any recovering heroine shooters out there?

I was just wondering how many people on this forum might be recovering heroine addicts and what kind of experiences you've had.  I've read statistics that say only a very small # of heroine addicts ever recover.  If you are one of them, please share your experience with me.  I'd like all the details.  My son & his g.f. have both shot heroine & I'm not sure for how long, but I'm just feeling very insecure about the possibility of them actually ever recovering based on what I've witnessed so far.  It seems like more people on this forum are addicted to pills.  

[FLaddict]

I have been clean from heroin for over 8 years. It can be done. I did have a short run with pain pills after surgery, but am now clean 6 months from them.

[IBKleen]

I have been clean from heroin for 18 years. I also had a run with pain pills but I am now clean from them.

Yes hun, it can be done but it takes a lot of work. They both have to want it and they have to change their lives..completely.

[KKWilli]

At what age did you start using & for how long?  What made you decide to stop & what steps did you take to stop? My son & his g.f. are both addicts & it just blows my mind that they can't see the possibilities of their baby getting hurt when they're using.  They think they're good parents even though they get high in the same house & then take care of him while they're high.  It's just not possible to be a good parent and be high at the same time, but I can't get them to see that!

[FLaddict]

I started at around 15 and stopped at 19. I am now 27. Something just hit me that I had to stop. I went to rehab for the 5th time and it finally stuck. It takes what it takes. That different for everyone.

[KKWilli]

I'm sure it's different for everyone.  I just really thought that being pregnant would stop my son's g.f.  I thought seeing his baby and holding him in his arms would give him the motivation to quit, but it hasn't.  I just can't imagine any better reason & it breaks my heart to feel like the drugs are more important than the baby; although I know they don't look at it like that.

[IBKleen]

Please understand that it often does not work like that. She is sick,and she is not seeing things clearly. She believes everything is ok. I wish I knew how to describe it. She does not intend to be a bad mother. She is controlled by the drug, and her disease. She needs help, but until she admits her problem and asks for help..well..you know.

My heart breaks for you and I do hope they both get the help they so desperately need.

[Savas]

People who see wonder in children often can't understand when others don't react the same way they do. It's almost like visiting another country where you don't speak the language.

I get the impression that many addicts feel powerless. When a baby comes along, all of a sudden an addict has power over another. It's a heady experience (especially for a woman. This is something they create, despite leading a life of destruction).  
Look at how she's dealing with you, all of the sudden, she has the power to threaten depriving you of your grandchild.

i don't know how many addicted mothers I've seen screaming that; "This is MY baby! I'll do what I want with it!"

...yet it was obvious they care very little about the child's welfare. They were just enjoying the rush of having total control over another life.

2 years since touched H, by the way. About a year's use previously.

[nogie1717]

Sorry, but I am an English teacher and I have to.

Heroin is the correct spelling.  But a rose of a different name would still smell the same.

I am sorry to hear your plight.  It must be frustrating to see the chaos and destruction in your life.  It is ironic how so many important things in our lives can't make us addicts stop using.  I was horrible to my family, but they were always there for me and extra helpful when I decided to finally sober up.  It is said that it takes a rock bottom, but in my case I was able to see that bottom from where I was at and I didn't want to go there.

I wish you the best in your struggle.

[nogie1717]

Smell as sweet.  Freudian slips, you know

[hopsing94]

Hi,I have been reading your posts for a week now,my heart goes out to you. I'm not sure there is much you can do. What would happen if you turned them in to the police. Hate to think what your son might do if he found out it was you. I've never done heroin but I did do alot of coke when I was younger and it had a hold on me like you wouldnt believe. One day I just said no more. Moved away from everyone I knew that I could get it from and once I was completely clean I could see the trouble it caused and never went back. I've heard heroin is worse. Would they even consider going into rehab?

[alexandra fox]

I was a heroin addict for about ten years, also spent about 7 of those years on methadone and heroin simultaneously. 8 years off heroin now, couple of years ago got hooked on codeine tablets that I was taking for headaches.

It is possible, and NA rooms are full of addicts that have left heroin behind, but they are also home to addicts that relapse continually, or come just once or twice and then go back to the life. It IS possible, but like has been said before, it takes a LOT of commitment, work, effort, radical change of environment, lifestyle and self, brutally honest self appraisal, humility, and in 99.9% of cases I think it requires outside help for long term success (detox, rehab, counselling, 12 step meetings, support from friends and family).

I wish you all the best, it is a heartbreaking thing for a parent to go through.

[paulgreece]

I am 30 and clean for about 2 months!for the 1st time in 8 years!and i think that i am going to do ok!first of all because i had enough and i am doing it for me and not because someone else wants me to!before 2 months i would smoke up to 5 grams of heroin a day!i almost lost all my money,my friends and family!so this what i did.first of all i stayed home locked by my girfriend for about a week and passed my withdrawal symptoms.after the week i went to a rehab center to find out what was good for me at that point.so i started taking naltrexone and visiting a doctor once a week to talk and for a urin exam so for him to see that i am not playing him!i also go to group therapy 3 times a week and time goes by!its working for me and i am feeling ok with myself!naltrexone isnt an opium replacing drug,its an opium blocking drug with no sideaffects but you have to clean up for 7-10 days to start taking it!

[momofaddict22]

My daughter, now 22, has an addiction to heroin.  Recently, I learned she started doing drugs, including heroin, around the age of 14-15.  She hid it well from me until around the age of 18.  Of course she was of age then and all hell broke loose.  My husband and I of 23 years split and divorced in 2010.  Funny, we are all living together again in a one bedroom apartment...soon to move to a 2 bedroom home.  Her choice to do drugs and steal, jail time...and now she is 6 months pregnant on a methadone treatment plan...I pray this works for her addiction and that the baby will be ok.  My life has been a roller coaster ride over the last 4 years.  I have stories that to some would seem unreal...