I found myself asking the questions that I have asked for years, how do people quit? What is the key? Is there a little magic pill?
Finally a new answer came to light in my perplexed and overwhelmed dope fried brain. 3%. 5%. Less than 10%. These are figures in the past decade representing the people who have successfully kicked their heroin habit. The answer to my question was this: there is no magic pill! No one recovers. Well, 3%-10% recover, and to me that is about as close to no one as a statistic can get. If there was a way, I think it would be published. In fact, Methadone and now Suboxone are posing as what I believe to be answers to these questions. Since the recovery rate is so low, these medications have been developed as the next thing to try. Yes, the addict is still dependent on an opiate (a synthetic opiate if we are referring to Suboxone) but the needle has been put down and heroin is no longer the addiction to deal with.
Does this mean that Suboxone using ex-heroin addicts are included in the recovery statistic, or in the 'still using' statistic.
My battle/ love affair with opiates has lasted well over a decade at this point. Long enough to experience the ups and downs of the addiction many times over. Yesterday I read a blog post written by an ex-junkie who claimed that if an addict does not ever gets sober it is because they want to be an addict. OUCH. That one stung, probably more so than most because it came from an ex-junkie. I immediately jumped on the defensive and thought to myself, "He must be too far removed from using--he forgets where he came from." I didn't even want to read what he said.
I am glad that I changed my mind and read his post. Although I still hold to my initial judgement that he is far removed from active addiction, I believe his post holds merit. Whether I like his opinion or not, he is in a stage of life that every ex-junkie will hopefully make it to. 10 years clean. To a degree, I agree. Each individual must WANT to live a clean life. I do not however agree that junkies who never recover stay junkies because they want to.
There is just so so much more involved in recovery.
While there is yet to be a 'little magic pill', there are indeed recovered heroin addicts to model that recovery IS possible. I know that through my journey I plan to be in the 3%-5% of recovered heroin users. In documenting my journey there may be bits and pieces of a 'magic pill' that someone else can benefit from.
If anyone stumbles upon a successful magic pill for heroin addicts...please do share. ;)
~J
(PT2)
ReplyDeletethe other part that may be slightly difficult is keeping with the ascorbate after you start to notice that your drug of choice has no effect. sometimes, when people notice they are no longer getting high (because the SA is neutralizing the drug), they may back off it a bit. if that is the case, you really need to start wondering if you're serious about finally escaping from this trap or not. try to think about this: when you were at your worst, and someone offered you an easy way out of it without having to suffer withdrawal, would you have taken it? because that's what you have now - an easy way out. take advantage of it.
there are other supplements that i would recommend in addition to the sodium ascorbate: some really good amino acids (the absolute best, in my opinion, are called MAP. just look up MAP Amino Acids), and a product called "Beyond Tangy Tangerine" by Youngevity (i don't have the time or space here to tell you the innumerable health benefits i've had from this, and the Youngevity company in general. a billion thumbs up for them!). also, get a good calmag (calsium and magnesium) supplement (the best of these is another Youngevity product called OsteoFX. again, this company ROCKS). i even started selling Youngevity products, but will not provide my link here, as this isn't about me or me making money - it is about YOU getting your LIFE BACK!
those supplements are very important, but this can be done with just the sodium ascorbate alone. if you go with just the sodium ascorbate, try to eat a lot of eggs - at least 6 a day - as eggs have by far the best absorption as far as food proteins go, and the cholesterol will help your body manufacture all the hormones it needs (cholesterol, needlessly demonized these days, is basically the grandfather of all your body's hormones).
i have quite a bit more i could say, but i'll leave it at that for now.
now GO GET YOUR LIFE BACK!!!!
-d.
BAHHHH - ARE YOU KIDDING???
ReplyDeletei just typed up a VERY long comment, then had to break it in two, and THEN lost the first part after posting it... WTF???
anyway, go read:
The Hypoascorbemia-Kwashiorkor Approach to Drug Addiction Therapy
and
The Attenuation of Heroin Withdrawal Syndrome by the Administration of High-Dose Vitamin C
find them online. read those, and then bear in mind to keep up the sodium ascorbate intake EVERY 2 HOURS. make sure you adjust your dose so you stay right at bowel tolerance (the point at which it produces loose stools). this is the hardest part. stick with the sodium ascorbate form, and not other forms, of Vitamin C. stay at bowel tolerance (while still taking your drug of choice) for AT LEAST a couple of days. then, stop taking your DOC, while still taking the sodium ascorbate every 2 hours. if your withdrawal symptoms are severe, even though you've consistently stayed at bowel tolerance, then keep taking your DOC along with the sodium ascorbate for another day or so. eventually, you will stop taking your drug of choice WITHOUT withdrawal symptoms.