IV Heroin Habit – Scary Symptoms? Hep C/Aids/HIV? Allergic Reaction?
Question by Tyler: IV Heroin Habit – Scary Symptoms? Hep C/Aids/HIV? Allergic Reaction?
So I’ve been battling a heroin addiction on and off for the past 3 years.
Unfortunately, I’ve made the huge f****ng mistake of sharing a needle a couple of times with people who are true pieces of shit. I was heavily intoxicated at the time and my judgement/decision making ability was .. non-existent.
Anyway, my symptoms. The one I’m mainly concerned about, just started happening recently. When I go to shoot up, I tie off, and my arm/hand gets numb/turns blue/purple, dark. Pretty quickly, this never happened before. I stick the needle in, and the skin around the enjection site turns ORANGE. So I’ll have a blue/purple arm with orange skin around the enjection site, also the hole from the needle will sometimes kinda turn into a “lump”, poking out. When I first started IV’ing, my arm/hand would never turn colors, regardless of how long I tied off. And I had never seen the orange blotches of skin, and the whole would never be more than a little tiny “dot” on my skin.
I never knew this, but apparently someone who IV’s drugs habitually can actually get Hep C from themselves, from their own needle that’s never been shared. If you use a needle over and over, apparently your own blood is left in the needle and gets contaminated over time, then when you re-use the needle, it transfers to your blood and you get Hep C. (?) F***ing sh***y and scary, now knowing I could have given myself Hep C. There have been times when I was unable to get a new needle, so I used the same dull pieces of junk over and over.
Also, a few other symptoms I’ve noticed, either these are constant, or off/on. Now, keep in mind, over the past 6-8 months, theres been two times I went to a detox facility for a few days, other than that, I usually don’t go more than 12-16 hours without doing a shot of heroin, so I’m thinking the heroin masks a lot of the symptoms I have. Hides them. I wonder once I get sober, if symptoms will pop out, unable to be hidden under the blanket of heroin.
Stomach problems. I’ve always struggled with long-term constipation, but H makes it ten times worse. I poop once every week, week and a half. Large, painful, sometimes hints of blood. I often can feel a sharp lower back pain that I believe is associated. Also, occasionally stomach cramps. My diet is horrible, I’ve had a huge loss of appetite, as well as undesired weightloss. Skinny as a rail. Also, SOMETIMES, not all the time, I notice a small burn when I pee. It’s not always there.
Horrible fatigue. Whenever I go without H, I get so out of breath so easily. Doing simple things like, taking a shower and scrubbing soap all over my body. While doing this, my fatigue is noticable. I’m not wheezing, but it’s definately slowing me down.
Changes in my vision. A few weeks ago, I IV’ed some meth, and instantly broke out in a killer migrane, making me sweat from head to toe it was so painful, and also my vision got blurry, especially close-up. Like I held a quarter up to my eyes, and I couldn’t read the print on it, my vision was so blurry. It lasted two or three days. But before that, and now, my vision has had a change. Reduced a tiny bit. Maybe a little bit.. blurrier? Hard to explain. I just know it’s not what it used to be.
Depression/mentally unstable. I can’t focus well at all, I’m always depressed, I’m constantly criticizing myself, thinking I sound stupid to others, thinking others don’t like me, and I’m very insecure about my looks.
My hair, when grown long, tends to fall out/shed, a LOT… I don’t like, get bald patches, nothing like that, I’m only 23, but right now because I’m homeless (another issue) my hair is longer than usual, and sheds constantly. When I wash it, it clogs the drain.
My skin color may have changed a little bit, or maybe not. I’m living summertime in Arizona, first summer homeless on the streets so maybe I’m just not used to it but it seems to be not just tan but maybe a little bit.. yellowish. Not sure.
My body parts also tend to fall asleep a lot quicker and easier than before. They’re always fallin asleep. They tingle easily, too. Like I can simply place my hand a certain way on a desk or something, and it starts losing circulation, starts tingling.
There’s other things I can get into, but I won’t right now, those are the main things
Thanks for your time
PS I don’t need to hear anything about quitting, I already realize the risk I’m taking and the seriousness of my addiction, thanks. Don’t need criticism, negativity of any kind, I simply want some advice/help on the issue at hand, nothing more. Thanks!
Best answer:
Answer by ckm1956
Most large cities will have a clinic that serves homeless people or those addicted like yourself. If your acquaintances don’t know, Google for them.
You can’t get Hep C (or HIV, etc) from yourself. Unless you sterilize the needle before each use, you CAN get a serious bacterial infection.
Many of the physical symptoms may be be due to malnutrition, including the constipation. Everything (physical & mental) is typical for 99% of heroin users I’ve ever seen. There are few healthy users.
Honestly, you can try to eat well, etc but your body will (as you know) override ANYthing that gets in the way of getting a fix. There’s no magic available, a user’s health will continue to slide as long as they use.
Good luck.
Answer by Israel-Jarok
You can’t get HEP C from yourself, it’s not magic. I’ll say it again, there is ZERO chance of catching HEP C from reusing your own needles. I’ve heard the same thing, it’s something needle sharers made up so they wouldn’t have to admit they [stupidly] shared needles. DO NOT SHARE NEEDLES, EVER
As for the H, stop immediately, it sounds like it’s killing you, that can happen, even without a disease. I do H very occasionally, and after a few weeks, I feel like I’m dying, so I stop, usually for a year or two. And never mix drugs, that is a recipe for death. If you drink, just drink, if you do H, just do H, etc, etc.
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