An Adelaide woman's frightening years of drug addiction are quickly evident to others when they see the impact to her right hand.

Nicole, 44, said her troubles started in her early teens — drinking at pubs and clubs by the time she was 14 and becoming a drug user within two years of that.

Her on-and-off addiction spanned close to three decades.

"A couple who were doing speed used needles, I guess they brought us into it so they could afford their own habit," she recalled.

"We would pay for it and, unfortunately, we watched them using needles, so I was injecting drugs by the time I was 16."

Nicole was drawn into the world of addiction and violent relationships.

She said she gave up using speed at times but it never stayed out of her life for long.

"I felt like I controlled my drug habit, but now I realise I didn't," she said.

"I would say in my head, 'I'm not using for three months because we need money for birthdays and for Christmas' and I'd give myself a date and I wouldn't use until that date."

'Out of control, worse than ever'

Nicole said a move to Melbourne made her stay away from illegal drugs for a year, but she started using again when she returned to Adelaide.

"It went downhill quickly and I knew it was out of control, worse than ever," she said of a four-month binge.

Amputations were needed so Nicole did not lose her entire fingers or hand. ( Supplied: Nicole )

Nicole said she and her partner stopped using drugs for six weeks late last year, but the desperation for a hit then returned.

"Because we hadn't used for six weeks, to get the drugs that day took so long," she said.

"We went with a dealer we'd never had before.

"What he put in his stuff to bulk it up was the little plastic pebbles you put in fish tanks — that's what I injected into my arm and I lost my fingers."

The Adelaide woman needed part of her fingers amputated just before Christmas because of the impact of her injecting.

As a result, she wants to highlight her experience as a warning to others.

"I never have felt sad. I'm very open — people will ask me how I lost my fingers and I'll age-appropriately tell them the truth," she said.

She is having success in a current drug rehabilitation program, and is being enlisted in efforts to encourage other addicts to give up drugs.

"I've had very bad things happen to me in my life, I've used drugs to push down emotions, take them away," she said.

"[Mentoring] is helping me and, hopefully, will help [others] too.

"I feel like I'm a real person now, I'm centred ... not floating. I laugh now. I smile."