Heroin Detoxification

The Importance of Medical Detox From Heroin

Heroin’s extreme potency has significant long-term effects on the body. It causes severe physical damage and can even lead to serious brain injury as well. Heroin’s grip on the central nervous system makes quitting cold turkey all but impossible. Within hours of taking your last dose, you’ll face withdrawal symptoms including:

• Nausea
• Abdominal cramping
• Sweating
• Trembling and shaking
• Insomnia and restlessness
• Uncontrollable yawning
• Agitation and irritability
• Muscle spasms

While not usually life-threatening, the symptoms of heroin withdrawal are often excruciating. It’s enough to make anyone reach for the needle again. Medically assisted detoxification is the only way to safely eliminate heroin from your system.

Medical detox places you under the care of doctors and nurses who closely monitor your state to ensure you’re as comfortable as possible during the entire process. As symptoms arise, your medical team can minimize them with appropriate medication. Medical detox programs also help ensure you’re as healthy as possible at the start of your recovery by monitoring your hydration and nutrition.

1. Hiding Substance Abuse

Often, those with a substance use disorder hide the problem. Because heroin is an illicit substance, secrecy comes with the territory. As lies and concealment become the status quo, rehab may be the only way for people to start living their lives free from the need to hide.

Some people addicted to heroin can maintain their career, friendships and family responsibilities. These types of people are called high functioning addicts. While they may seem to have it all together, a life-changing event such as a DUI or overdose may be just around the corner.

2. Loss of Control

Addiction becomes apparent when the affected person starts to feel their drug use is out of control. Even if someone addicted to heroin won’t consciously admit it, their behavior will start pointing to a clear loss of control. Detox programs can loosen addiction’s grasp so individuals can regain sobriety.

Recovering From Heroin Addiction

Beating heroin addiction requires deep commitment and a structured treatment program designed by experts in the field of recovery. It’s hard work, and you can’t do it all by yourself. There are three points to keep at the forefront of your mind as you prepare for addiction treatment.

1. The Case for Counseling

One of the cornerstones of addiction treatment is therapy or counseling. While safely removing heroin from your body through a detox program is a crucial first step, therapy is a necessary form of follow-through that will increase your chances of remaining sober and stable. Therapy addresses the underlying drivers of addiction and helps you identify some of the triggers that may lead to overwhelming heroin cravings. Some of these triggers include:

• General stress from day-to-day life
• Environmental cues such as visiting a certain neighborhood
• Social cues from friends or family who use

Once you’ve identified your triggers, you can then get to work on coping with them. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy that focuses on changing ingrained behaviors. With strategies learned from CBT, you will have a strong array of methods to combat cravings and stay unwavering in your sobriety.

Art therapy is another form of counseling that makes a powerful supplement to CBT and traditional talk therapy. Not everyone is great at articulating their emotions and thought processes, so having the option to express yourself non-verbally is often quite liberating. The right combination of counseling types will fill out the toolkit you need to build strength in sobriety.

What Is Heroin and How Is It Used?

Heroin is a human-made opioid, placing it in the category of drugs derived from the opium poppy. Scientists first synthesized the drug in 1874, and the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company started commercially producing it in 1898. The initial goal of heroin was to replace morphine. For a few years, heroin was an ingredient in many medications. You could once walk into a pharmacy and get a cough medicine with heroin as the main ingredient.

However, it quickly became apparent that heroin was highly addictive. The Harrison Narcotics Act banned the use of heroin in 1914. Since then, drug officials have been fighting a battle against heroin addiction that ebbs and flows with time.

Today, more people are addicted to heroin than ever. Pure heroin is a white powder predominantly manufactured in South America and sometimes southeast Asia. However, most heroin in the U.S. is “black tar” heroin, which is primarily produced in Mexico. Because of crude processing methods, this product contains many impurities and can be either sticky such as roofing tar or hard as coal.

Heroin dominates the U.S. drug markets east of the Mississippi River. Typically, it’s sold as a white or brownish powder that is “cut” or diluted with a cheap substance such as sugar, powdered milk, starch or quinine. While pure heroin can be snorted or smoked, cheaper heroin has to be dissolved, diluted and injected, either into the veins, under the skin or directly into muscles.

Whether pure or impure, heroin rapidly enters the brain where it binds to opioid receptors responsible for feelings of pain, pleasure and other bodily functions. After a hit of heroin, these chemical changes flood the brain, giving users a feeling of intense pleasure that’s especially desirable to those struggling with co-occurring mental health disorders such as anxiety or depression.

3. Find Something You’re Passionate About

Addiction makes it feel like getting high is the only thing to live for, and it can be difficult to replace that feeling with something else. One of the most challenging aspects of recovery is finding activities that promote true fulfillment. If you’re lucky, you may derive this satisfaction from your job. If not, you’ll need to experiment with different hobbies or activities to find one that works for you. Volunteering with local organizations is an excellent place to get started.

4. Make New Friends

A strong support network will see you through those tough days when things feel bleak and recovery seems impossible. Seek out new friendships or solidify healthy old friendships to ensure you are surrounded by those who will walk by your side throughout your addiction treatment program.

5. Discover a Sense of Balance

Addiction is a disease characterized by being off-balance, with extreme highs followed by extreme lows. Obsessing over heroin leaves you little time for things such as family or work. While using, you can protect yourself from pain and numb bad sensations and feelings. Once you begin your recovery journey, finding balance is crucial. Running from your feelings is no longer an option — no one can avoid painful feelings or memories. However, discovering a sense of balance helps you appreciate the little things in life as you learn to deal with life’s struggles without heroin.