Hope87

Hello everyone,

I had a few questions on someone using herion....just thought maybe someone could help me out. Thanks and God bless.

If shooting up, how often does one do it?

If someone is using herion and they run out, will they switch between pills and that? Will pills hold them over until they can get more herion?

How long does the shooting up process take?

Is it a social drug or do people just usually do it on their own?

Does someone using herion have to be on it or high at all times?

These were just some of the questions I have. Any help would be greatly appreciated Just trying to learn. Thanks all!

Callie

My H had to shoot up every few hours - 3-4 hours??

--He could switch between pills if he had them, though they were more $$

--It takes just a few minutes to shoot up

--H always did it by himself, unless he was really sick/desperate - then he did it as soon as he got it, wherever he was.

--H had to have it at all times or he would be sick.

Hope87

Thanks for sharing Callie. Just trying to learn as much as I can. And really...heroin is cheaper than pills? How much is heroin? Uhhh, what a sick, sad, disgusting world.

justanothrdrunk

There's a lot of variables that go into answering your questions. Replace heroin with alcohol in all your questions and that might give you an idea of the variety of answers you might get.

In a lot of ways, addicts are all the same. But when you get down to the details about the usage ritual, they vary considerably.

That's the thing too... when you get into the nuts and bolts of the ritual of each individual I mean. I use the term, "ritual" because that's really what it is. There have been studies where it was found that the pleasure sensors in the brain that are activated by the drugs actually start up before the drug gets to the brain. The act of preparing the needle, tieing off, etc. is stimulating for the user. It sort of gets the mouth watering just thinking about it.

And because the ritual aspect is so important, that's why it's so unique for each user.

Don't know if that helps or not, but there it is.

Maggiemac

One important thing that you didn't ask about is can you die from 1 shot of heriion.YES<YES. Herion is a evil drug that will kill you. My son died of a herion overdose 11/08. So the main question is do you want to stop????
A friend
Maggiemac

outtolunch

Back when I first became aware of my daughter's addiction, I too became consumed with knowing EVERYTHING about heroin. I think I finally reached my saturation point after reading about some guy who injected into his neck and testicals because the rest of his veins were shot.

Anvilhead is right. All this information sucks us into someone elses addiction.

Rule of thumb as it relates to heroin is if you have to ask, you do not need to know. Heroin addiction is progressive and the consequences of active addiction are prison or death. Nuf said?

cessy68

Hey everyone... and Anvil, I think I'm jumpin in here, because I wanted to ask those questions before, but never did, because I told myself, if I THINK he might do heroin, need I ask more??

And yet I wondered.

I wondered because I have heard HERE... and learned HERE of the progression of addiction.

Because my abf is addicted to pain pills, (percs), I had heard here from others who shared that they switch to heorin, and that scared the living S*** out of me.

It's not to say that the pills aren't bad enough..... but for ME--- needles seem to take on a whole new monster... like diseases, hepatitis, hiv, -- different risks.

When we see people on pills, and 'hear' of how they may switch to heroin, (needles) -- I think any reasonable person starts wondering, questioning, and getting 'scared', (especially if it's a husband/partner) with whom you have relations with.

Thank you for answering hopes questions....

I just never had the 'you know what' to ask out loud.

Love,
Cess

AnAlwaysFriend

I, too, have asked the same questions about my AH drug of choice (crack). At first, I was obsessed with the stuff. . .for some reason I thought if I knew all that I could about the drug, I could somehow fight it head on. I even thought, it would have been better to find out that my AH was having an affair, because then I could have fought her. Basically, what I am trying to say is that no matter how much I learned about the drug and where he got it from (oh, yeah I put myself in very dangerous places, just so I could turn them in to the proper law enforcement angency) I got no relief or justification in my obsession.

I quickly learned that playing detective wasn't the answer. I found that if I spent my time doing something more constructive, like going back to grad school and focusing more on me, then only something GOOD would come out of that. The fear and worry seemed to disappear once I took of the PI hat!

So, consider "just the facts" is it necessary to know the answers; will it benefit you in your recovery?

Callie

I Never - Ever - EVER thought my H would resort to heroin - EVER. I had to take daily shots for a period of time about 8 years ago. I had to give them to myself and I hated it. Dr's had suggested that H give them to me and he never would. In the end, H shot up in his arms, feet, NECK (jugular) and I've even heard that they can shoot up in their d***. I am completely astounded that he resorted to this. It can and will happen if things escalate to that point. If you guys would see my H - you would NEVER believe that he did these things. He is a beautiful person - on the outside - drugs stole everything else.

Callie

Analwaysfriend - I too became an expert PI - I learned everything that you could possibly learn about opiates. I had counselors @ the rehab asking if I was a Psych. doctor or a nurse because I knew so much. In the end I'm glad that I know what I know about his addiction - I cannot believe how naieve and stupid I was for so many years. It was only after he got clean that I realized that I was living with a chronic high person for about 16 years.

Drug addiction is a progressive thing - if you could look into my life you will see that it crosses any and all social boundaries. Brutal honesty ahead >>>> Prior to H's abuse I always equated drugs with lowlife scum. Prior to this I would never waste my time researching drug abuse or talking with people/counselors about it or tivo'ing intervention shows or reading books about it. I quickly found myself knee deep in the middle of it.

Abundance

My guy resorted to Heroin. When he was in rehab - he embarrassingly told me that he had done heroin - not inject it - but smoke it. Maybe once or twice - is what he said. IDK if he did the white powder snorting. I tuned out the parts involving heroin - nevermind that he could crush and snort 10 80mg pills of oxy! :wtf2

And then a few months after rehab - he brought black tar h into the home. I looked at it, I touched it, I now know what it smells like (when being smoked). I remember running the burnt foil under the water - so that i can get rid of the H - in order to throw it away in the garbage can. (he told me that is what had to be done or to throw it out in a public garbage can...... but we were just on the way - literally - to the airport AS A FAMILY TO SEE HIS PARENTS!!!!!!! I was sobbing, and crying at him for bringing that Sh*t into the home- while he was taking a shower. He just kept telling me to chill out and to quit being so dramatic..... that I was going to upset the kids! I'm like... "ME ??? ME??? Upset them?" And then I tell him that if it wasn't for him bringing that :::insert ever bad word::: into our home- then I wouldn't have to STOP doing ANYTHING! #$%*&E A$$ H*#*$~! (guess that would be the codie version of "quacking" - me just talking and all he sees are lips moving and gawd knows what he actually is hearing!)

UUUUUUUGH.... why didn't I leave his sorry arse then?

Anywho......

I found him a few more times using it ..... and then the subutex helped him get off of it.

H is cheaper.

It is disgusting.... and one of the things I asked him minutes before he moved out ... was where he was keeping his h at that time - and he showed me that it was in the garage... inside the broken/gutted computer - just above the hard drive. He chuckled and said "I thought that was a good place." I searched all around that blinking desk and computer..... but never went to that direct spot. Ah well--- i knew he was doing it - that evidence wasn't going to change things. I would find powder on night stands, desks, barely unrolled dollar bills, notebooks - you name it .... and he would tell me it was just DUST! What a friggin' idiot.

Hope- I wanted to understand too... it brought me closer to having compassion - but it also brought me closer in to his sickness.... I became sicker.


Peace and Love xoxoxo

Callie

My H hid it and needles up inside our heating/cooling ductwork. I would have never thought to look there. It's a nasty / dirty drug.

Abundance

Callie... my guy was an avid skier, mountain/rock climber, camper, cared about his blood sugar levels remaining leveled, drinking plenty of water, intelligent, hard worker, good looking, trust worthy, people could count on him... I fell in love with him! And just over 2 years of being in a relationship with him... yup ... he was smoking h in the downstairs bathroom while the boys were upstairs sleeping. He was smoking it in the garage when they were at school. he was snorting ritalin upstairs in the bedroom while the boy's father was over doing homework with the boys in the kitchen. (Yeah ... I walked in on him doing it... and just ask me how hard THAT was.... I was forced to control my reaction in a calm manner.)

Addiction - as much as we want to be able to figure it out - we never will be able to. It's truly a cunning and baffling disease.

If two years ago I would have told my guy that the above 2 scenarios would have happened while in our R.... he would never had believed it - heck - I certainly wouldn't have!

ventuhome

Heroin is a member of the opiates family, like codiene, morphine, vicodan, hydrocodone,etc. They all get turned into morphine by the live once they enter the body. They can all kill you. A 30 year study of Heroin addicts begun in the 60's found that by the 1990's ALL of the addicts were either in a recovery program or DEAD. And the average age life expectancy of this group was 55, compared to non-addicts life expectancy of 75 (at the time). Its somethining that we who are friends or family members must face as part of our own recovery.

outtolunch

Somehow pain pill addiction appears more socially acceptable. In reality, addiction is addiction.

Pain pill addicts usually progress from swallowing to chewing and then to either injecting ground up pills diluted with water and/or move on to heroin, because it is a better bang for the $ and often easier to come bye.

You can smoke heroin. You can inhale heroin. You can pack heroin ( where the sun don't shine) and you can inject heroin into a vein or muscle.

And then there's poppy tea brewed with legal pods acquired from mail order. .....

lilmami

This is the reason I never post here anymore!!She is just asking a question!!!If you can answer answer if you can't then don't say anything!!I really don't see how this answer was constructive in any way.Did everyone on here join this site because they know everything or want help and support???Why do people have to be so negative in all of their replies might be time for some to get off their soap boxes and remember what they were like when they first came here.

imallright

With all due respect Lilmami.... that response was not negative... yes she asked a question and yes she will get answers...but this forum is about support and help for family and friends of addicts.

The reality of dealing with, living with, loving and addict is that the support, strength and focus for each of us has to be on ourselves and taking care of what we can... it's not about figuring out what the addict is doing so that we can fix it.

I agree that sometimes it is gaining all the knowledge we can that opens our eyes. But as I have heard often in meetings and here... "take what you like and leave the rest".

It is my opinion that the people who take the time to support each other here CARE and are sharing their own learning... very cognizant of where they came from and where the other person might be. Please keep coming back. You might not like everything you see, but you will learn. And YOU will help others by sharing your opinions,experience and thoughts.

Hope87

Hey everyone,

Thanks for getting back. I appreciate all the input good and bad. I don't know why I need to know this stuff and I know it doesn't make a difference. In my sick sad head I like to believe that when I do have to sit down and confront with him with this that I need so much stinking evidence to the point that there's no way he can deny what's going on. I know this makes me a VERY sick person and I also KNOW and have been told that if an addict doesn't want you to know they will still deny it, even with a needle sticking out of there arm. They can still find some way to justify it and/or make it appear to be your fault. I know this is not the way to becoming better but in some sick sense, confronting him with as much info I know and whether he admits it to me or not I guess in some way will give me peace of mind. It's the fact that i'm sadly in love with an addict and I will take every avenue before reaching the end. I know in the long run, it will be me going my way and he going his own. It's taking everything in me to accept that realization and it is hard. I'm just looking for understanding, support and information from people who are walking or have walked in my shoes. I know the info I'm asking now does not change or benefit everything but maybe it will keep me aware with other relationships or my own kids someday. Thanks so much again everyone for letting me get this off my chest (as angry as it will make some of you...sick behavior ya know but I'll get there. I'm working my way through one baby step at a time).

Callie

I was the same way. Be prepared though for him to lie. Of course everything that I learned here was false, people on SR didn't know what they were talking about, he was not like other addicts etc. etc. etc.

For me I had to learn about this disease, to understand it. But there comes a time and a point where you can know too much. My H was very highly functional addict and most of the time I didn't even know that he was or had used. If I suspected, he would convince me otherwise.

JMFburns

In one of the stickies at the top it does say to learn all you can.

As I read through the various posts it made me chuckle about what an expert story teller/liar/convincing person my son is. Why they can't turn that talent into something good I'll never understand.

Good Luck Hope