There are many factors that will contribute to how long track marks last. Track marks are formed by an individual who has a drug dependence requiring repeated injections of the drug into a vein or veins. Usually the individual will continue to inject in the same spot over and over then moving along the length of the vein as it becomes difficult to get a hit in the same spot. The vein becomes hardened in each spot where multiple injections have occurred, as this happens the individual will usually move a little bit further down the length of the vain to where it is soft. Each previous spot becomes discolored and scarred. Since the injections have moved along the length of the vein scarring and discoloration occur along the length of the vein causing what is called a track mark.. How long track marks will last depend upon various factors such as, how long an individual continues to use, how healthy the individual is, and many more that we will discuss.

The reason an individual will inject the drug in the first place is mainly because of "First Pass Effect" (also known as first-pass metabolism or presystemic metabolism). This is when the drug bypasses the liver metabolism process that occurs and enters the systemic circulation directly rather than taking a drug orally where it must go through the liver and be processed before entering the systemic circulation causing a loss of some of the drug. therefore when injecting the individual will get more of the drug as well as a "rush"  from the drug reaching the systemic circulation all at once. The addiction to the drug is usually physical and mental as well as a mental addiction to the injection process itself.

Blunt Syringes

Through many years of injecting  intravenously on a daily basis will cause track marks. One of the variables involved in causing more severe scarring would be repeated injections with the same syringe where the tip has worn down and is blunt. If an individual has access to plenty of syringes and throws away each one after injecting one time would lessen the affect it will have on destroying the tissue and puncturing the vein.

Intravenous Miss

Another factor involved in causing more scarring is when injecting the individual misses the vein. When this happens there is damage that occurs to underlying tissue and vein as it is squeezed by the swelling in the injection site. When there is a miss small blister like bubbles appear around the injection site that become extremely itchy causing the individual to scratch the area thus intensifying more tissue destruction. There are a couple of different ways to inject a drug but these methods will cause bruising of the skin and muscle if done repeatedly everyday in the same area. the two methods are: "skin popping" (this where the syringe is placed just under the skin and injecting, not in a vein - this can cause abscesses) and "intramuscular injecting" (this is where the syringe is placed right into the muscle and injected - this can cause bruising of the skin and hardened muscles). Usually these methods are not used by addicted individuals because mainly it takes a bit of time to reach the systemic circulation where intravenous injections are direct and produce a much more intense high.

Hitting The Same Vein

When a user is injecting daily it is common to return to the same spot and vein since the individual knows they can get a sure hit. Using a different vein or spot can sometime be difficult to get a hit and misses happen at a higher rate. When a miss occurs the intense high is not met and there is a sense of failure just as if the individual may have spilled the drug on the floor. For this reason it is common for the individual to continue hitting the same spot where they will feel secure knowing they can get a hit into the vein without a problem. However, if the individual has prominent veins and a new syringe hitting a different vein and spot all of the time will minimize track marks. It is all of these things that will determine how long track marks will last. when enough scaring has occurred the track marks may last forever or may require some plastic surgery to reduce the way they look.

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There are many heroin withdrawal stories and I would like to share some of my own with you. I am a heroin addict and have been using heroin since I was 19 years old, 26 years ago. Life has had its ups and downs over those 26 years. I have had periods of being clean and periods of serving time in New Jerseys prison system. It has been one hell of a ride, one I wish upon nobody. This blog post may be offensive to some but all I hope is that it may touch someone and help them turn a different direction than I have, This I hope is one of the better heroin withdrawal stories you have read.

In the summer of 1985 I was living in an apartment in Somerville, New Jersey. I had lived a trouble life up to this point. I had already spent time in New Jersey's Juvenile Department of Corrections, Jamesburg and Yardville on 3 different occasions. It was a dark and lonely part of my life. I was 19 now and an adult. I seemed to be doing better, I was working in a restaurant and had an apartment. this would not last long however because I kept the same troubled friends and would drink and smoke weed all of the time. Cocaine was around often but I never liked the jones after it was gone.

One Day a friend came over the apartment and asked if I would like to try some heroin. Of course I did! I dreamed of trying heroin. It was the one drug I had not tried yet. I sniffed a bag and was high as hell. It was like a euphoric coke high but different and I didn't jones from it. Heroin it seemed was the best ultimate high I ever had. I felt soooo good! My friend and I got someone to drive to Brooklyn, New York the next day to get some more of this heroin. Wee copped in Greenpoint Brooklyn on South Second. It was a predominantly Spanish community and really not the safest place for some skinny white guys to be going. But this just added to the excitement of copping and getting high.

I remember parking the car around the corner from where the building was where they sold the dope and walking quickly to the building. It was next to the fire house and there were two Spanish guys who stood on the porch in the front of the building. They checked everyone who went in for weapons and to see if you might be a cop. Once inside you had to go to the back of the building and up two or three flights of stairs. There was always a line of junkies waiting to cop their dope in the line. The building was nasty and run down and really all you wanted to do was get your shit and get out of their before the cops would come because if the cops came the dope dealers would disappear and you would be stuck standing inthe building exposed to the cops. Once you got your turn the guy would be sitting on the stairs with a god awful amount of dope in these huge freezer bags. They would count out what you would want and hand it to you once you paid. After copping I would rush out and back to the car as quick as possible because I would want to get high immediately.

The dope was so good back then, just one bag would give you such a rush when you injected it. One day I had gone in to cop and got back out and into the car. We pulled off and got a block away when a cop pulls us over. Normally the cops take your shit, smack you around and tell you to beat it. Well, this day was different. This cop found bags on two of us but not the driver. He arrested me and a girl that was in the car with us. I had no idea what was about to happen. We were taken to central booking. In central booking they were smoking crack in the holding tanks and it just was a god awful stinky place. I began to feel sick from not using the dope as we were transfered to another jail. I was all clamy with nasty chills and the shits. There was a toilet in the bulltank that held about twenty of us. The toilet was so disgusting with dried shit and piss all over it. I had to force my self to get the shits out of me. That had to be the most fowl moment in my life. The guards would come by and say if anyone could not take care of their belongings to put it on the table because they didn't want to have to mop anybody up later. One guy had had some ciggarettes and about twenty people jumped him and beat the living pulp out of him just to take the cigarettes, I was so sick, weak, couldn't sleep , cold and just feeling so nasty. I wish I could have just died. For five days I was in this jail in Brooklyn where I finally went to court. I felt as if a train had hit me by this time, I went in front of the judge and was given time served and a hundred dollar fine, They let me loose,

26 years of this kind of nonsense is what I have dealt with. Over the next 26 years I have gone to various county jails and have had to cold turkey heroin each time. I also was given an 11 year state prison sentence which I served 6 years of. I did get clean one time and stayed clean for 8 years. During those 8 years my life was pretty good. I got married, started a Business, bought a condo, then a very large house. I had a daughter who I loved to death. Then One day I decided to pick up again. I lost my house , my family and everything right down to the clothes on my back - literally. For the past 5 years I have struggled with a heroin habit again. I ended up spending time in Essex County jail in Newark New Jersey for almost a year after getting popped with a brick of dope. The jail was riddled with gangs and just entire chaos. Jail now is nothing like it used to be. It sucks!!!! I have yet to beat my addiction but want to so bad but it just has such a grip on my pant leg. Pray for me. I hope no person has to go through all the things I have. It is a dark cold lonely journey. I have more heroin withdrawal stories but I'll leave you with this one for now.

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If you are a parent or friend of someone who may be using heroin you may be asking, " What are the symptoms of heroin use " ? Heroin is a very destructive drug that completely takes over a person who is addicted to it. Heroin is physically addictive as well as mentally addictive, and one of the most difficult drugs to get off of. Many of those who successfully get off of heroin have returned to using it again even years later. But to know if someone is using it, "what are the symptoms of heroin use", needs to be answered.

The first thing to know about heroin use is that this is a drug that must be used every day in order for the addict to function otherwise they will become very "sick". This is a result of withdrawals from not using heroin. Withdrawals from heroin occur within 24 hours from the last use. The need to use heroin everyday means the addicted individual must take time out to get this drug every day as well as come up with the money to "cop", or buy the drug, which can become very expensive as the tolerance increases and higher doses are required to feel the drug.

Because the addict needs to cop heroin everyday they will need to make excuses to explain where they are going. If the addict lives in the city then copping can be fairly quick but for those in the suburbs that have to travel to the city areas, need to disappear for 2 or 3 hours everyday. So one sign of heroin use is an individual that is constantly having to disappear to go cop. Now this sign alone is not enough to say for sure so you will need to look for more signs.

There will be a need for money all of the time. A bag of heroin cost anywhere from 5 dollars up to 20 dollars. In the early stages of heroin use one or two bags may be good enough, but as time goes by ten, twenty or even more bags will be needed. So even at ten bags of heroin a day ( called a bundle of heroin or dope), the cost will be 50 dollars or more plus the gas or cost of travel to get the heroin. The addicted individual will use whatever money they have as well as turn to family members for money. They will usually manipulate family and friends into giving them money by telling them lies, such as they got a flat tire and need money for a tire, n They addicted person will also steal things to pay for their habit. So lots of excuses  to borrow money, missing money or items and the person constantly being broke is another sign of heroin use.

Because the addicted persons life becomes consumed with heroin they will begin to hang around others who also use heroin. They share a common ground and can help each other feed their habits. One may have a car the other more money, so one will buy the other heroin for taking them to get the heroin. The addicted individual will begin to have a couple new friends around and spend less time with friends that they have had all along. a change of friends may be a sign of heroin use.

Some heroin addicts sniff the dope and some will inject the dope. Those that sniff may leave rolled up bills or paper in the shape of a straw or shortened straws may be laying around. Those injecting heroin will need needles and a cap or spoon to mix the dope which then a piece of cotton is placed in it which the mixture is then filtered through as it is sucked up into the needle. A lot of times the small cotton pieces can come from the filter of a cigarette. So signs of heroin injection will be spoons or caps with small cottons in them, needles, and cigarettes which have a small piece of the filter torn from it. the most telling sign would be track marks from continual injections on the skin. The most common spot for track marks are on the arms, could be legs, ankles, or feet. Most heroin addicts that inject into their arms will always have long sleeves on or something to hide track marks.

When a person uses heroin they will experience body changes. The changes that occur are small pupils even when dark out, called pinned eyes. They will have slow or slurred speech and nodding may occur. Nodding is when they close their eyes and look as if they are very tired and falling asleep. In the beginning stages of heroin addiction itching can be a sign as well, this later goes away.

So to sum up everything for the question, "What are the symptoms of heroin use" There is a list below. If there is a number of the signs listed below or talked about above noticeable an individual then there is a good chance they may be using or addicted to heroin.

Signs of Heroin Use

• Missing money or items
• Borrowing money all of the time
• Broke all of the time
• Daily excuses for disapearances
• Change of friends
• Needles
• Cigarettes with small pieces missing from the filter
• Caps or spoons with small cotton pieces in them
• Wearing long sleeves all of the time
• Track marks
• Pinned eyes
• Nodding
• Itching

I hope who ever you suspect of using heroin is not for their sake. It is a devastating drug and one that most never successfully ever get off of. Overdose occurs often and usually when the person has been clean then picks up again thinking they can tolerate larger doses like they had once before. I also hope that anyone who reads this never even needs to ask or know, " what are the signs of heroin use."

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