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, August 06, 2007

Oh Dear

OOER I JUST ANSWERED AN INNOCENT-SEEMING PERSONALITY TEST and have found out the website who posted it up thinks I am crazy. Thanks a lot! Now I can put in a nutshell what I distrust about psychiatrists. Apart from 1. the fact that they engage in soul-crushing mindgames at times of absolute crux and crisis they 2. have dissected and bisected and cut up and scraped open and analysed and bled the colour out of all human experience to such an extent that almost any behaviour, reaction or even thought can nowadays be construed as evidence of a "disorder" or some type. I mean...! There's even a posh label for obnoxious naughty children. I think their parents are informed that rather than needing a good hiding, they have a "conduct disorder" ... I mean how depressing this all is. I don't know how much I made it plain that I used to go to weekly counselling sessions for several years ... OK I did learn some things, but got very annoyed whenever I got too upset the counsellor started saying "I think you need more help than I can give you" and attempted pointing me in the direction of an evil psychiatrist! Then they keep asking what "our" relationship means to me (ie my relationship with the counsellor) ~ well not very much, I had to reply. Seeing as I don't know anything about you. And that little factor I used to really resent: the fact that I was meant to lay myself open to someone who told me absolutely nothing about themself, in fact nurtured it as an aspect of professional pride that as little of the self was given away as possible:~ whereas I was meant to give away everything. O boy! How free I felt on having left the very last counselling session! I no longer had to account for my life or answer to anybody. I'm not talking about being responsible for my actions. I'm talking of a kind of weekly emotional book-keeping exercise.... all I can say is I was so glad when it was over! As for all these stupid labels I've scored "high" and "moderate" on ... did you notice the schitzy-witzy one and the avoidant one were self-contradicting. Which means having one means you of necessity do not have the other. Bluster and guff! Psychiatrists: they're the ones who need help

I just need some tropical fish.


Does everyone like the Sinead O'Connor track I posted in the top of my sidebar? You can click it and have cheery music twinkling as you indulge in this blackforest gateau of a blog ...

And by the way WHY is nobody watching my Geriatric 1927 videos? They are different! Very different indeed!!!

I want to go home but there's nothing to go back to ... that's why I don't know what to do ... what to buy ... should I spend £12 on that cheapie CD player? Or should I do something else with the money (I don't mean drugs) ... ooer stupid expressions are coming back from that test site. Am I being "dependent" now? Because I'm indecisive? Ukk. In the rubbish bin with it all!!

***

COME ON EVERYBODY TAKE THE TEST. I WANT TO SEE HOW NUTTY YOU LOT SUPPOSEDLY ARE

***

My Personality ?!?!?!!!????!???**??

DisorderRating
Paranoid:High
Schizoid:Moderate
Schizotypal:High
Antisocial:Low
Borderline:Moderate
Histrionic:Low
Narcissistic:Moderate
Avoidant:Moderate
Dependent:Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:High

-- Personality Disorder Test --
-- Personality Disorder Information --

15 comments:

Crazed Nitwit said...

I need no test to tell me I'm nutty. You've been to my blog. I am a parent of teens and a full time student. I'm completely whacko.

Andree said...

Well I took that test. It told me exactly what I already knew, so nothing new there! Of course, we all know what the "right" answers are when we do these things. But I think this test is a bit harsh. No, not a bit. It is harsh. Forget about it.

The Discovering Alcoholic said...

I fear I may be normal, is this an abnormal behavior? Results would have been a lot more frightening thirteen years ago!

Disorder | Rating
Paranoid: Low
Schizoid: Low
Schizotypal: Moderate
Antisocial: Low
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: Low
Narcissistic: Moderate
Avoidant: Low
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: Low

RUTH said...

I once read a quote "We're all crazy and the only difference between patients and their therapists is the therapists haven't been caught yet.” Will try the test!
Rx

RUTH said...

Paranoid: High
Schizoid: Low
Schizotypal: High
Antisocial: Low
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: High
Narcissistic: Moderate
Avoidant: Very High
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: Moderate
Now where's that straight jacket :o)

Audrey said...

I scored low on all the others bar moderate on Paranoid, histrionic and narcissistic, The cheese has definitely slid off my cracker and I didnt even notice :)

They reviewed a policy recently in my work that states I cant disclose anything personal about myself to the people I work with...DOH!!!!! utter madness..in another breath they say we are all in this together, this kind of b******t makes me so angry,ooooooooops better go back and resit the test and reassess myself, is anger normal???? Pass me that straight jacket Ruth :)

Audrey said...

Ive watched a couple of Geriatric 1927, as you say very different, hopefully the media hounds will leave him alone. He is publicly sharing his story without their assistance as it is... without financial profit

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

I am moderate for schizo and avoidance and dependence. Not bad for a guy who pretends to be a squirrel! LoL.

The test does seem a bit harsh and I think most of the time we "know" the right answer. Anyway, to be absolutely sane sounds a little boring.

Gledwood said...

reminder to self: blog of the day

http://danubeineurope.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Nice that you Dropped to say hi :)
Great Blog.

Serr8d said...

The very fact the least you can 'score' on a given Personality Disorder is "Low" means the authors think "well, you're here taking this test, so obviously there's something wrong with you!"

Hmmmph. Now I gotta hide my knife...from me~!

;D

Serr8d said...

Here's a blog I've been reading for some time, Dr. Helen, a practicing Forensic Psychologist, who mostly gets comments from other professionals. There's some good stuff, there, and reading Dr. Helen is always a relaxing event.

Like therapy, only free...

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

I did the test and everything's low exceot I am "moderately" narcissistic, which I suppose is true. You did make me laugh about psychiatrists! Agree with you on the absurdity of "conduct disorder" - no one's just a naughty brat any more!

i'll never tell said...

I took the test!

rowan said...

I've taken that test (or something that looked the same!) if you scroll down my blog far enough. I like the way you yelled in waves about the craziness of something that we are supposed to find sanity in. Nice entry.

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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