A One-Time Intervention? A Personal Account of Opiate Withdrawal Disruption
Introduction
What I am about to share is not theory. It is not pulled from a study, a headline, or a policy paper. This is a firsthand account — one that I have repeated to anyone willing to listen because the implications are too significant to ignore.
At its core, this is about something simple: the possibility of stabilizing individuals suffering from opioid withdrawal with what appears to be a one-time intervention. Not maintenance. Not substitution. Stabilization.
If what I experienced can be replicated, even partially, it has the potential to fundamentally alter how we approach opioid addiction treatment in the United States and beyond.
The Context: Withdrawal Is the Barrier
Anyone who has lived through opioid addiction understands this reality: withdrawal is not just discomfort — it is a force that drives behavior, overrides logic, and traps people in cycles they desperately want to escape.
Breaking that cycle is not just about willpower. It is about surviving the physiological and neurological storm that follows cessation.
That storm is where most people lose.
The Experience
At the time, I was using what was being sold as fentanyl — “fetty” — which is often an unpredictable mix of substances. I had previously gone more than 90 days sober, and the withdrawal experience was unlike anything I had experienced earlier in life with heroin.
On one occasion, I used DMT while also using fentanyl. What followed was unexpected. I began to feel a distinct discomfort in my spine — a sensation that resembled the onset of withdrawal — but without the full spectrum of symptoms.
Over the course of a month, I repeated this combination a handful of times. Each time, the result was consistent: a partial, targeted withdrawal-like sensation that appeared isolated rather than systemic.
Later, after going approximately 48 hours without fentanyl, I used a small amount of DMT again. The same spinal sensation occurred — even in the absence of fentanyl use.
At that point, I recognized that something was happening that I did not fully understand, but it was consistent enough to pay attention to.
The Event That Changed Everything
Approximately 16 hours after that experience, I went to urgent care for severe testicular pain. The attending physician suspected a surgical emergency and ordered immediate transport by ambulance.
During transport, I was administered morphine intravenously.
What happened next is something I struggle to fully put into words.
The moment the morphine entered my system, everything changed. Instantly. Faster than thought. Faster than expectation. I felt normal.
Not simply pain relief. Not sedation. Not euphoria.
Normal.
The kind of normal that individuals in withdrawal are desperately trying to reach. The absence of sickness. The absence of that internal storm. Clarity.
I sat up and looked around in disbelief. Tears came to my eyes because I understood immediately that something had shifted.
It was not gradual. It was not subtle. It was immediate and complete.
Aftermath
From that moment forward, resisting relapse became fundamentally different. It was no longer a battle of enduring withdrawal. It was a conscious decision not to return to that state.
The fear of withdrawal — one of the strongest drivers of continued use — had been broken.
In the early period following that event, I used very small amounts of kratom occasionally to manage anxiety. Over time, even that became infrequent. Today, it is used sparingly, if at all.
This experience occurred nearly two years ago.
The clarity has remained.
A Hypothesis Worth Investigating
What I experienced suggests the possibility that the combination of neurological disruption (via DMT) followed by controlled opioid receptor engagement (via morphine) may have interrupted or reset aspects of the withdrawal process.
This is not a claim of certainty. It is a call for investigation.
Because if there is even a fraction of truth to this, the implications are profound.
Risk vs. Reward
The current standard approaches to opioid addiction involve long-term maintenance, repeated relapse cycles, and significant mortality risk.
Against that backdrop, the question becomes straightforward:
What do we have to lose by studying a controlled, medically supervised intervention in populations already at high risk?
Patients suffering from severe opioid dependence — particularly within systems such as the Department of Veterans Affairs — already face significant health risks.
In a controlled clinical setting, with medical oversight, dosing protocols, and monitoring, the relative risk of studying such an intervention is minimal compared to the ongoing risk of overdose, relapse, and death.
We are not talking about replacing one addiction with another. We are talking about the possibility of interrupting the cycle itself.
A Call to the Medical Community
This is a call to researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and institutions — both in the United States and internationally.
Study this.
Test this.
Validate it or disprove it — but do not ignore it.
We are in the midst of an opioid crisis that continues to take lives at an unacceptable rate. Incremental solutions have not been enough.
If there is a possibility of a rapid stabilization method, even for a subset of patients, it deserves serious attention.
A Personal Reflection
I believe, without hesitation, that what I experienced was more than coincidence.
It was a moment that changed the direction of my life.
A moment I cannot fully explain.
A moment that felt, in every sense of the word, like divine intervention.
A second chance.
And with that second chance comes a responsibility to share what happened — not as a conclusion, but as a signal.
A signal that something here may be worth understanding.
Sound the Alarm
If there is even a possibility that a one-time, short-duration intervention could reduce or eliminate the withdrawal barrier, then the global medical community must pay attention.
Because the cost of ignoring it is measured in lives.
And the potential benefit is measured in freedom.
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