How long does a heroin high last and what are the stages of the high?

Answer 1

• A heroin high lasts about three hours. This will vary based on how much you use, your tolerance, your weight, and how often you use, it can last anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. The initial rush lasting a couple of minutes, and then a feeling of warmth and tiredness lasting for a while longer.
• Personally, I find that a heroin high - all symptoms included - lasted about 6 or 7 hours when I first started using. As I gradually got addicted I would have to shoot up every 2 to 4 hours just to avoid withdrawal, but I was extremely dependent on the drug at that point (which not all users are).
• The stages will vary for different users. Mine went like so: first was nausea, but that only lasted about 5 or 10 seconds until I got the "rush" or "hit". The "rush" is a period of about 10 to 20 minutes (varying with the strength of the user's addiction) when you feel what people often class as "high" - a sensation of well-being or happiness accompanied by your body going a bit jelly-like. Your skin heats up and you feel warm inside out and you fidget a lot because you get "butterflies" and can't keep still. After these initial effects, the mouth starts to dry and usually the lips chap a little - the jelly feeling turns into heaviness, especially in your head, hands, and legs (or just from the waist down). Sometimes your arm starts burning (if you've injected), or your skin itches. For first-time and irregular users the nausea can come back, making you vomit and get quite dizzy, occasionally fainting. This second stage lasts about half an hour to 2 hours.
• These next symptoms can overlap with the second stage - the existence of a clear third stage is debatable. Users begin to alternate between severe drowsiness and alertness, continue to be shifty and restless, and then your breathing starts to slow. It's sometimes really difficult to breathe. When that happens your heartbeat is also quite soft, maybe irregular, and if it is a case of an overdose then it's possible to slip into a coma at this point and medical attention is necessary. Common visible signs of being "high" are the constricted pupils, dark circles around the eyes, pale skin and chapped lips. The rest is down to how the user used. If the drug was injected, there will be track marks at the injection site and depending on the user there might be swelling, redness, raised/blackened veins. If it was snorted they might sniff, sneeze, cough and blow their nose a lot.
• Heroin often causes insomnia. After I used I always felt tired, but could never sleep. My girlfriend found me high a few times before she helped me get clean, and she said I looked like I was asleep half of the time - I tossed and turned and didn't respond to her voice or touch. But I was awake the whole time.
• The high is very intense after shooting and stays intense to a lesser extent for the next two hours, then begins to taper over the next two to four hours. Much of this depends upon tolerance, dose and other variables. It is, oddly enough, difficult to sleep under the influence. Much nodding, etc, but sleep disturbance for sure.