Is heroin making a comeback? I have seen more heroin addicts in the last couple of weeks than I have in a long time. Young ones too. Teenage. Sad.Heroin addicts coming to ER present for various reasons:
- They want to get off it. Unfortunately we aren't going to be able to help much with that.
-They overdosed. They come in one of 2 ways: by ambulance with narcan already on board. Or they are brought by a "friend" almost dead.
-They have an abscess from an injection.
All in all, a fun time for all involved. My job is so glamorous.
6 comments:
80% of opium poppies are grown in Afghanistan but we can't do anything about that, it would ruin their economy. Instead we let their economy ruin our youths. I just don't understand.
I have read that heroin is becoming popular with teenagers who have built up such a tolerance to their prescription pain pills (or the ones they steal from Mom & Dad) and heroin is the only thing that gets them high. Scary stuff.
I've heard on our news (here in Milwaukee) that it's made a comeback in the teenage/ young 20's set- mostly kids from good homes too, ugh. I'd definitely say we've seen it
Heroin is cheaper than the strong prescription opiates the pill addicts had been abusing. It is unfortunately making a comeback in many parts of the United States. I think it is going to really be a major again soon.
It's really big in the rural and rundown areas of Rust Belt western Pennsylvania now. We're close enough to Detroit and Philly, NYC, Baltimore, etc. that the big city gangs are setting up shop here and importing it. Washington County, PA, it's Mexicans bringing it in. In NW PA and NE OH, it's blacks from either Detroit or NYC. This probably started in 2007-2008 and has grown steadily since. People have OD'd in cars in shopping center and motel parking lots, presumably after making a buy.
I have had personal experience with the heroin epidemic that is plaguing our nation. Like the vast majority of twenty-something heroin addicts, I started with prescription drugs. My addiction began with being prescribed 60 Vicodin 5/500's when I had mono and ended w/ a $300 a day IV heroin addict. I have been treated at the ER/admitted to the hospital FOUR times in the past three years for sepsis. The first admission actually required an ICU stay for 3 days due to the severity of the infection in my foot. I almost lost my foot! That was well over three years ago and I still couldn't/wouldn't stop.
I am currently finishing my BSN and hope to be a RN working in a methadone clinic. Ohio, where I live, makes it difficult to access methadone. When I tried to get on it myself I was near death, hadn't eaten or showered for days. Two days prior to my appointment,I overdosed with a friend. I was supporting my habit through prostitution. I had told the nurse this, she just sighed and said it would be 2-3 weeks before I got dosed!I would have died in that time...I KNOW IT!!! I'm taking Suboxone and am active in 12 steps and trying to rebuild my life and use my experience to assist my future patients.
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