Those in our study additionally commented on how their senses were affected by their drug use. For example, food seemed to have little flavour whilst they were using drugs, but tasted much better once their opioid consumption reduced (see also Chapter 9).
“You appreciate the flavour more… When you’re using, taste is the last thing you ever think of,” Liam, aged 37
“All your taste buds are gone when you’re on the gear [heroin],”
Sorayha, aged 31
Similarly, individuals reported a much improved sense of smell as opioid use decreased.
“Like smelling grass, smelling plants, just smelling everyday things. That was really weird. You started actually noticing stuff around you, rather than just being blurry and warm and numb…. Petrol, petrol as well, at the petrol station, yeah…? When you’re on gear and that, you don’t really have smells to be honest,” Elliott, aged 32
Elliott, along with Luke and Edward, graphically highlighted how things could sound and look better too.
“But music in the morning was wicked. When I didn’t have my hit to wake up to in the morning, going in, washing up… used to stick Eminem on, and it just used to be wicked… Noticing stuff, yeah?… I mean, now you can see stuff, it’s just weird,” Elliott, aged 32
“I can get up in the morning and… sit out here, just watch the morning sort of thing, know what I mean? Listen to the birds. It’s nice and fresh and it is a good day. It’s a fantastic day, because I spent so long in that negative place… I’ve got to try and be a bit more positive about it, wak-ing up in the mornwak-ings… smell the grass, listen to the birds and thwak-ings.
It is nice,” Luke, aged 34
“I don’t know why. I can see a lot better. I can see colour now. Every-thing was a bit grey before,” Edward, aged 34
Menstruation
Very few of the women in the study reported regular monthly cycles during periods of active drug use. Indeed, many reported very irregular periods and quite a few said that they had had no periods at all. As Isabelle explained,
“I don’t have periods… I don’t even know how I got pregnant. I do, but I didn’t have a period,” Isabelle, aged 35
Even after they had stopped using opioids, some women were still not having periods and expressed concern at this.
“I haven’t had a period for ages and that’s something I need to go to the doctor about, because it’s starting to concern me… It’s concerning me because… my periods have never been regular and that’s through drug
taking. But now I’m not taking drugs and I’m still not having periods, so that’s something I need to go and see the doctor about,” Frances, aged 31
Others noted that their periods were coming back or would soon come back.
“I wouldn’t have one [a period] for three months and then I’d have a little one… But now I’ve… had two regular ones, so everything seems to be coming back,” Annabel, aged 29
“Yeah, they’re fine… I mean I went through a stage, you know, I think maybe four, five years ago of not having a period for about nine months.
But, no, they’ve been fine,” Olivia, aged 32
Whilst not having regular periods was often attributed to drug use, many also thought it related to other factors such as being underweight, never having had regular periods, having polycystic ovaries, using particular forms of con-traception, the menopause, pregnancy, or even having an underactive thyroid.
As Debbie explained,
“Sometimes I’ll only bleed for like two days, sometimes I bleed for seven days, sometimes absolutely all over the place. That’s due to I’ve got polycystic ovaries as well, and then [my] underactive thyroid doesn’t help. So it’s all to do with hormones, and as well as my drug use prob-ably not helping,” Debbie, aged 28
When periods returned they could still sometimes be very irregular or particu-larly heavy or painful. This is Bess,
“Well I didn’t have them [periods] for five years, and then I had one, but it was, you know, extremely bad, you know. I even took myself to the doctors because I wondered what was wrong with me, and he said, you know, they were just coming back after all that time and that’s why they were so heavy,” Bess, aged 31
Irregular periods were clearly frustrating for some women who bemoaned the fact that they didn’t know when they were next due to have one. Others noted the inconveniences of having periods, particularly the stomach cramps and pre-menstrual tension.
“I just don’t like them, stomach cramps, fucking hell. Where before I never used to get, because you didn’t even get stomach cramps or anything, but now I do get real bad stomach cramps, which is not nice,” Annabel, aged 29
At the same time, many were still pleased at their returning periods because this signified returning normality or the fact that they weren’t in menopause.
“I’m hoping they are back to normal,” Ellie, aged 29
“I was pretty pleased [about having a period] because I’ve been looking in the mirror and looking so old. I was thinking, ‘Oh God, it’s gonna get ten time worse, you know. No oestrogen going around. And then I had a period and I thought, ‘That’s alright. The oestrogen is still, still going round – ain’t gonna become all dried up and shrivelled quite as soon as I thought,” Beth, aged 43
Summary
Opioid use can have profound physical effects on the human body. These can include weight loss, constipation, reduced sex drive, loss of physical senses, and amenorrhea. Sometimes these physical changes are dramatic and can have serious negative health implications. Very reassuringly, though, normal body functioning often returns fairly quickly and spontaneously once opioid use ceases. This can in turn bring great pleasure and relief, although some individuals may require support in adjusting to the scale and rapid nature of the changes. Sometimes, however, bodies can take time to settle down.
Furthermore, some individuals may find that their bodies do not begin to function as expected, even after several months of being opioid-free. In this
case, it is important to look for other possible medical and non-medical causes, including those not necessarily related to opioid use. Finally, it is im-portant to remember that men and women may have different bodily concerns and issues, especially relating to weight gain, libido and menstruation.