[Dr.Mambo]

I'm just curious. Not to be nosey but I had a problem with heroin and opiates. In a sober living/halfway house now and I'm better.

[Rob Instigator]

Best of luck to you. I was addicted to tobacco. smoked 1-2 packs a day for 12 years.

Quit cold turkey. 6 weeks later I finally felt "normal."

Nothing as draining and rough as a heroin addiction, but addiction nonetheless.

[Dr.Mambo]

I've been clean from heroin six months. I fucked up up about a week ago. Shot some fentanyl. Depressed about it. I didn't know how fast heroin grabs you.in Ohio here its an epidemic.

[EVOLghost]

Thankfully, no. Heroin, is the one thing I haven't tried. I can honestly tell you I was interested in experiencing it(I've tried a lot of things, you name it, I most like had it)....but I had one friend eventually turn to it after being addicted to painkillers. Once he asked me if I could find it, I no longer wanted to try it. I mean...seeing his mind be completely occupied with how great the high is was sad. When I like things, I REALLY like them....so once I saw him, it was sort of a terrifying sight. I mean....what if I had tried it before I saw him, would I have been like that? Another friend told me it was too good. So yeah.....after that, I just said I'll be fine without it.

[stu666]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Thankfully, no. Heroin, is the one thing I haven't tried. I can honestly tell you I was interested in experiencing it(I've tried a lot of things, you name it, I most like had it)....but I had one friend eventually turn to it after being addicted to painkillers. Once he asked me if I could find it, I no longer wanted to try it. I mean...seeing his mind be completely occupied with how great the high is was sad. When I like things, I REALLY like them....so once I saw him, it was sort of a terrifying sight. I mean....what if I had tried it before I saw him, would I have been like that? Another friend told me it was too good. So yeah.....after that, I just said I'll be fine without it.

I've tried it a couple of times and have to say the first time was the nicest feeling ever. I had no pain or troubles until it wore off. I've not had anymore since though and can see how it can be extremely addictive. I'm trying to stop everything now, including weed and tobacco. Done about 3 weeks and the vivid dreams/nightmares are starting to become less frequent.

[Dr.Mambo]

Yeah, it messes with your head and makes you do things you'd never normally do. And even after you're off it, you still think about it a lot.

[tw2113]

Closest I can claim would be caffeine.

[The Soup Nazi]

Do prescription drugs count?

[Severian]

I don't want to answer the main question this thread is based on, because I have some controversial beliefs about the accepted societal definition of addiction, and the kind of self-talk that a lot of recovery programs promote. I don't want to piss anyone off, or give anyone who's having a successful recovery a reason to rationalize using, so I'm not going to say much on the topic of addiction, even though it was one of my major study areas when I was in grad school. I was studying addiction and dependency from a bio-chemical and neuro-psychological perspective, though, so I have learned from experience how frustrating it is to talk to people from other academic backgrounds (like Social Work, counseling or talk therapy based clinical psychology).

I just don't have a popular take on the way we "handle" addiction in this culture. Legally, socially, and often even medically, I believe we have a lot of things totally backwards.

However, I will say this: I have experimented with just every kind of drug known to man. I never got too into any one thing, but in my 20's, I pretty much did it all. This ended over ten years ago, and I've lived a fairly straight and narrow life, even though I've done a lot and seen a lot.

I know that I almost definitely have a physiological dependency on legal prescription pain and sleeping medications. I've been over this before I think. I don't abuse anything, and have quite a reputation for being "straight" probably because I'm aware that the medications I take make it dangerous to drink or get high in any way. Some people would say I'm an addict, but dependency doth not an addict make. I'm currently taking steps to get off the low dose meds I'm on. Not because they mess me up, but because I want to be healthier, and I'm getting older.

I've lost many friends to drugs and drug-related accidents, suicides, etc. I'm not even sure if this is a rare thing anymore. So many people seem to be getting fucked up these days that I'd wager most of us have known someone who has died of an overdose or something. It's quite sad.

So yeah. Make of that what you will.

[Severian]

Oh yeah, and I have smoked for YEARS.

I started in my teens and quickly went up to a pack a day or more. Slowed down in my late 20's. Now I have a really fucked relationship with nicotine. I probably don't "need" it anymore, but I still smoke a cig in the morning and before bed, and I buy patches and cut them in half and wear them every other day. Why? Because I fucking love smoking and I love nicotine. I only stopped smoking regularly because I did the math and decided I was looking at lung cancer being an inevitability if i kept up. Also, it's not the '90s anymore. Nobody smokes these days. If you smell like smoke in a professional environment, you're probably going to be among the first to get the axe when budget cuts are made.

So I wake up, smoke in my smoking clothes, remove said clothes and put them in an empty closet, take a shower, put on clean clothes, go to work, come home, put on my smoking clothes, smoke, change into clean pajamas, brush my teeth and wash my hands so my girlfriend doesn't have to smell my nasty ass and go to bed.

Soooo... I guess I probably AM an addict if cigarettes count, cause even I can see that this behavior is utterly insane.

[Rob Instigator]

More deaths based on prescription meds this year than any other drug besides alcohol...

[tesla69]

Former addict Luke Edwall, who now works with Victory Outreach Pueblo, told the group, "I'd be in there for three days on the Dilaudid drip, saying I've got a fracture in my back because I know I do have a little crack there and they'd find it. There's extreme costs all over the place. An addict will find their fix somehow."

[EVOLghost]

Yo....dilaudid is AMAZING! I only had a small dose, but that shit was goood. I had a kidney stone and they decided to give me some of that shit....Man....After 3 doses, they wouldn't give me anymore. But wow....wow......woooooow...

[Severian]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Yo....dilaudid is AMAZING! I only had a small dose, but that shit was goood. I had a kidney stone and they decided to give me some of that shit....Man....After 3 doses, they wouldn't give me anymore. But wow....wow......woooooow...

I used to get shots of that for migraines, but any euphoria was lost on me because I was in so much brain pain that I honestly didn't even notice.

Then I got a small script of it to help with some seriously debilitating post-whiplash pain about a year and a half ago, and man... that shit is strong. Again, the pain was so bad that I was not able to fully enjoy it, but lying in bed certainly got a lot more fun for a couple days.

[ilduclo]

Pretty well cleaned up from everything, but past history was alcohol, amphetamines, prescription opiates, smoked black tar, oh, yeah, and cigarettes