Article I wrote for the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/28/i-detoxed-from-heroin-in-jail.html#
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/28/i-detoxed-from-heroin-in-jail.html

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 29, 2014 at 1:36 PM

    medically, opiate withdrawal is not life threatening. opiate overdose is...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 29, 2014 at 3:55 PM

      A girl i shared a room with in detox had seizures on her third day. That aside, for anyone who's ever BEEN THRU opiate withdrawal, it's the worse physical (let alone mental) experience. To be forced to withdrawal without medication ease the symptoms when so much headway has been made, to me(And surely most addicts) constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (TORTURE). Yup, it's THAT BAD! After three weeks of cold turkey, not eating or drinking anything at all, not being able to MOVE yet not physically able to be STILL, couldn't just BE, with no end in sight... how can anyone say that isn't life threatening? I went to the emergency room TWICE and was admitted. I had to then take narcotics so they would show in a drug test (only way a detox would take me), give up my three clean weeks of Hell, go to detox and start all over again. Trust, detox/withdrawn can be fatal.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 30, 2014 at 3:13 AM

    throwing around the terms "fatal" and "life threatening" to describe opiate withdrawal is misinformation. the girl you shared a room with may have had another underlying health problem. at the same time to deny the pain and psychological torture of going through withdrawal is unfair. the biggest risk of withdrawal is returning to drug use...which can lead to overdose - which really IS life threatening.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 1, 2014 at 1:46 PM

    I was ADMITTED to the hospital during my withdrawal because i was severely dehydrated and was starving to death. Everything that went in came right back up. I lost thirty pounds, i was at95 lbs.Yes, withdraw can be fatal! You can not tell me no-one has ever died from it. Yes, using can absolutely be fatal as well. What I'm saying is, it's not easy to just stay home and detox for some. I'm clean now, a year, but i had to get help. Everyone's detox is different. I've known people who stay sick for four days and on the fifth, they're getting better. Some aren't that lucky. Yes, withdraw is Hell and I'm telling you right now, I'd rather die than go thru it alone again. Thank God for Suboxone and methadone and caring medical professionals. I know after three weeks, i was only getting worse, weaker and weaker. I don't know what would've happened if i hadn't gotten help. Probably went back to using. Some people don't have the medical options. And it also depends what your detoxing from. It's a fact that detox from alcohol and Benzos can kill. I've also known someone who had a stroke while detoxing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 1, 2014 at 5:06 PM

    Yes i agree detox from benzos and alcohol is life threatening. Thats why I specified OPIATE withdrawal.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 25, 2014 at 12:02 PM

    It also depends on how long you're using opiats.
    If you have the "pleasure" to detox after more than 20 years constand use it is life threatening.
    I know what it's like.

    ReplyDelete

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