Let’s explore the day-to-day hell you will experience should you choose to go down the path of addiction/Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

Note: This is a no hold-back description of what I have seen and/or experienced.  I quickly learned that race, gender, age, nationality, and financial background do not make any difference. The chemical control of the brain and body do not discriminate!

For example: Watch the video of Celtics superstar Chris Herren. During the top of his game, his choice of addiction took him by the throat. He experienced these humiliating events. Chris fulfilled his dream of playing for the Boston Celtics only to lose it all to addiction that nearly killed him. Chris Herren Tells All

For example: In 2015, I experienced the following. Three people I knew died from alcohol and heroin. I saw one man OD on heroin at a center; if he was not at a center, he would be dead. I watched as a shelter sent Paul out into a Noreaster (The Real People You Read About) because he had NOT checked his cell phone at the desk. See An Event That Haunts Me.

The effects of what you are doing to your body may occur slowly at first. Rest assured, if you do not find help, these effects get more painful, occur more often, and can kill your butt. I met one person during an evaluation stay, who busted two ribs from vomiting hard.

Fact: You can die, anywhere, from detox and/or withdrawals!!

Here we go:

• The morning headache that will rip your head apart: Tears come to the eyes because you can not get to the pain. You need water, a drink, another hit, or meds but the headache comes back!
• Shakes: Different parts of the body will shake uncontrollably. You will not be able to stop or control them. Every task becomes a problem to do; hand over money, typing, holding a bottle without spilling, starting a car, holding a tool, etc. AND DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF–everyone knows.
• Eyes: Your eyes tell it all. Whether you have showered, used extra strength clear eyes, say it is an allergy, they know. Especially those that are on the path or have been on the path. Alcohol and heroin are the worst. DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF, THEY KNOW!
• Walking, work, and sports: Even when sober, your ability to walk is damaged. Agility is eliminated to the point you puke.
• Blackouts: This is when you can not remember what you did, what you said, and who you met for a period of time. Blackouts are a major warning signal that you need help. Blackouts: Death, Jail or Life
• No control of shitting and/or pissing: Your bladder will give you NO warning. If there is just a little feeling to go, you better run for the bathroom or stop the car. Your urine will come and wet the clothes and there is no stopping it! Your bowel movement will become very soft. Without notice, the body will decide to let it go. The watery crap will spread either down the leg and/or spread sideways over your clothes and ass. AGAIN, there is no hiding the wet and brown views on your body. For good measure, the smell is more toxic than it normally is. EVERYONE KNOWS!
• Snorting at night and puking in the morning: The sound is very distinctive. Anyone in the house and/or outside the door knows what is going down. Later on in the day or in the morning, the fun wears off. Now comes the incredible pain to the head and nerves in the body. Withdrawals. Now you beg for more or pay for the pain killers to mask the torture in the body. THERE IS NO STOPPING IT!
• Uncontrollable vomiting: Normally in the morning, your stomach contracts and you are FORCED to get sick, loud and clear. If you are lucky, it happens only once but normally it lasts for 3 or 5 rounds. It can happen anywhere and at anytime. And it smells. YOU CAN NOT HIDE IT!
• Smell of your body: Your body develops a distinctive smell that radiates from your pores. It could be the heroin, vodka/beer/whiskey, or methadone. The clothes and sheets absorb the stench. EVERYONE CAN SMELL WHAT IT IS-THERE IS NO HIDING IT.
• Sweats: Any moisture in the body comes out through your pores. Noticeably, through the face and hands. Your underarm smell comes unbearable. EVERYONE CAN SEE IT AND SMELL IT!

Listen to Lynard Skynard’s song That Smell and read the lyrics.
This is what I’m talking about.

• Seizures: Off to the hospital. For those of us who use drugs, particularly those of us who binge use or use to excess, seizures are known to occur. Sometimes they happen just before or as someone is overdosing (i.e., a seizure occurring just in the minutes before someone actually lapses into an overdose) or through withdrawing from a drug/s (e.g., benzos, alcohol) or, they are a (rather intense) way of telling us that we have been pushing our bodies too hard for too long. Drug Induced Seizure