Recovering addicts: tell us about your experience with heroin addiction

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death Sunday, which authorities think was a result of a heroin overdose, shocked his close friends and followers, many of whom publicly wondered: “How could this have happened?” – but in accordance to a latest review, heroin use is increasing more common in the US, and recovering from the potentially lethal drug remains extremely challenging.

A recent survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Well being Solutions Administration discovered that the use of heroin jumped 102% among 2002 and 2012. In 2012, about 669,000 men and women reported utilizing heroin at some point in the 12 months. Roughly 467,000 of people were deemed heroin-dependent – far more than double the number in 2002. The heroin epidemic has turn out to be so pervasive, that Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, invested his whole 34-minute State of the State address this yr discussing a “full-blown heroin crisis.”

Recovery is achievable, but extremely hard. Hoffman had been clean for 23 many years ahead of he relapsed, and his encounter is not uncommon.

“Someone with opiate addiction, they are doing pushups their entire lives,” Dr Drew Pinsky advised HLN Monday. “And they need to function on it all the time. And even operating on it, there is a large probability of relapse.”

With so significantly consideration being centered on heroin addiction, we want to hear from individuals who have skilled it firsthand.

• In a recent piece in the Atlantic, Jeff Deeny, a recovering addict wrote that Hoffman’s death reminded him to continue to be vigilant in maintaining [his] psychological well being. How do substantial profile overdoses, like Hoffman’s and Glee’s Corey Monteith impact you?
  
  


• What do you make of the fact that Hoffman was 23 many years clean and then went back to medication? Can you make clear the pull of addiction to an audience who may well not otherwise comprehend its electrical power?
  
  


• Last but not least, if you had 1 piece of guidance for current addicts taking into consideration recovery, what would it be?
  
  

Submit your answers below and we’ll featured selected responses on the Guardian. Please speak to Ruth Spencer with any queries. For all responses published, the Guardian will only publish your initial name. Your electronic mail tackle will remain personal.

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Recovering addicts: tell us about your experience with heroin addiction