Thanks for choosing to read this article, please read through to the end – it explains how I have tested brands, products and different methods to beat spice/K2 addiction easier – and by doing this, I will be rolling out a charity to support rock bottom ‘hitters’.
This is a story which most would never admit to, for fear of banishment and also, loss of a company.
I’m an ex-professional “Elite” athlete having represented 3 countries in my life, and a company owner with vast travel.
I’m in my thirties now and was addicted to what you call Spice
Without much detail, I’ve lived a bad life. Growing up I was homeless, but still went to school, albeit picked on for years. So I’ve had a pretty rough upbringing in a 3rd world country.
I got into this drug a few years back and realised that I was addicted.
Man, I could barely get up after sitting down, my face was blood red, I couldn’t breathe properly. But refusing to give in, I got up and carried on, day after day.
One day, I decided to quit, and that was it – probably about $1,000 of abuse later. No withdrawals and focused on my sports.
As with a lot of people, my memory is short with bad experiences and never held a ‘grudge’ against the stuff, but it wasn’t for me as I put it down to heavy smoke intake.
Prior to this binge, I had a photographic memory too and to this day, lost a lot of my memory from my 20’s.
The most important part of this is what happens next…present day.
Fast forward, 5 years of no abuse. I decided to pop into a head shop and grab some spice. No harm last time, apart from what I mentioned, however this time I was dealing with trauma in my life.
I became addicted fast…
…Morning sweats, mood swings, greying of the face, loss of breath, nose sweats all day – beading and beading.
I limited my purchases to 1/1.5g per bag, first that would last me a week, then 3 days, then 2, and finally if I wanted, ½ a day. Or 1 night time as I would wake craving it.
My life went to rubbish. I lost 10kgs, and nearly my family.
Started having seizures too, no good!
When I looked at myself in the mirror, saw all of this, enough was enough.
Everyone says that withdrawals take 2 weeks, but being an ex-sports scientist, I understand hormonal chemistry well and receptor binding agents.
This example of how I got my withdrawals to 3-4 days is not for all, however the logic behind it is solid.
I immediately pushed up my serotonin with 5-HTP in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. But one must be cautious as you can provoke serotonin sickness (too much for the brain to handle) and you’ll feel awful!
With that, I completed the diet with DHEA to stabilize hormones, Coenzyme Q10 for energy, consistent intake of water soluble vitamins (esp Vitamin B to help with stabilization), combined with a good meal replacement powder 3 times a day due to not wanting to eat solids.
Full recovery took place, but I wasn’t done with the drug.
I wanted to know why I reacted differently to others.
I studied the following controlled dosing.
I left work and purposely got addicted to be able to write this article with outcomes. (And start my charity)
Situation 1
o Addiction incurred using herbal spice, without the above supplements and natural recover
Outcome: 3 week recovery time with 2 relapses in small amounts, experiencing all withdrawals, including coughing black phlegm for 1 week after stoppingSituation 2
o Addiction incurred using herbal spice, whilst on SSRI’s (commonly known as Prozac or Paxil/anti-depressants) and above supplements
Outcome: 3 days recovery time, experienced some withdrawals for 2 days after but limited to shakes in the bed/sleeping and some moody behavior. including coughing black phlegm for 1 week after stoppingSituation 3
o Addition whilst using the vape version of spice, and no SSRI
Outcome: 1-2 days recovery, 3-4 days with some shaky or jittery feelings, no black phlegm or difficulty doing exerciseSituation 4
o Addiction whilst using vape, SSRI and the supplementation
Outcome: 0 withdrawalsTotal study time; 5 months full time, living off savings.
The interesting part of this condensed study is that if you have the herbal spice analyzed, it contains between 60-70% of the chemical that induces the effects desired. 30-40% were unidentified chemicals which I believe to have addictive traits within them due to the study.
The vape only contains the active ingredient, therefore the producers are limited to using that one compound due to the difficulty mixing agents to make them “vaporise”.
In addition, no coughing, bad smells, and generally healthier feel.
However, you must learn how to use a vape stick effectively; otherwise, you’ll get condensation and it’s really not pleasant to get a few drops on your tongue of the raw substance – it ruins you about 30 minutes later.
The additional problem with abusing spice is that you cannot go on to natural weed and expect the high any further, as your receptors are damaged, and brain generally exhausted of working on a ‘normal’ level.
This is coming from a person that grew 3 large ‘trees’ over a year, ground a 1 x 4 foot plant into a 25 cm large cake. I ate half in a day and nothing at the peak of addiction. 4 weeks later, I tried a tiny strip and nearly vomited I was that high. Knocked me out for near on 24 hours.
Comparing the two experiences, it added to my studies of how nasty spice is.
It also brings me to my personal knowledge of how meth is produced, and how it is made addictive. I used it for a very short period of my life, 11 years ago, but never suffered with addiction. My friends did as they bought off a low level dealer, but I was buying from the lab. Different substances are put into drugs to create addiction – that’s just fact.
Which brings me to the end of this story as I need to go to work… its 8 am and I run my own software firm, plus a charity.
Please take away from this that there are ways to beat spice easier, without the issues and live a normal life with a controlled taper off the substance using very pure chemicals.
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