firefly

my best friend has been addicted to heroin for about 6 months. She wants to kick but only wants to go to rehab as a last resort because if her family found out about her using they would disown her. She got a few meds from her doctor..Clonidine for blood pressure, Alprazolam for anxiety and Dicyclomine I dunno what thats for...anyway, shes having a really hard time with it and I was just wondering if there is anything she can do to make easier? Anything I can do for her, other than backing her up and supporting her? any help would be sooo appreciated!!

Pernell Johnson

firefly, getting a heroin habit at home is not the best thing to do. One reason is you has the helper do not know what they need. When the pain become excruciating and they ask you to help buy drugs. You are in a bad position without the strength to say no. As you already know a detox center is the place for your friend. the family does not have to go through the pain they do and they need rela help and compassion. If they persist in trying to do this at home. There are physicians who can help with medication and monitoring. I strongly suggest a detox. Go to the top of the page on this site and you will see soberhouses,com click on that and you can find a detox in your city and state. I wish you luck. Also, stop over at naranon on this forum and talk to broken.

arrogant git

im sorry to hear about your friend,and i do not know how much help this will be but i say 100% that would be in a far worse possition than i am with the help of my family. for you to take on helping her all by your is a big responsobility and i think you should be aware of how big before you commit your ,if you are the sort of friend i think you then it wont matter.i can also tell you that no matter what she /he says do not give her any money once they have commited themselves to detox{which is not going to be easy}then if they are anything like i was will tell you whatever you need to hear to get what they want.i have been sorting my self out for a while now and i choses to get haelp from my doctor {im on methodone} i would suggest your friend looks in to this as you can come off ,over a period off time, with the pain of straight detox.hpoe it helps

angelgirl

firefly,,

I agree very much with Pernell here.. It is very difficult to kick at home. It can be done, but the pain is terrible, and no one reall knows what one's health is. Detoxing can be dangerous if there is any underlying conditions.

Also, it is very difficult to detox, when detox becomes so painful, the addict tends to want to use. I always did. That is why I went to detox so many times. I would hit the hardest part of detox, and give in and use, because I couldn't take it anymore.

Getting clean is really a lifelong process, it is not something that you really can hide. I tried for a long time to hide it as well. I even did my first hosiptal detox for 3 days, on a long weekend from work, with only my husband and kids knowing. That was a HUGE mistake. I refused to stay for treatment, even though they told me IO needed to, I signed myself out. But I did not want anyone to know.. I was afraid, and embarrassed. But, ya know what,?? I was right back in that same detox center within 1 MONTH,, that time I did not try to hide it from anyone anymore. I also stayed for the program. I knew then that I could not do it on my own, MY WAY. I tried my way, may way only proved to get me in the hospital,, I needed to surrender my will..

I didn't think people would understand, and some don't. You do quickly find out who your friends are, and who really loves you.. But you also are saving you life, and that is the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.. Most people do understand, and you find alot of love from the ones that do.

I hope your friend makes the right choice. Its tough, I know, I have been there, it's a slow process of letting go of your will, in order to get better, but until you do let go of that will, it is so hard, if not impossible to get clean, and stay clean. Recovery. Getting clean is just the start, there is much more beyond that, if you dont get support after you get clean, the addict goes right back out and uses again. We are addicts, and that is what we do..

Please, let us knwo what your friend does,, we will be here for you both..

Love,
Becky

Bright Eye

watch out for that dicyclomine - its supposed to be prescribed for irritable bowel syndrome, but a health website i just looked on said side effects may include: Blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, light-headedness, nausea, nervousness, weakness. Heat prostration (fever and heat stroke due to decreased sweating) can occur with use of this drug in hot weather. so be careful. apart from that, get some stuff to distract her with - playstation, videos, stuff like that. also hot baths to relax her might help. keep her well hydrated with lots of water.

angelgirl

Yes,, I was on dicyclomine for irritable bowel syndrome, and I have NEVER heard of anyone taking it while detoxing.. Never. But I am not your friends doctor.. I am just telling you that, it has a whole set of side effects of it's own, I was on it for quite a while, and it is a strange thing to put someone on while detoxing in my opinion. Everything else he gave sounds like normal meds. at least everything I have ever heard for detox, but not that.. But, like I said, I am not the doctor. Maybe you want to call the phamacist who filled the script for you and ask why??

Good call bright eye Welcome to SR!!

Love,
Becky

evelynnstrauss

firefly, i am in your boat. i was married in 1999. both my husband and i used heroin. i made a life choice to be clean at the end of june, 2001. the last time i used was 6/29/01, i remember the date well. i quit on my own. i couldnt sit, stand, shower, eat, sleep or shower for four days. it was murder. but i had no help drugwise although i did drink the first day until i couldn't keep it down. i made this decision on my own with NO support whatsoever from my husband. i left him 7/4/01. i got my independence back that day. i realized not only did i not need heroin but the baggage my friends came with since they still used. i took my husband back after i admitted that i fell in love with a junky. i loved who he was, unfortunately that was an addict. i've stayed clean while he lied for years about cleaning up. i have full custody of my 4yr old. this summer i found 4 bags of heroin in my den. that was it. i filed and am now divorced.
i know my will was incredibly strong. i never asked anyone to get me drugs or help me at all for that matter. mostly because i was ashamed of how i looked. if all your friends are junkies they all look disgusting- they would never tell you that you look like you're on deaths door because it would mean they do too. i am 5'7" and was 107lbs. i'm not built to be that thin.

anyway, i am in your boat now. my son is with his biological father - my husband could not give me a child. my ex husband moved from pa on monday. drove a truck with his belongings down to fl, three days after he arrived told me that he was going to start detoxing. that was tonight. i know what i went through, but any dr will tell you that everyone is different. i know the pain he's going to be in. the best thing you can do for your friend is keep telling her that she's doing the right thing. kinda like being her personal cheerleader. i would suggest rehab- but you and she could write it off as a vacation for now until she is ready to be honest with her family. right now, only my brother and i know what my husband is doing. he told his family and friends that he came down here to fix things with "us". they were all for it. they were also oblivious to his addiction. being a business owner, he needed to keep everyone in the dark. i found out because of his mistake. he has my love and support. hell i stayed married to him for better or for worse for 10 years. now i need to play my part in sickness and in health.
if you can convince your friend to admitt to her family whats going on that would make things easier, but as i said no one knows what going on here and we need to keep it that way. he has my help and my brothers support. the next week is going to be hell. he knows it and i'm prepared to deal with it. i wish you and she the best of luck. if you need to vent i am here for you!

Dee74

Hi Evelyn

I should let you know you're replying to a post from 2001.

I wish the best for you and your son
D

Stereosteveo

Hey! Arrogant Git started it!

Well Firefly, is he done detoxing yet? How did it turn out? lol

Welcome to the board Evely!

krissypissy

omg dee that drives me NUTS!!!! i really need to start looking @ the dates more than the posts when i start reading! LOL-take care-krissy

mrsexy

I doubt that your friend will kick at home. My girlfriend started using heroin on july 28 and it seems like it has only gotten worse. Watching the drug ravish her with the speed that it did has truly amazed me. I have tried everything from locking her away in hotels for days at a time to help her get over the sickness to literally chasing down these heroin dealing scum bags nothing seems to work if you or any one out there has any advice id love hearing it. I love her but cant sit back and watch her kill herself

Dee74

Welcome to SR
this thread is 10 years old so I wouldn't expect a reply from the original poster.

I'm sorry for your situation. I know it must be tough - I hope you're taking care of yourself in all of this.

There's a lot of support here - I recommend you check out our Family and Friends forums too

D

mvice

Oh I am SO glad people are still posting here!

I have been using opiates for over a year now. Heroin initially, but now mostly morphine (which comes in pill form, i crush it up, cook it, and shoot it).

I have been wanting to stop for the past 2-3 months now. My dealer is my exbf (if you can call it that, we dated for 8 weeks before his white trash persona grossed me out immensely!) and for the past 6 months I have been faking a friendship with him so he will sell me the pills every month. Well, unfortunately, Saturday I went over there to hang, but really what i wanted was to trick him into giving me a pill, or at the very least, selling me one. He gets them prescribed every month after he broke his neck and back in a motorcycle accident years ago. Anyways, back to the unfortunate- we watched Inception, talked about it, shot a pill, and the he suggested we watched John Holmes, the murder mystery about the porn star. I told him i would NOT be watching a porno with him, but he reassured me it was a murder mystery about a porn star. If any of you have seen the first five minutes (and that is all I could get through), you'll know there is a drug/sex scene. He started pleasuring himself, so I told him to ******* stop and it was making me uncomfortable and that Id leave if he didn't stop. Well, he didn't, so I gathered my things and as i stood up, he pulled down my sweatpants and forced me on the couch, shoving his fingers inside of me. Im a hard core bitch and after screaming at the top of my lungs GET THE **** OFF ME GET THE **** OFF ME, I shoved my lit cigarette in his throat and choked him until I could get away. Three days later (today), I have met with the police, the hospital and bawar (bay area women against rape) and told them my entire story. They were nothing but incredibly supportive and helpful. Since I honestly have been trying to stop for the past couple months (treatment centers included), the doctor prescribed me suboxone. He also wrote me a note to excuse me for the rest of the work week (yes- Im that HIGHLY functioning heroin addict making 50k at 23 years of age). I know from my NA mates and sponsor that this is not the best idea (detoxing anywhere besides a detox/rehab center), but this WILL work for me. My dealer raped me- I'm done with him, his drugs, and I'm done with these life decisions that lead me to a "friendship" with him.

Anyone else considering doing this- please do be careful. Technically, you are not supposed to take subtext until your UA is clean because it will spiral you into withdrawal. Drink tons of Gatorade, and if possible, take melatonin or sleeping aids to waste the days away until its out of you. Take as many showers as possible because you will be sweating the toxins out and without washing them away, they can slowly soak back into your system (won't **** you up or keep you well, but it's still there). Oh man, if I could only get my ass to a waismanns clinic! For the original post- thats a lot of medication that shouldn't be taken without proper supervision. Bad call. Curious to learn how that turned out...

Wish me luck- I'll report back throughout my detox.

mVice

chained

mvice,

I am sorry to hear about what happened to you. You are obviously NOT a chick to mess with =0) Good for you! Us girls have to be fighters sometimes.

I wasn't sure, have you started on the Suboxone yet? You also mentioned Subutex. What ever your doctor tells you obviously supersedes what I am about to say. I worked in a detox hospital for seven years and just got used to the practice that we followed. When I struggled with my own pill/heroin addiction, I followed the same guidelines and wd was definitely more manageable.
Subutex: True, if taken too soon, it will throw you in to wd. Usually once a person is experiencing 2-3 wd symptoms (ie. jumping out of your skin, goose bumps, muscle cramps, stomach cramping, nausea, sweating AND the most accurate symptom...dilated pupils--they will be huge!) then it is time for subutex. Waiting for a clean UDS will take days.
Suboxone: Often started after at least 24 hours of Subutex OR at least 24 hours of no opiates and showing signs of wd.

My thoughts on maintenance Suboxone...I was on it for two years and I had VERY few cravings after the first few months clean. My dose was increased to manage the increase in cravings, but after doing well for a bit, I made sure to ask my doc to keep my dose as low as we could. I stayed at 2mg for most of that two years. I had no issues getting off of it. However, if you check out the threads under the suboxone / methadone section, you will see that MANY struggle to get off of the suboxone. My friend is on a high dose and she is having a heck of a time lowering. Just a little info I thought I would pass on. Maybe you already know this or your doctor feels different. But I thought I would share my experience.
Hope to see you around
We are here for you!

mfanch

I kicked at home. The ONLY reason I kicked at home is because I am a medical professional. I do not recommend it. A detox is safer and you can be responsible for NOTHING for a few days and let the staff do their jobs.

That was over 2 years ago and I never want to do it again. I refuse crutch meds and am finally FREE of all drugs. One day at a time.