Through Methadone, Inpatient Treatment, Heroin Detox Can Be Lifelong

Detoxing from alcohol or any drug is indeed a long and difficult process. With heroin detox, the process is particularly important because of the highly addictive properties of the drug itself.

Heroin is a semi-synthetic opiod drug derived from morphine with about 90% of the drug being manufactured or coming from Afghanistan. Heroin is used as a pain killer much like morphine, and because of its availability both on the street and in doctors’ offices, the drug has become highly addictive over the last half century. In fact, the United Nations estimates that over 50 million people are addicted to heroin, cocaine, and other synthetic drugs.

Because of its addictive properties, heroin is a Schedule 1 drug in the U.S. and other countries, making it illegal for anyone to have it without a prescription or license to produce it. Heavy fines, jail time, and mandated heroin treatment are usually the sentence for those in the U.S. convicted of possession, trafficking, or use.

Highly Addictive Properties of Heroin Require Heroin Detox; Consult SoberRecovery.com for Heroin Detox Centers Near You

That heroin is so available is one of the key reasons that heroin detox is required for addicts to wean themselves off the drug once they become addicted. Usually, heroin detox involves an inpatient treatment and methadone prescriptions to reduce the physical and psychological dependence an addict has to the drug.

Through resources at SoberRecovery.com, heroin addicts can stop snorting or chasing the dragon, which is slang for rolling the drug up with tobacco and smoking it, or by heating it under foil and smoking the discharge through a tube or straw.

Heroin detox information is available for abusers and their families and loved ones at SoberRecovery.com. For nearly a decade, SoberRecovery.com has helped heroin addicts find resources to detox from the drug and live free from the grip of heroin.

Heroin Detox Can Save Your Life

Whether it is smoked, sniffed or injected, heroin is a highly addictive opiate. Though once primarily used by adults in lower-income or poverty-stricken areas, heroin use has spread to the young and to more affluent regions.

When heroin enters the body, it is converted back to morphine and quickly binds to opiate receptors in the brain, producing a rush. Once the rush has passed, the user will be drowsy for several hours as brain functions and heart functions slow severely. Breathing can also slow, sometimes to the point of death.

Overdose is another potentially fatal effect, since users build up tolerance very quickly, resulting in taking larger and larger doses to get the same effect. Since it is difficult to know how pure the drug is, there’s no way of knowing how big a dose to take. HIV and AIDS are also common, as a result of sharing needles.

Withdrawal symptoms begin six to eight hours after the last dose, peak between 48 and 72 hours, and can last from about a week to several months. Stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, chills, tremors, and panic attacks are among the many symptoms.

Options for Heroin Detox

There are two approaches to heroin detox. Some clinics use methadone, a synthetic opioid that blocks the receptors in the brain from getting the rush of heroin. Methadone has similar effects, but less intensely. One issue with methadone treatment for heroin detox is that the user can become addicted to the less harmful drug. Gradual reduction of the dose can allow the user to wean himself from the methadone without serious withdrawal symptoms.

Other detox facilities believe that the use of methadone is counterproductive and only delays the inevitable need for complete detoxification. At these centers, withdrawal is medically supervised, and medications can be administered that relieve some symptoms but are not addictive.

Heroin detoxification is a manner of treatment provided to decrease the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when a heroin addict quits using heroin. A heroin detox is should done with medical supervision.

Heroin detoxification should take anywhere from three to five days. The addict undergoing the heroin detox should be provided with medication to ease the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms usually associated with quitting heroin. The withdrawal symptoms or side effects from heroin include but are not limited to: dilated pupils, chills or goose bumps, runny nose, loss of appetite, panic, muscle cramps, insomnia, irritability, shaking, jitteriness, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and watery eyes, etc.

Seek medical attention for Heroin Detox

Heroin withdrawal symptoms and side effects can be some of the most uncomfortable and unbearable an addict may experience compared to the withdrawal symptoms and side effects from other drugs. Heroin Detox is necessary for one who has become physically and psychologically dependent on heroin that may experience heroin withdrawal symptoms and side effects while quitting all at once, or even while slowly decrease their daily intake of heroin. Heroin withdrawal symptoms and side effects begin six to eight hours after the last dose is taken. Major heroin withdrawal symptoms and side effects will spike somewhere between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose of heroin was taken and will ease after about seven days. Heroin withdrawal symptoms and side effects are similar to a very bad case of the flu.

Heroin detoxification should be done under the care of trained professional medical personnel. Detoxification under the care of trained medical personnel in a controlled environment will ensure the safety and well being of the individual who has decided to stop using heroin.