Since I Couldn’t Hold my Breath

I am a worry wart; it’s a common trait of alcoholics and addicts (when sober). My recovery program allows me to accept my little quirks of checking to make sure the doors are locked or coffee pot is off, even though it has an automatic shutoff, three times before I leave the house. In fact, understanding my obsessive nature has allowed me to use this part of my nature to an advantage in my professional life managing projects.

So you can imagine the thoughts that raced through my head as I found out I was packed like a sardine shoulder to shoulder with a doctor specializing in infectious disease for a two hour plane flight from Phoenix to Houston. After resigning myself to the fact that I couldn’t hold my breath for the duration of trip there was no choice but breathe and make the most of the opportunity to speak with someone who probably had a unique perspective on the adverse health effects of addictive drug use. He did, in fact he had a whole lecture on the subject, so I’ll give you the high points.

Click “Read more” to see what the good doctor said…

He said in his specialty he could break down the consequences of drug use into two different categories, acute complications and long term illness. The acute complications included localized abscesses and other problems associated with improper needle use, this I already knew and have seen. Now I did not know that these abscesses could also migrate into the body away from injection sites attacking the spinal cord or internal organs.

He grossed me out describing veins being so bad with suppurative thrombophlebitis that he actually had to squeeze the pus out of them like he was milking the arm. This condition is so severe in many cases that the vein just has to be removed. Another affliction that can be caused by illicit drug use is endocarditis or as he described it cauliflower on the heart. It is a condition where a mixture of proteins, fibrous masses, and bacteria grow vegetative-like on the heart. When they become big enough and break off in pieces only two things can happen; going right they lodge to form abscesses in the body, but by taking the short trip left they usually cause stroke and death. On the long term side he said the biggest dangers came from Hepatitis B, C, and AIDs. He added that Hepatitis C was the single largest cause of liver failure.

He had a good story for the pot smokers out there that involves mold, fungi, dirty bong water, and the process of inhaling deeply and “holding”. Apparently it is possible to inhale the spores of a mold called aspergillus into the deep recesses of your lungs with a good toke where they lodge and begin to carry out the process for which they are designed… they grow. Basically, your lungs get eaten from the inside out. The same process can occur from the crap that grows in grody bong water.

I am so glad that I decided to talk (and breathe) to this very smart gentleman. Any errors I have made in the medical terms come not from the good doctor but instead from my hastily written notes that now seem so very cryptic. He also asked some very good questions about addiction and seemed to be very perceptive of the mental aspects of the disease. Even though we were working off data from different sources and experiences, we both agreed that the fact that people could suffer through such horrible consequences yet continue to use just validated the insanity aspect of this affliction.

Isn’t amazing the things you can learn from just facing your fears and taking a deep breath (just stay away from the bong water).