Dual Addiction: Meth in the Morning, Heroin at Night

The Dual Addiction of Meth and Heroin: Kim’s Story

If it is hard to live with one addiction, and it is even worse when you have dual addiction to substances. Kim, 47, started just like many people who abuse drugs. She used to try to fix a problem.

According to her, it all started around 25 years ago. After her parents got divorced, she started to suffer emotionally. She turned to methamphetamine as a haven from the pain. She affirmed that, by using it, she could finally “feel normal” again. The drug was used as a tool that helped her to cope with all the pain.

This situation is not uncommon, as many people start abusing substances after a trauma occurs. Their personal stories might be different, but their pain is generally similar. Just as Kim did, people experiment with drugs at first to feel better for the moment, and eventually, a pattern develops.

The more the drug is used, the more you need to use it to keep feeling relief. This makes the situation spiral out of control pretty quickly in most cases.

The Start of Kim’s Dual Addiction

In some cases, the addiction can cause a second addiction. At first, Kim only used meth for around nine years, but then she looked for treatment. Everything was alright initially, but her body missed the feeling she got from the drugs.

Heroin, her second addiction, appeared as a new solution. It calmed her down instead of invigorating her because heroin is an opiate. At first, she thought, “heroin’s great. I don’t do speed anymore”. She was glad to get rid of the paranoia and agitation.

Methamphetamine can cause psychosis, as Suzette Glasner-Edwards and Larissa J. Mooney affirmed. Roughly 40% of all meth users can suffer from symptoms such as agitation or delusions. Also, the absence of methamphetamine in a person’s body can trigger depression and anxiety. Unfortunately, the situation got out of control quickly for Kim, and she became a victim of dual addiction.

Kim was not fully aware at first, though. She described this phase of her life as “the chemist with your own body.” She said she was “balancing, trying to figure out your prescription” to feel better simply. Now, she has finished her treatment for both drugs and is in recovery. After suffering for over two decades with the problem, she enrolled in a residential treatment program for women based in San Francisco.

She was very lucky, though. The Journal of the American Medical Association has recently published a new study that affirms that amphetamine-related hospitalizations were up by 245% from the eight-year period from 2008 to 2015. Many people were not as lucky as she was.

Kim has been sober for a year now and is finally trying to find her balance without needing other substances. This is never easy, but it is an important step to regaining your health and control of your own life.