Heroin addiction question?

Question

I have a hard time understanding this horrible addiction. My question is, how long does it usually take a junkie to wake up and see what they're doing to themselves (I know there's not a set time or anything)? What does it usually take to make them wake up? Is there any kind of a statistic for this?

Please, serious answers only.

Answer 1

Sometimes they don't just wake up and realize they're killing themselves. A lot of people die from heroin usage, just because they don't realize they have a problem.

The best you can do, as a friend, is try to set up an intervention and get help for the person abusing the drug. Rehab is the only way to stop and an abuser can only really stop if they want to.

Answer 2

Denial is a big part of any addiction. The easy answer is that it (the wake up) happens when the person is ready. However, one no longer has to "hit bottom" before recovery can take place. Loving family members can make interventions. BUT, getting a person to treatment is not the complete answer. One needs to find the right treatment.
Change is scary and difficult. If it is a long standing addiction, their daily life foucses around "not getting sick" (withdrawal). Treatment for heroin addiction has come a long way in recent years. The professionals now know much more about the neurobioloby that drives the addiction. With that knowledge, newer medications like buprinorphin can help mitigate the negative feelings in early abstinence.
The key is to get connected with a good addiction psychiatrist who can offer you information and support. Followed by intervention for the one living with addiction.
Recovery is possible.
IMPORTANT: HBO just released a documentary called ADDICTION. It talks about new understandings and treatments in the field of addiction. Some parts speak directly to heroin. You can obtain a copy through the HBO website - It was grant funded so the cost is reasonable. You can also get it through Netflix rental. I think this DVD will give you answers and insights.

Answer 3

Occasionally an addict will realize they have gone past the point of no return. For example, the "fun" of using has worn off, and a lingering feeling of "need" sets in. A small number of people are able to recognize this for what it is - onset of addiction.
Many more continue this cycle of use and abuse until some drastic event knocks them out of their little party world. This could be as simple as getting caught or severe as a near death experience. A committed addict would be able to rationalize the error as "...if that guy did not drive in front of me, I wouldn't have hit him..." or "...that guy has so many possessions it was a moral imperative that I be allowed to relieve him of some of it...."
An addicted mind is the ultimate in peer pressure. It continues to urge itself into use, reaffirming one's self that nothing is out of the ordinary. Thoughts of curbing use tend to be put off until "later". This "later" time becomes more difficult to define as physiological changes are occurring altering the way an abuser processes his or her substance.
In short, a "wake up call" can and probably has occurred for this user, but it is not "later" yet. It is best to intervene while the user is wallowing in doubt before the next high. That is the time when they are most receptive to any plea for change. Otherwise the horrible feelings they are having simply go away with the high, rather than faced down and dealt with. A hardcore addict should recieve some genuine counseling to understand how and why they feel they way they do.
Statistics are helpful, but really irrelevant as each individual is unique... Knowing that a 43 year old person has been "clean" for 18 years on and off while a 30 year old may have 10 years of consecutive "clean" time and still some other 50 year old can be riding out the first day.

Answer 4

Addiction is a disease. Using drugs in any form is merely a symptom of the disease. I was hooked on coke, herion and meth for 22 years and probably wouldn't have been able to stop on my own even after many repeated attempts. Had I not gotten busted and served a long sentence in a place where it was difficult to get drugs (yes, there are plenty drugs in prison, I was not willing to degrade myself any further to get them while incarcerated) I might be dead or on the way to being dead. I don't think you wake up one day and say "I am going to become a drug addict" but if you use frequently or use the right wrong drugs you are asking for trouble. The statistics for addicts relapsing are very high, probably in the 80-90% range. One thing for sure is that there is no known cure for addiction (other than death). The only hope one has is to get a hold onto a desire to not use. For me, to use once is once too much and once started using a thousand times never enough.

It is a far better thing to never start using drugs before you find out if have the disease of addiction and find it nearly impossible to stop.

Answer 5

It's really hard to say because everyone's "rock bottom" is different.

Usually that is the only time that an addict will realize the extent of their problem. Some people need to lose their job, some need to lose their home and some need to lose everything they ever had in their life.

Other people don't have to get that far down before something clicks in their brain telling them that their addiction is there and causing problems.

The best advice is not to bail someone out of trouble when it is caused by their drug use. The quicker they run into problems as a result of their drug use the quicker they will realize it is truly a problem.

I have a site http://www.whatwinnersdo.com where I talk about my own fall and realization that I was at rock bottom.

Answer 6

Most of the time they can't see what it's doing to them because they're in so deep into the drugs. They can be pulled out of the drugs by help and support and by going to a good rehab. Sometimes, even these things don't help. It's hard trying to help someone who doesn't seem to want the help, but it's not all futile; they can still be saved from themselves.

As far as I know, there aren't really any statistics on this kind of thing.

Answer 7

Unfortunatley most herion addicts will never completely recover from their addiction. I believe that something like 89% of herion users that quit, will relapse. It's very sad. There is no telling what rock bottom would be for someone with an addiction like this, often times they believe the "sick" feeling of not having any drugs is rock bottom, which is what leads them to their next fix. Herion addiction is a disease, a horrible, horrible disease.


There is a fairly new medication called Suboxone that can be prescribed after detox that blocks the high feeling of opiod drugs, this medication could be a huge step towards helping addicts get clean once and for all.

Answer 8

I hear your pain. It is not just about them waking up and realizing how horrible the drug is. Most of them learn that pretty early. It is not about the denial of what they are doing. It is about being able to handle the physical hell that the body goes through. It is about having billions of cells in the brain screaming for the drug.

And it is not necessarily about rock bottom. That is a myth.

Answer 9

Everyone has a bottom (the situation that is the lowest they can get, and the time when they realize that they need to change). I have known people who's bottom was missing work because they were sick or high and feeling so ashamed that they decided to stop, and I know people who have become homless and still not decided to stop. As far as I know, there is no rhyme or reason to it

Answer 10

I met a guy who was an addict for 20 years. He doesn't even know who he is, anymore, without using. But he's determined. He's doing '90 meetings in 90 days.'