Heroin Addiction Treatment

Heroin is a highly addictive illegal form of opium, which can be taken in a variety of different ways. Inducing a relaxing euphoria, heroin can change the pleasure centers in the brain quite rapidly and alter the way pain is perceived. It’s because of this that it’s so addictive – offering users escapism and pleasant feelings they want to recreate again and again, despite the health and social problems it causes.

Physical signs of heroin use include:

Due to its profoundly addictive properties, those who become dependent on heroin often abandon every other aspect of their life to focus on heroin. School, work or study, as well as friends and hobbies and interests, will lose all importance.

Behavioral signs of heroin use include:

Heroin dependence carries the threat of many serious side effects, some immediate and others, which can cause long term health conditions or even death. Heroin’s illegality means that the main way to source it is on the street, so the purity and quality can never be guaranteed. Some health problems linked to heroin use are partly because of the potentially toxic and unknown substances it’s cut with before sale.

Heroin use causes neurochemical changes in the brain, making users addicted to its effects. Breaking this cycle is made all the more difficult by how painful and unpleasant the heroin withdrawal treatment can be.

Many addicts continue to use because of their fear of the profound withdrawal effects, which can start after just a few hours.

Heroin withdrawal symptoms can include:

Various medications such as Methadone and Buprenorphine have been used to treat heroin addiction for years, reducing cravings and improving recovery success rates. It is often the dependency and addiction which causes people to relapse.

Heroin addiction treatment centers and programs can provide addiction management therapy as well as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and change the way addicts think about their addiction. Everyone’s treatment needs to be different and according to their specific needs.