Heroin Addiction & Recovery Support Group
Heroin is a highly addictive drug with severe withdrawal symptoms that can start as soon as hours after use of the drug stops. Withdrawal symptoms include extreme sweating and achiness, nausea, vomiting, cramping which causes "kicking," chills, and more. If you are struggling with a heroin addiction, there is help. Join the group and get support.
Hello, everyone! I'm new to Daily strength and am hoping that this might be a place where I can get some support and advice as I go through withdrawl. I've been a heroin addict for three and a half years, using on and off. I'm not new to the detox process but ain't have found that each time I relapse and try to detox, the withdrawal symptoms keep detain worse and worse. I'm not sure which is worse: the actual withdrawal symptoms or the fear of them. I am usually able to get through day one with no problems. Day two the anxiety starts, I begin to have hot flashes and extreme sweating. By the end of day two I start to get a lump in my throat which is the beginning sign for me, that nausea is coming. Day three my back pain is almost unbearable, and the hot flashes and sweating get worse which makes my anxiety worse and usually I have begun to vomit. Also I get headaches and insomnia. Once I have started vomiting, it is non stop. Every couple of minutes I will vomit bile that starts to make my throat raw. Nothing seems to help... the last time I detoxed I was in the hospital and the doctor ordered Zofran and Phenergan to be taken orally and also a Phenergan suppository. Even taking these medications the vomiting persisted and I was unable to keep anything down. I am planning to do my last shot tomorrow night and begin detoxing Wrdnesday. Obviously I will not be in the hospital and won't have access to any prescription medications to ease the withdrawal symptoms. I live alone and don't have much in the way of a support system. My family lives out of state and most of my true friends who don't use, live far away as well. I would really appreciate any kind of support from anyone here. I know I am going to want to use and it would be wonderful to be able to read words of encouragment, or even have a sense of being held accountable to someone here. If anyone has any suggestions for things that help with nausea, hot flashes, sweating, anxiety anxiety and insomnia that isn't a prescription medication, I'm all ears and willing to try anything. I hope someone will read this and comment back with some advice or support. Thank you!
machoorozconpollo
Omg I'm so sorry I didn't read your post earlier. How are u doing now?. Did u keep up with ur sobriety? I too am a heroin addict for the past 6 years. And I want to stop too. I don't have friends or family. I live in a tent in someone's back yard. I want to stop but I don't have anyone here for me that could help me. I would like someone to ask me everyday if im sober and remind me everyday the consequences of what's gonna happen if I keep using and give me tuff love even if they have to. There's a story behind me but I won't get into that detail now. But if you haven't kept up with ur sobriety and wAnt to try again then maybe we can do it together. I can be helpful to u and you can be to me. If you don't mind of course. I hope I'm not coming off weird. And just incase ur wondering about my name on this site,well, I'm a female . People usually think I'm a male. Well let me know cause I want and need help so bad and so much. Thank you. Bye.
pixie561
Would like to know if your ok....
maryschupbach
I hope I'm not too late.. your doing the right thing! The way your doing it sounds like it will be very tough tho. The good thing is, sometimes u get sick enough u couldn't even go get drugs & give in even if u wanted to! That's what happened to me one time. I decided to give up & leave rehab & get drugs but I was to weak & sick to get up, let alone drive to get drugs. So I had no choice but to stay there till the worst part was over. And by then I still wanted to leave rehab but I was atleast determined to stay sober. And I did, for 51 days.. I was coming off methadone that time tho, which is even harder than heroin. When I was still sick after almost 2 months I gave up cause I felt I'd be sick forever! I wrote a daily journal of my symptoms and experiences through my detox so that some day I could use it to shoe my future kids incase they ever start down the wrong path like me. It's quite helpful for myself too actually.. any time I feel tempted to use I can just read that journal & it brings all those horrible detox memories back & I change my mind about the relapse haha. I did finally get sober, but the way I got sober is a long story, & not anything I can suggest to other & expect them to have the same results.. cause what happened with me was a flat out miracle. I had no withdrawls what so ever. I was sober 3 years after that experience.. but then stupidly relapsed, but with subutex not heroin. I'm still tapering back off the stuff today! It's never worth the high in the long run. Anyways.. I'd give u some suggestions, but I'm sure ur aware of the usual ones.. like lay down in the hot shower or bath and steam urself out till ur too hot to stand it, then crawl back into bed asap (just stay naked) haha with any luck it will be enough to let u feel rested for 15 min or maybe even fall asleep for a but. But chances are u will be in and out of that shower all day & night tryin to feel normal for a bit. Sometimes niquil helps with muscle aches.. have some easy foods near ur bed, like apples or chips and some bottled waters, eating & drinking is a must bit when ur that sick it's too much to make any food, so keep easy foods close by & try to take a bite or two every few hours. I could never move much but alot of ppl like to try and keep moving in order to pass the detox faster.. pacing around or goin on a walk whatever.. if u have the strength to, it's good to stay active but if u can't I understand haha. But anyways I'm sure u know all these things already. As far as emotional support goes.. just remeber that this feeling CANNOT last forever! So each day u get thru is bringing u one day closer to the end! And u don't want all the suffering to be for nothing! So if u have already made it thru a few days.. plz just don't give up, keep going! I will be to the end soon. And remeber this choice isn't just gonna change things for I this month or year or whatever... it's gonna change ur whole life! I use to think about my future kids and how they are gonna need me some day.. maybe that thought will help u too. And now I do have kids... and I can tell u it was worth it to get clean.. otherwise they may not exsist, or they may and I may have just been a horrible mother who abandons them to get high. Just know its worth it, it really is. It won't feel like it for a while, but when this is over u will agree that it was all worth it. Detox has a way of feeling like a lifetime, but in reality, your just going thru this hell for just a quick split moment of time in your whole long life span that u will have to be sober and happy. So it IS WAY worth it. Don't spend any more years in the bondage ur in.. ur life will only just be beginning for the first time once u get thru this all the way. Best of luck to you.. oh, and pray.. alot. The one time i did actually pray & reach out to god (who i didn't know was even real or not).. well that just so happened to be the time I had no withdrawls what so ever & was sober for years. You have got nothing to lose by tryin anyway. Write me if u want any more emotional support! I'll be prayin for u too. I have seen the power of prayer & I know it works. But God knows what we each need.. so he may help u in a different way than he helped me.. but just rely on him & force urself to trust him.. see what happens. Good luck, ur on the right track.
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