggiemac 02-06-2009 05:41 PM

When my son was doing drugs he would swear he wasn't. Put his hand to God would tell over and over he was not a addict he just need medication for the pain in his back and leg. The weekend before he died he stayed at home the whole weekend. He walked around the house with shorts on I look at his body close I didn't see any thing that look like marks on him and believe me I looked hard. He could sleep at the drop of a hat. but he could do that even when he was not on drugs. I looked at his eyes didn't see anything their either. He spent his life in the bathtub. He said that sitting in the hot water made his back feel better. He did take money from my purse and sold things from the house of course it was not him and put his hand up to God he didn't do it I guess I took my own money just to blame him. He would always say anything missing around here you allways think its me. Once his dad took him out because he was on house arrest for about a month so my husband thought he needed to get off my last nerve. They went to the club my husband belonged to my husband went to the bathroom and Jason left the club. When his dad came out of the bathroom he ask where is Jason they said he just went out the door. My husband look outside no Jason. He was getting ready to leave when some one said their is someone laying on the road. My husband got into the car and down the road their he was laying on the side of the road my husband said he was died. Jason was not breathing my husband and a friend put him in the van and husband was taking him to the hospital not far from where they were. Just before they got their he woke up my husband was so happy he was alive he brought him right home. When his dad ask him what happened he said he didn't know. Yah right. Now we know he was on herion. Now he is dead from herion. If I could ask him today is he useing he would say no.
Maggiemac:praying

nenacarol 02-06-2009 06:20 PM

You asked about the smell. My son used to smoke heroin before he started shooting up. I could always tell because the smell is unmistakable. It smells sickly sweet, kind of like burnt brown sugar. Once you smell it, you will never forget it.


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