11 year heroin and crack addict. Clean 16 yeasr

[CrimeJunkie01]

AMA

My veins are terrible, I groin injected for about 5 years and I have huge track marks both sides of my groin. My right arm is slightly better than anywhere in my body as I am right handed and injecting into my right arm was difficult to do. I still managed it, but badly. I have one decent one in my right hand that comes up if I have hot water on it and inevitably I use that. My legs bruise really easily and take ages to heal due to poor circulation. If I'm honest I worry I might lose my legs one day.

That must be a big worry. One of the ex users I took in to hospital had sepsis due to a foot ulcer.

Might be an idea for you to read up on diabetic foot care as the advice would probably translate to your needs quite well. Would your GP refer you for regular checks with a podiatrist or chiropodist in order to manage things proactively.

Well done on turning your life round by the way.

I always find the stories of how people get addicted to heroin fascinating and terrifying, and also find that most addicts are keen to tell their story of asked nicely and without judgement. One man that stands out was so naive about drugs that he thought, injection=heroin, snorting =cocaine, pills=Ecstasy etc, and smoking =cannabis. He didn't realise that what his brother and his brothers mates were passing around was heroin he thought it was just some harmless weed and before he new it he was an addict. It shows how important quality drug education is.

I do a lot of public speaking on this, you could say I'm on a crusade! I've never done schools because, I genuinely think that anyone who meets me wouldn't believe my past unless I told them. I'm successful, have a great job, a nice house and I think if I'd seen some one like me when I was at school I'd think, "well she turned out OK" and think that being an addict couldn't be that bad.

I mean, I could tell them about using puddle water to inject with as I was desperate for a fix and didn't have access to water as I was living in my car, but I just don't think they'd see it.

I'm glad your experience put you off drugs.

@alltheusernamesarealreadytaken that was in response to you, MN is very buggy tonight!!

@EgonSpengler2020

My veins are terrible, I groin injected for about 5 years and I have huge track marks both sides of my groin. My right arm is slightly better than anywhere in my body as I am right handed and injecting into my right arm was difficult to do. I still managed it, but badly. I have one decent one in my right hand that comes up if I have hot water on it and inevitably I use that. My legs bruise really easily and take ages to heal due to poor circulation. If I'm honest I worry I might lose my legs one day.

That must be a big worry. One of the ex users I took in to hospital had sepsis due to a foot ulcer.

Might be an idea for you to read up on diabetic foot care as the advice would probably translate to your needs quite well. Would your GP refer you for regular checks with a podiatrist or chiropodist in order to manage things proactively.

Well done on turning your life round by the way.

I always find the stories of how people get addicted to heroin fascinating and terrifying, and also find that most addicts are keen to tell their story of asked nicely and without judgement. One man that stands out was so naive about drugs that he thought, injection=heroin, snorting =cocaine, pills=Ecstasy etc, and smoking =cannabis. He didn't realise that what his brother and his brothers mates were passing around was heroin he thought it was just some harmless weed and before he new it he was an addict. It shows how important quality drug education is.

Thank you. I do keep meaning to ask my GP for a referral but for some reason it never gets to the top of my to do list. I do try to keep on top of them. I've known so many people who have lost their legs to injecting.

I totally see your point. You’ve almost turned it around too far and are now aspirational 😂😂

It’s not quite the desired effect!
Well done to you though.
You’re truly an inspiration.

I’m sure your family are very proud and relieved x

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

It’s not quite the desired effect! Well done to you though. You’re truly an inspiration.

I’m sure your family are very proud and relieved x

Thank you. My family are amazing and probably the reason my kids are so normal!!!

Well done. You should be very proud of yourself.

Firstly, well done on turning your life around.

If I may, what was the worst thing you witnessed or experienced while using?

@nannyamc @Annoyedandirritated

Well that was weird, it just posted half my message. I meant to say thank you.

I'm really impressed by you OP. To overcome all that must have been harder than I could possible imagine, but you did it! And it sounds like your work is important and valuable. You should be so proud of yourself

How did you manage to keep your education going whilst using?

When you were using did any of your former circles of friends try and intervene ... If so, how did that go, or had you detached yourself and was the circle yiu were running with quite removed from normal life. It always fascinates me how we can jog alongside people, in the street, in a pub, as neighbours etc but the society we esch understand and mix with does not cross paths outside of their own reality.

@TheProvincialLady

How did you manage to keep your education going whilst using?

I didn't attend school for months but somehow managed to show up for the exams and passed. I read the text books the night before, I'd always found it easy to retain large amounts of information for short periods of time.

I didn't do A Levels, but applied through clearance as a mature student and got a place at university. I only lasted 3 months. It was too much for an addict.

When I got stable on methadone I applied again to study at uni

@garden4569

When you were using did any of your former circles of friends try and intervene ... If so, how did that go, or had you detached yourself and was the circle yiu were running with quite removed from normal life. It always fascinates me how we can jog alongside people, in the street, in a pub, as neighbours etc but the society we esch understand and mix with does not cross paths outside of their own reality.

Not really, they all avoided me when I started using. I don't blame them, but I agree, it's mad how we just walk past things. My motto is "the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept".

Dear OP

CONGRATULATIONS on your huge achievement. I lost a friend at 42 to heroin, he's been clean 20 years. Successful family man, wife was a nurse, beautiful kids.

But then he just lost his way. I guess the risk is always there, I hope you have people who will notice if you're de-railing. I didn't spot the signs in my friend.

@WaterBottle123

Dear OP

CONGRATULATIONS on your huge achievement. I lost a friend at 42 to heroin, he's been clean 20 years. Successful family man, wife was a nurse, beautiful kids.

But then he just lost his way. I guess the risk is always there, I hope you have people who will notice if you're de-railing. I didn't spot the signs in my friend.

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. It's such a horrible thing, addiction. It sneaks up nd grabs you and no one knows until its too late, even the person being taken over by it.

@Blindering sorry I missed your question, I am from a large Middle class family, none of whom use drugs, however my parents had an acrimonious divorce when I was 11 which broke me to be honest.

I lost a friend in my 20s to heroin. None of us knew.

I have a question which probably sounds a bit silly. The point when you realise you are addicted to heroin, and that its costing you financially, physically & emotionally...why do more people not go right ok I'll get onto methadone? There is a drug that takes away the withdrawal, so why don't more users go on it earlier?

@MistySkiesAfterRain

I lost a friend in my 20s to heroin. None of us knew.

I have a question which probably sounds a bit silly. The point when you realise you are addicted to heroin, and that its costing you financially, physically & emotionally...why do more people not go right ok I'll get onto methadone? There is a drug that takes away the withdrawal, so why don't more users go on it earlier?

It's kind of hard to explain. Methadone takes away the withdrawal, but doesn't give you the hit that you want. Also it's slow to take effect. They say that heroin withdrawal is like having flu, in my opinion it's worse, but imagine if you had flu, and you could spend £10 and you KNEW that within a minute you would feel better, would you spend that £10? The amount of money that people spend on flu and cold medicine each year says that a lot of people would, and that doesn't even make you feel better. Another bag of heroin is guaranteed to fix you temporarily.

Also, by the time you are addicted, you are in that way of life. Getting help isn't as simple as lots of people think. It can take weeks to get a script for methadone, and by then the crisis (having no money, or whatever) is over. You've been paid, the initial reason that you wanted to give up for has gone.

Personally, I'd say that substance misuse services should be quicker to act to capitalise on the moment of crisis and use it as a hook to get people in. Being given an appointment at 9am in three weeks time just doesn't work, in three weeks time I might have been up all night trying to buy drugs, or just totally forget about it.

Thanks @CrimeJunkie01 for replying, thats really informative and makes a lot of sense. Congrats on being drug free.

I know there's controversy over this, but would you say people who take cannabis are at higher risk of moving on to the sort of drugs you were taking, or do you see it as completely unrelated?

Might be difficult to answer, but what sort of % of addicts do you think end up where you are now (completely turned around, long-term)? I can't imagine it's that many?

@Sickening

I know there's controversy over this, but would you say people who take cannabis are at higher risk of moving on to the sort of drugs you were taking, or do you see it as completely unrelated?

I'd say it "can" be a gateway drug, but if it is, it's not a huge wide gateway, it's a small styal. Moving in circles where people take drugs means you are more likely to end up mixing with people taking hard drugs and so will have the option to take them. However, all of my school mates smoked weed, but I was the only one who ended up addicted to heroin.

In my experience it was always like I gave myself permission to take softer drugs but not harder. For example, I was saying to myself"i will smoke weed, but never speed" then I'd take speed as my dealer had no weed and so I'd say, "I'll never take LSD" then I'd take that and say, "OK, I'll use LSD but not use Ecstasy" and so on until I was just using heroin. Crack took a lot longer and I was never physically addicted to it, but psychologically I was. I could spend hundreds in one night on crack.

@HyggeTygge

Might be difficult to answer, but what sort of % of addicts do you think end up where you are now (completely turned around, long-term)? I can't imagine it's that many?

You're right, it is very hard to tell. So many of the people I used with were killed by drugs or murdered over drugs, however, in my work I meet alot of ex addicts who only disclose it after I have. This includes some very skilled professional people like doctors. I'm unique I suppose as I talk about my past, most people don't.