Day Three - Oh My God... (continued...)

So I ended up going to Hospital, seems that lung infections like Pneumonia and Bronchitis are quite common when withdrawing from Smack.  Apparently they are also common during the use of it, who knew...  At any rate I dragged my arse into the hospital this morning because of all the pain I was having in my left lung, turned out to be mild Pneumonia, a bacteria that like to reproduce rapidly in your lungs when your immuno-suppressant system is not working correctly.  Problem is that Heroin gives the Immune System a somewhat misrepresented bolstering, for instance you can be in the middle of one of the worst flu's you have ever had, and just a little smack will knock it on the head.  In actual fact Heroin was used from the early 1800's til about the 1920's for the treatment of coughs and other flu like diagnosis.

Pneumonia is caused by the inhalation of infected microorganisms (tiny, single-celled living organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or protozoa) spread through contact with an infected person.  The microorganisms enter the body through the mouth, nose and eyes.  If the body's resistance is down (thank you Heroin), the natural process of fighting off diseases is weakened and the microorganisms are free to spread into the lungs and the lungs' air sacs.  The air sacs become filled with fluid and pus from the infectious agent, making it more difficult for the body to get the oxygen it needs.

There are three main types of pneumonia, Mycoplasmal, Bacterial and Viral. 

Fortunately, it may seem, for me I have the Bacterial variety, the Viral variety is not so readily treatable with Antibiotics.  Pneumonia-causing bacteria is present in many throats, but when the body's defenses are weakened (for example, by illness, old age, malnutrition, impaired immunity or excessive drug use) the bacteria can multiply, working its way into the lungs, inflaming the air sacs and filling the lungs with liquid and pus. The bacteria that cause bacterial pneumonia are streptococcus pneumonia (resulting in lobar pneumonia), hemophilus influenza (resulting in bronchopneumonia), legionella pneumophilia (resulting in Legionnaires' disease) and staphylococcus aureus.

The Viral variety is caused by viruses (funny that), such as influenza (flu), adenovirus, coxsackievirus, chickenpox, measles, cytomegalovirus and respiratory syncytial virus. These viruses also invade the lungs and multiply.

With bacterial pneumonia, you experience:

    * shaking

    * chills

    * chattering teeth

    * severe chest pain

    * cough that produces rust-colored or greenish mucus

    * very high fever

    * sweating

    * rapid breathing

    * rapid pulse rate

With viral pneumonia, the you experience:

    * fever

    * dry cough

    * headache

    * muscle pain and weakness

So given the above, the diagnosis was made rather hard for the Doctor's considering all of those symptoms accept severe chest pain can be put down to the Physical Withdrawal process of Heroin.

The remedy is a course of Antibiotics and bed rest, the real shitty thing of it is that they had to give me some pretty cool painkillers, I did not find out what they were but I am hoping against hope they were not Opioid based or I will be set back 2 days in this process.  Grrrrhhhh!!!!  There are litterally hundreds of story's when you google Heroin Relapse that reference an accident or some incident in the persons life, that required a Medical Practioner to give pain releif, causing relapse...  Not me...