HAMSTERS & HEROIN: Not all junkies are purse-snatching grandmother-killing psychos. I'm keeping this blog to bear witness to that fact.

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DIARY OF A SLOWLY RECOVERING HEROIN ADDICT

I used to take heroin at every opportunity, for over 10 years, now I just take methadone which supposedly "stabilizes" me though I feel more destabilized than ever before despite having been relatively well behaved since late November/early December 2010... and VERY ANGRY about this when I let it get to me so I try not to.

I was told by a mental health nurse that my heroin addiction was "self medication" for a mood disorder that has recently become severe enough to cause psychotic episodes. As well as methadone I take antipsychotics daily. Despite my problems I consider myself a very sane person. My priority is to attain stability. I go to Narcotics Anonymous because I "want what they have" ~ Serenity.

My old blog used to say "candid confessions of a heroin and crack cocaine addict" how come that one comes up when I google "heroin blog" and not this one. THIS IS MY BLOG. I don't flatter myself that every reader knows everything about me and follows closely every single word every day which is why I repeat myself. Most of that is for your benefit not mine.

This is my own private diary, my journal. It is aimed at impressing no-one. It is kept for my own benefit to show where I have been and hopefully to put off somebody somewhere from ever getting into the awful mess I did and still cannot crawl out of. Despite no drugs. I still drink, I'm currently working on reducing my alcohol intake to zero.

If you have something to say you are welcome to comment. Frankness I can handle. Timewasters should try their own suggestions on themselves before wasting time thinking of ME.

PS After years of waxing and waning "mental" symptoms that made me think I had depression and possibly mild bipolar I now have found out I'm schizoaffective. My mood has been constantly "cycling" since December 2010. Mostly towards mania (an excited non-druggy "high"). For me, schizoaffective means bipolar with (sometimes severe)
mania and flashes of depression (occasionally severe) with bits of schizophrenia chucked on top. You could see it as bipolar manic-depression with sparkly knobs on ... I'm on antipsychotic pills but currently no mood stabilizer. I quite enjoy being a bit manic it gives the feelings of confidence and excitement people say they use cocaine for. But this is natural and it's free, so I don't see my "illness" as a downer. It does, however, make life exceedingly hard to engage with...

PPS The "elevated mood" is long gone. Now I'm depressed. Forget any ideas of "happiness" I have given up heroin and want OFF methadone as quick as humanly possible. I'm fed up of being a drug addict. Sick to death of it. I wanna be CLEAN!!!

Attack of the Furry Entertainers!

Attack of the Furry Entertainers!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Run-a-Day Monday

YES I SPENT ALL WEEKEND SULKING and in bed and not seeing the internet and not feeling well and sleeping the minute my back was turned to any activity. I did have ritual Sunday Lunch at Mother Hubbard's, but fell asleep on the corner of her bed after that ... then I fell awake for a great deal of Sunday night going into Monday morning ...

... why am I posting this boredom in such details? ...

Ah yes! I just saw my ten messages from wellwishing friends. I thank you all! Seriously. That was so nice of people troubling to get in touch ...

Now I'm here, hot alone. It's not a fever, but I wasn't well. This morning, felt like I had a stomach full of metal staples scrunching in on me around all that yellow bile. Aaaarrrrgggghkk!! I hate bodies. Hate bodily functions. Hate nonfuctional bodies. Hate functions full-stop. Just ... functioning ... is pain. Nicer to 4get about it. Do angels sit on the toilet? Serious question. How superior not to have the burden of a body ... a ray of sunlight ... a drop of golden sun ... a golden dream ... a dream forever onwards. "Thou shalt not surely die," said the Serpent to Eve I once read (reasonably) is the ultimate lie. That humankind has no immortal soul. That the divine in human is the image of God, in whose image we're all created. That no-one need worry about eternity, unless we qualify.

This is the Christian theory that I have heard: that goes against every other "inner divine" - religions are paths that converge at the mountaintop - we've all lived before and shall live again ... most typical theory. Speaking as one who's dabbled in Hinduism, Buddhism and Techno-Shamanic Paganism or "the New Age" as well as Christianity, have quite a variety of religious experiences under my belt ...

I don't know that I could otherwise deal with eternity. Let alone fully comprehend it ... I would have to qualify ...

Eternity. We all know it. It's all that infinity before we were born. Do you know such infinity very well? Because I don't ...

On that note I leave you ...

PS Anna Nicole Smith: polydrug addict not heroin addict. Ie she was an addict who took a little of everything and a lot of somethings. But essentially a mixture ... My apologies. Correction.

18 comments:

lab munkay said...

Unlike most of the addicts I work with, and by work with I mean cook for and mother at the rehab, you seam straight forward and honest. I'll be back.

Little Lamb said...

You never told us what Sandy won.

Northern_Girl said...

Hey - thanks for stopping by my blog. Come again, anytime.

(I'll visit again soon, too.)

RUTH said...

Was going to say glad to see you're out of bed but a heavy load here...maybe you should get back out of bed the other side.......come on...coochie cooochie coo...give us a smile;->

Anonymous said...

Little Lamb: in response:--
Right, the prize was originally just a joke: used staples, pingpong ball/something. Then I gave out 2 entertaining urls (bc of course how do I GET the prize to her??) But upon quiet reflection I thought to myself well I will make a beautiful home-made card especially for her and that will be the prize. I just have to arrange an address I can send it to. I haven't told her yet though as I'm still wondering if you don't want to give your address over the internet to a stranger should I ask for the name of a school/business/library/something? That's what I was going to do ...

Anonymous said...

& hi to everyone else ...

Women on the Verge said...

Gledwood-

You must have been doing a lot of pondering while you were lollygagging about in bed these past few days... wow! Did you see the quote I placed on the blog about the difference between those who are ardently religious and those who are spiritual? I've dabbled in quite a bit myself and am now a bizarre amalgamation of eastern and western beliefs. Have you ever read anything having to do with Sikh beliefs?

Ruth-

You never fail to make me smile :-)

Thanks.
E

Nicole said...

I also hate going to the toilet! I wish that bodies had been designed without having to dump waste products. It would have been so much more pleasant!

Anonymous said...

I'm now looking for that quote on the difference between religious zealots and spiritualizers ...

I heard a BBC World Service documentary on Hinduism among Tamils in Malaysia. Among them was a Australian convert.

I have heard that (some) Hindus would perhaps counsel a Westerner not to convert to Hinduism, rather to follow their own Western traditions (eg Roman Catholicism has incorporated polytheistic aspects in all these myriad saints some Catholics pray to ...) This Hindu advice is on the premise that all religions end in a self-same goal of spiritual realization ... (Of course not all Christians or Muslims would agree with that, but hey. Five religions=six opinions. Sometimes.)

So I was most fascinated in what this Australian got out of his Hindu beliefs. He wwas dragging a chariot behind himself with hooks in his back. People were impaling their cheeks and tongue with knifelike implements. This particular manner of festival which seems to be most at home in Southern India, intrigue me bigtime ...

Well have I made a point there? Or am I being pointless as always ..?..

Anonymous said...

Hey Gledwood, days in bed, my specialty for the last two days running. Just stopping by to say hello before I head back to bed. xox

Women on the Verge said...

nope, not wandering... I agree. Under all the bright, shiny trappings you're looking at the same basic beliefs and "goals"... just named differently...

I was raised Catholic and was always amazed by the Mary worshippers... and lets not get into the partaking of the "body and blood"...

Did you find the quote?? It was from Friday I believe.

E

Gledwood said...

Okay I'm looking again 4 it ...

Gledwood said...

FOUND IT:...

The Verge Quote of the Week
“Religion is for people who are
afraid of hell, and spirituality
is for people who have been in hell.”

Liza Minnelli , as quoted by Liz Smith




E

Posted by Women on the Verge at 10:08 PM 5 comments

Labels: religion, spirituality

Yes that's TOO TRUE, as they say. TOO TRUE...

Deb said...

I like the quote. Religion scares me. This is my religion...live your life as a kind person and believe there's something more than this hell on earth. Works for me.

Anonymous said...

hi gledwood, hope u r coping well in bed. spirituality can also flourish from love. not just from hell.

hugs.

Anonymous said...

What an intriguing blog! Although I am sad to hear you are ill, I'm glad you made it up enough to write.

May God heal you soon!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Nicole said...

"I also hate going to the toilet! I wish that bodies had been designed without having to dump waste products. It would have been so much more pleasant!"

My beautiful darlin', if you didn't produce waste, you would not be classed as a living physical entity! Enjoy your life with all its dumping activities!

PUT some reading material in your karzy and enjoy your daily dump!

(I deleted the original post above because I mis-spelt some of the text)

I WANT OFF METHADONE AS QUICK AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!

METHADONE ~ A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH







Heroin Shortage: News

If you are looking for the British Heroin Drought post, click here; the latest word is in the comments.







Christiane F

"Wir, Kinder vom Bahnhoff Zoo" by "Christiane F", memoir of a teenage heroin addict and prostitute, was a massive bestseller in Europe and is now a set text in German schools. Bahnhoff Zoo was, until recently, Berlin's central railway station. A kind of equivalent (in more ways than one) to London's King's Cross... Of course my local library doesn't have it. So I'm going to have to order it through a bookshop and plough through the text in German. I asked my druggieworker Maple Syrup, who is Italiana how she learned English and she said reading books is the best way. CHRISTIANE F: TRAILER You can watch the entire 120-min movie in 12 parts at my Random blog. Every section EXCEPT part one is subtitled in English (sorry: but if you skip past you still get the gist) ~ to watch it all click HERE.

To See Gledwood's Entire Blog...

DID you find my blog via a Google or other search? Are you stuck on a post dated some time ago? Do you want to read Gledwood Volume 2 right from "the top" ~ ie from today?
If so click here and you'll get to the most recent post immediately!

Drugs Videos

Most of these come from my Random blog, which is an electronic scrapbook of stuff I thought I might like to view at some time or other. For those who want to view stuff on drugs I've collected the very best links here. Unless otherwise stated these are full-length features, usually an hour or more.

If you have a slow connexion and are unused to viewing multiscreen films on Youtube here's what to do: click the first one and play on mute, stopping and starting as it does. Then, when it's done, click on Repeat Play and you get the full entertainment without interruption. While you watch screen one, do the same to screens 2, 3 and so on. So as each bit finishes, the next part's ready and waiting.

Mexican Black Tar Heroin: "Dark End"

Khun Sa, whose name meant Prince Prosperous, had been, before his death in the mid 2000s, the world's biggest dealer in China White Heroin: "Lord of the Golden Triangle"

In-depth portrait of the Afghan heroin trade at its very height. Includes heroin-lab bust. "Afghanistan's Fateful Harvest"

Classic miniseries whose title became a catchphrase for the misery of life in East Asian prison. Nicole Kidman plays a privileged middle-class girl set up to mule heroin through Thai customs with the inevitable consequences. This is so long it had to be posted in two parts. "Bangkok Hilton 1" (first 2 hours or so); "Bangkok Hilton 2" (last couple of hours).

Short film: from tapwater-clear H4 in the USA to murky black Afghan brown in Norway: "Heroin Addicts Speak"

Before his untimely death this guy kept a video diary. Here's the hour-long highlights as broadcast on BBC TV: "Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict". Thanks to Noah for the original link.

Some of the most entertaining scenes from Britain's top soap (as much for the poor research as anything else). Not even Phil Mitchell would go from nought to multi-hundred pound binges this fast: "Phil Mitchell on Crack" (just over 5 minutes).

Scientist lady shows us how to cook up gear: "How Much Citric?" Lucky cow: her brown is 70% purity! Oddly we never see her actually do her hit... maybe she got camera shy...

And lastly:

German documentary following a life from teenage addiction to untimely death before the age of 30. The decline in this girl's appearance is truly shocking. "Süchtig: Protokoll einer Hilflosigkeit". Sorry no subtitles; this is here for anyone learning German who's after practice material a little more gripping than Lindenstraße!































Nosey Quiz! Have you ever heard voices when you weren't high on drugs?

Manic Magic

Manic Magic

Gledwood Volume 2: A Heroin Addict's Blog

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