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When you become an IV drug user, you are gambling with a lot of potential dangers. I shot heroin for ten years and had countless medical issues as a result of my IV substance use disorder. Finding help seemed impossible for me until I stumbled upon Rehabs Of Armerica.
There are a lot of disorders and medical problems associated with drug abuse, many of which aren’t as well known. Cotton fever is a particularly scary condition that can be life-threatening in rare cases. Having suffered from cotton fever myself, I can attest that it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.
Intravenous drug users aren’t usually thinking about their physical well-being. Nothing matters but the drug when you are deep into an addiction. When I started to inject drugs, my concern was getting high and finding more drugs to get high with later. Everything revolved around my drug abuse.
When I noticed the physical side effects associated with my substance abuse, they didn’t bother me. When I got cotton fever, it put the fear of God into me.
Read more if you want to learn how to avoid this condition, as well as other serious conditions associated with IV drug abuse, and find out how to get help from the people at Rehabs Of Armerica!
Intravenous drug users face a lot of consequences as a result of their substance abuse. Hepatitis, HIV, and other infections are common. Drug use is risky no matter what substance you are ingesting. When you get to the point where you are willing to inject drugs, you are typically deep into addiction already.
A fellow addict once told me that injecting drugs was actually a cleaner way of taking them. This was his way of rationalizing his sickness. I was already snorting opiates and dabbling with heroin at that point, so I took those words to heart.
When I first injected heroin, it was a high like no other. I spent years trying to get that high again, and I never did.
My experience with cotton fever happened when I was deep into my addiction and was one of the factors that led me to get clean. Cotton fever occurs when bacteria from used cotton or needles get into your bloodstream. Many IV drug users share needles and often don’t worry about the risks associated with it.
I shared a lot of needles in my time as an IV drug user, and I knew a lot of other addicts who had gotten cotton fever. Symptoms of cotton fever include nausea, headache, fever, and muscle and joint pain. When you engage in IV drug use, you already feel sick a lot of the time, so these symptoms can be overlooked.
Cotton fever is caused by a bacteria called Pantoea Agglomerans. This bacterium helps to protect cotton plants from blight, though if exposed to humans it can be life-threatening. A similar condition called cotton fever was first reported among cotton farm laborers in the 1940s. Cotton fever is a benign febrile syndrome that attacks the bloodstream and can alter your white blood cell count.
A bacterial infection like cotton fever is on the rise among IV drug users. IV drug users use cotton balls to wipe their needles off, and much like needles, these cotton balls are often shared among addicts. There is no warningon cotton balls and needles, so many addicts don’t know the risks. Even if they did, it still probably wouldn’t matter.
As far as skin infections and blood disorders go, cotton fever is one of the last conditions a drug user thinks they will fall victim to. I had no idea what it was when I got it, and the psychological game that it played with me was brutal. Picturing little cotton fibers running through my blood almost made me faint.
Although it can be distressing, for the most part, cotton fever is not life-threatening, unless other bacterial infection issues occur. With this being said, medical attention is still recommended for those experiencing cotton fever, especially if chest pain symptoms are involved,
An IV drug addiction takes a tremendous amount of support to overcome. When I reached the point where I began injecting drugs, I had given up on life a long time before that. My recreational drug abuse began in my teenage years, which led to my IV drug use in my adulthood. My opiate dependence led me to heroin, which commonly requires intravenous injection.
Even though I had watched others around me deal with medical conditions such as infective endocarditis and other infectious diseases, it didn’t scare me at all. I overdosed twice on heroin and ended up in the emergency room both times. I’ve been arrested numerous times for possession and each time I was encouraged to seek treatment.
My IV drug addiction was so powerful that even multiple overdoses didn’t wake me up. When I almost lost my arm due to cotton fever, I began to second-guess IV drugs. If I hadn’t sought medical treatment, I could have easily died. I had cotton particles stuck in my bloodstream and muscle pain that even heroin couldn’t take away.
I had all the signs of long-term heroin addiction. Abscesses, collapsed veins, skin infections, and constant discomfort. It got to the point where I was using heroin to not feel sick. I wasn’t even getting high anymore. That’s where you will end up after long-term IV drug use. Like other narcotic addicts, I had little to no hope.
Following my ordeal with cotton fever, I was ready to give treatment a chance. I knew that my withdrawal symptoms would be intense, so I needed to have some kind of medical attention in order to get through the process. Rehabs Of Armerica was easy to navigate and gave me a lot of options.
I showed up to detox with muscle spasms, abdominal pain, and a high fever. It had been several hours since I last used it, and my symptoms were intense. The medical care that I received gave me the strength to stick it out, and in the end, I had a general feeling of hope. This is a feeling I hadn’t felt in years of using intravenous drugs daily.
Years of shooting heroin and other IV drugs and living an unhealthy lifestyle left me with a broken shell of myself. A physical exam showed that I was dangerously underweight and was severely malnourished. Certain drugs will damage your body in different ways, whereas a drug like heroin can change your body forever.
The first night I spent in recovery was restless and scary. I wanted it to work so badly, but I knew that I could screw it up in a second. I made a promise to myself that I would do everything I could to hang in there and apply myself through the process as much as I could. I got up the next day with a sense of self-confidence that I didn’t know I could conjure.
Whether you’ve dealt with cotton fever or other blood infections, being able to come out on the other side of an IV drug addiction is a powerful feeling. I still have days where I feel weak, but I embrace it as part of the process. And I never feel as weak as those days when I was slamming meth and whatever I could get my hands on. I can’t imagine myself relapsing. I know it’s possible, but when I think about the pain of cotton fever, it sets me straight.
My sobriety is the most important thing in my life, and I talk about it openly and honestly whenever I can. When I go to group meetings, I can see people struggling. It’s ok to struggle with your sobriety. You’re never going to reach a point where every day is perfect, but if you put in the work, you can come close.
When I first searched Rehabs Of Armerica, I had no idea that it would work for me as well as it did. It can work for anyone who is willing to give recovery a try. Choosing recovery was the best decision I ever made, and it’s helped me live my life to the fullest.
Every day is an opportunity to be a better person. I view every day as a gift, and I know that reaching out for help made my recovery and even life possible. Give yourself a chance for the same change and make the call to get some options now. What do you have to lose?
Anna M. joined Find Addiction Rehabs with extensive experience in the field of addiction treatment. As a former Nurse Practitioner in Miami, she found her passion for addiction treatment when a family member was lost to his disease. With each article and resource, she hopes to save other families from experiencing the anguish of a loved one’s passing due to drinking or drugs.
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