Posted by revaaron on July 5, 2007, at 0:23:33
In reply to Re: Heroine as atnidepressant, posted by FredPotter on July 4, 2007, at 23:41:21
> ...but I'm far too fond of euphoria to go
> anywhere near the stuffBut that's the truly insidious thing about using most opiates as an anything but a pain med, whether as a treatment for AD/HD, social anxiety, generalized anxiety or depression. The euphoria is great and incredibly helpful in a lot of ways. But even if you decide outright to give your life to opium, heroin, or whatever, even if you say "I like this so much, and it helps so much that it's worth being an addict for the rest of my life, if that's what it takes." Even if you make that choice and have an endless pure supply of opiate it still isn't going to work. After a while, the euphoria is gone. This has nothing to do with tolerance in the sense most folks think of it- you can increase your dose and you still won't be euphoric, until you've had too much and have the negative effects of a minor OD (sweating, extreme sedation, naseua, dizziness). The euphoria of opiates is the most enjoyable drug imaginable for some (including me), but after a year or two, it just doesn't work like it did at first. I'd be willing to pay a lot of money to somehow magically restore my opiate receptors to the state they were in 10 years ago. I'm not addicted to them now in anyway, and haven't had any for months. And before that, not for months again, but the last time I did have an opiate, months after the dose before that, I still didn't get anywhere near the euphoria of the first year or two I was using on a regular basis.
That's the worst thing- when all you want is that high, but nothing in the world will be able to get it. No amount of money, no amount of drug, no potentiators, etc. Which basically means that you either keep wasting money and possibly your health (the opiates never negatively effected me outside of a weight gain from my metabolism being so slow and a poor libido and soft penis). I don't have a horror story about how I lost it all because of opiates. I've never watched a friend die. I don't have HIV or hep C. I never have been rushed to the hospital or had to rush a friend to the hospital. I've never put anything into my vein. I never hit "rock bottom," like a lot of heroin addicts do. I didn't lose anything but the drive to make love to my wife, thousands of dollars (cheap compared to heroin!) the motivation to keep fit, some mental wellbeing (made it dysphoric and depressed after a many years); it did give me sleep apnea and some depression/dysphoria. Not good things, but they're nothing compared to a the kinds of things street drug addicts go through.
What I tried to say before: the most insidious thing about opiates is that when the feeling they give you is what you want the most is when you longer get that feeling and have no way to get it back other than not using for a long time.
poster:revaaron
thread:767449
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070630/msgs/767771.html