I’m writing something and am trying to describe dope sickness to someone who’s never experienced it

Would love some feedback…did I forget anything?

Lots of people compare it to the worst flu you’ve ever had—I disagree. It’s not just being sick; it’s like your body is betraying you, turning every moment into an excruciating eternity. For most—including myself—it starts with uncontrollable yawning, the biggest yawns you’ve ever had, coming relentlessly every few seconds. Your eyes water until tears stream down your face, and your jaw starts to ache from the constant stretching. But these aren’t normal yawns—they’re the first sign that something is seriously wrong, like your body is trying to expel something it can’t reach.

Then comes this creeping anxiety that won’t go away. It claws at your mind and makes your heart race as if you’re being chased—but you know you can’t run because the horror is coming from inside you. The panic is paired with a deep, gnawing dread, like every bit of hope has been drained from your soul.

Next, there’s the sweating. Hot one minute, freezing the next. You’ll be drenched and shivering at the same time, your skin crawling with an unbearable sensation, like bugs burrowing beneath it. You can’t get comfortable—ever. Your legs, arms, everything aches, throbs, or twitches uncontrollably. Even lying still feels like torture because your muscles won’t stop screaming for relief.

You’d think you might get relief when you go to sleep, right? Wrong. You’ll toss and turn all night, wide awake, trying every possible position to find one that’s comfortable. It doesn’t matter how cozy you try to make it—you’ll feel every fiber of every blanket and sheet against your skin. It’s either too soft and tickles, too itchy, or too rough. It’s too hot with blankets and too cold without them. You’ll want to be naked, but if your clammy skin rubs against itself, it’ll send shivers throughout your body. Occasionally, you might pass out for a few minutes, but it’s not real rest—it’s more like your brain glitches out from exhaustion before waking you up in a panic, like the feeling you get when you wake up hours late for work.

You won’t be able to eat or drink either, thanks to the constant nausea and cramps. If you do manage to choke anything down, it’ll likely come right back up or go straight through you. It’s like your guts are in open rebellion. Between not being able to keep anything down, the diarrhea, and the constant need to pee, you become dangerously dehydrated and malnourished. Pair that with lack of sleep, and you turn into a complete zombie, stuck in a nightmarish state of delirium.

All your senses become so intense it feels like your brain might short-circuit. The lights are too bright, everything smells and tastes too strong, every touch is painful, and every sound is too loud. Your emotions become completely out of control and unmanageable. You’ll cry out of nowhere—sobbing, snot running down your face—feeling like the most pathetic creature alive. Every regret, every mistake, every ounce of shame you’ve ever felt comes rushing in, drowning you in guilt.

And then there’s the need—this overwhelming, all-consuming urge that screams in your mind. It insists that one small action will end the nightmare. You don’t just think about it—you feel it in every fiber of your being, like survival itself depends on it. The worst part? You know that giving in only resets the cycle, but enduring another endless minute, hour, or day feels equally impossible.

Once you’re more than a day into it you can’t even do anything to try and fix it. the only way you’ll get relief is if someone helps you. You can’t hustle at that point. I’ve been so sick and seen people so sick that can’t even talk let alone walk. Even if you do get more dope somehow you are so shaky, you can barely even do it without assistance. When you’re in such absolute rough shape, reduced to just a leaky, disgusting delirious shell of a person, very few people will want to have anything to do with you let alone help you. It is nothing if not humbling.