Warning from an ex-tweaker

[Tracy]

Hey everybody~ I gave up meth after a pretty intense 2 year addiction and have been off of it for 17 years now! And yes, you can definitely give it up and totally lose the desire for it.

Recently I've been diagnosed with hepatitis C. This is a serious virus that is on the rise and can lead to cirrhosis and even liver cancer. I was never an IV user so I feel that I caught it simply through snorting, possibly blood on a straw that transferred.

My reason for writing is to warn you all that it's possible to catch this through snorting - so be careful, don't share straws (or needles, obviously).

Love, peace and good health to all.

[vantranist]

How can you be so sure it was from ur meth use. im not saying its not, just im sure it can be from many things.

[cyndi]

Well another way to get this as swim has friends that have transmitted it this way is from sex with a partner that has it. Sometimes others will not be honest about needle use stigma she guesses. Honestly she has not heard of straw shared and transmitted hep. c although swim is not saying it couldn't happen say the other person has blood in their nose that gets transmitted to the straw. It is bloodborne or transmitted via sex at any rate. Oh yes def with swiy on needle sharing very bad.

On a personal note, I am sorry to hear about it. I have several friends including some relatives that have this condition. One from a blood transfusion after fighting in Nam with injuries he suffered there. He has had it over 30 years I guess.

Congrats to the clean time, keep up the good work! It is always nice to hear of this.

[Codehead]

You didn't get that during your meth use. You wouldn't live now if you had got that 17 years ago and didn't seek any help. I knew one guy who got Hepatitis C from sharing needles, after three years of that he got some serious liver problems, so he went to doctor and they found that he had liver cancer from hepatitis C, he died one year later because the cancer were already spread that bad. So it's no way, I mean no fucking way, possible what you speak of…

[Tracy]

Vantranist: I can't be sure but seems most likely to me in retrospect since it is a bloodborne virus - not easily sexually transmitted and I wasn't an IV user. In reasearching this I found out that straws indeed can transmit it which I never, never thought of at the time. One source http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/vahep?page=ptfaq-2005-09-04.

Codehead: Actually, hep C is called the "silent killer" because it can and often does linger in your body for 10, 20, 30 years with no symptoms. Quote: "Since death from HCV liver disease usually occurs 20 or more years after the initial infection, the HCV death rate is anticipated to triple in the next 15 to 20 years when sequelae peak." Taken from National Foundation for Infectious Disease http://www.nfid.org/factsheets/hepc.html

Don't want to argue with anyone - just wanted to give a little info to prevent anyone else from getting this.

[JaWill88]

yeah swim was trying to get sober and his sponser has had it for more than thirty years. its more than possible

[runfrom MURDER]

If SWIY contracts a disease from meth usage that kills him within 20-30 years, then it probably doesn't and won't matter to SWIY. If SWIY is that bad and dirty, you'll be dead or brain-dead by then anyways.

Agreed? Come on...