Heroin Addiction – Symptoms, Side Effects, How to Get Treatment & Rehab

Heroin is currently the drug that has claimed the most lives in the entire world and thousands die each year due to its addictive and life-threatening nature.

Help4Addiction can provide you with the help and support needed to combat serious addictions to drugs such as heroin. If you or a loved one are dependent on taking heroin to relax and cope with everyday life then we have the treatment needed to help you overcome your addiction. Call 0203 955 7700 and speak to one of our experts for immediate help and advice to get the treatment you or a loved one needs.

We’ve written this article to help you learn more about heroin, the effects it can cause on the body and also how to beat the addiction.

What is Heroin?

First, it’s important to understand what heroin actually is. The drug is one of the most well-known and most dangerous drugs in existence, but few people actually know what it contains or what it can do to the body.

Heroin is a drug that is made from morphine, a commonly-used opiate that is known to assist in managing pain. Morphine is commonly given in medical situations to control intense pain, but it’s not something that is readily available due to its addictive qualities. Morphine is made from a plant known as the opium poppy and opium is one of the oldest-known drugs in human history. It was initially given to those that struggled with a poor sleep pattern but was then eventually used as a painkiller, much like modern-day morphine.

Unlike morphine, heroin is known as diamorphine. It’s far more potent than regular morphine and used not for its pain suppressing qualities but as a recreational drug that is incredibly addictive. It offers its users a sense of euphoria, making them feel extremely happy with their life. Unfortunately, heroin can cause intense negative side effects that make it one of the most dangerous drugs in the world.

Why is Heroin Addictive?

Drugs often change the way your body works. Our brains are wired to seek pleasure and if those experiences are easily replicated, our bodies will automatically shift towards those sources of intense pleasure in order to repeat them and feel great.

Unfortunately, our bodies often do this at the expense of our own health, often being tricked by additives substances like heroin which cause us to look for drugs in order to experience those euphoric feelings once again. While heroin does offer a high for users, it also quickly changes the way our brain works which makes it even more addictive than other recreational drugs.

In fact, heroin enters the bloodstream and immediately goes to our brain. It essentially changes how our brain works, altering our perception of emotions like pleasure and removing feelings of depression and anxiety.

This is one of the reasons why it’s such a popular recreational drug; because of how good it makes the user feel.

Unfortunately, the drug will start to affect other parts of the brain which make it difficult for us to tell what’s good or bad for our bodies. Eventually, the brain can no longer overcome the addiction and that’s when we need expert help from the outside. Social factors, such as how accessible and inexpensive heroin is, can also contribute to the rapid addiction of heroin.

Due to heroin’s close relationship to prescription pain medication, a large majority of those who are currently suffering from a heroin addiction started by taking prescription opioid pills.

This also contributes to the widespread accessibility and addiction to heroin.

With all these reasons combined, it’s easy to see just why heroin is such a dangerous and fearsome drug. It only takes a couple of repeated uses and the realization that it’s so accessible to become fully addicted to the drug.

Taking it once or twice might not lead to an addiction, but it can become tempting to reuse again and again. If you are in this situation or know someone who is in the early stages of heroin addiction, it’s incredibly important to contact us straight away to seek advice before the damage becomes far more difficult to repair.

Side Effects of Heroin Addiction

The side effects of heroin are often split into short-term and long-term categories.

For short-term side effects of heroin, there’s often a rush of a pleasurable sensation. This rush is what most heroin users are aiming for, but the length of time it lasts will change depending on the person. After these initial effects, the users will often feel drowsy for several hours and they won’t be as agile with their mind. In many cases, the user will also experience slowed breathing which can lead to a come or even brain damage. In addition, opioids such as heroin can change the way your body processes emotions and can even block pain signals, much like painkillers such as morphine.

When it comes to long-term usage, heroin has a host of problematic symptoms that give the drug its dangerous reputation. Using heroin for long periods of time can change the physical structure of the brain which creates imbalances that are difficult to fix. In addition, studies have shown that the brain’s white matter can actually deteriorate with repeated heroin use, reducing one’s decision-making abilities and making it difficult to control their behaviour.

Within a few short hours after taking the drug, it’s also common to experience withdrawal symptoms such as vomiting, insomnia, diarrhoea, vomiting or even cold flashes. These withdrawal symptoms get worse around the 24-hour mark and they can get progressively worse depending on how accustomed your body is to heroin.

It’s important to stop a heroin addiction before it reaches the long-term side effects that are largely irreversible. Make sure you contact us as soon as possible so that we can help you or a loved one recover from their heroin addiction before it starts to cause irreparable damage.

Signs of Heroin Addiction

To help you identify a heroin addiction, here are some of the most common signs to look out for:

• Equipment for heroin use such as tiny plastic bags, syringes, rubber tubing, burnt spoons and powdery residue are very common signs of heroin addiction. This is often difficult to tell especially if the addiction is well-hidden or you are being denied access to search someone’s belongings
• In terms of appearance, their pupils may appear small and they may have very drowsy eyes and appearance. Their skin is often flushed and they may even appear to breathe slowly. It’s often difficult to tell if someone has a heroin addiction by their appearance until they are starting to experience the symptoms of long-term use, so it’s important to take action as soon as possible based on other factors
• Physical signs may include vomiting and a loss of appetite
• Heroin users also tend to complain about nausea and constipation
• They may neglect to take care of their home or their body
• Heroin users also tend to cover their arms to hide scars and injection markings

It can be very hard to physically tell if someone is suffering from a heroin addiction, so if there are even a few signs and they are being very secretive about their hobbies then it may be worth confronting them about it. Once again, the earlier an addiction is diagnosed the higher the chance of a fast and full recovery. If you’re in doubt, please do not hesitate to contact us as soon as possible so we can offer you some free impartial advice on your specific situation.

Hopefully, this section has given you a much better understanding of what heroin is, why it’s addictive and also the signs to look out for so that you can stop an addiction as early as possible.

How to Overcome Heroin Addiction

Heroin addiction has a range of different treatment options. In the early stages, it may be possible to overcome an addiction if you have plenty of willpower, but this is incredibly difficult and it’s far more likely that you’ll relapse if you attempt to overcome the addiction yourself. In this section, we’ll discuss a couple of common options for heroin addiction treatment.

There are several steps involved in helping someone out of heroin addiction. They essentially boil down to four crucial steps; psychological preparation, dealing with the withdrawal symptoms, learning about detox strategies and finally receiving continued support to prevent relapse in the future.

1. Preparing Yourself Psychological

Although physical withdrawal symptoms can be tough to deal with, it’s often more difficult to manage the psychological side of overcoming a heroin addiction. For starters, it’s important that you become willing to overcome your addiction. If you’re not mentally prepared for the challenges ahead then it can be incredibly difficult trying to beat a heroin addiction.

This is where the addict must ask themselves a couple of important questions, such as what heroin actually offers to them and how it compares to a life free of heroin. By summing up these pros and cons, you can mentally prepare yourself for the journey that is freeing yourself from a heroin addiction. Some factors to consider are the risk of losing your friends and family members, being depressed due to your addiction and even losing your financial security due to the money spent on heroin. It’s also important to think about the advantages that could come from being free from heroin, such as regaining your identity and avoiding health complications so you can spend more time with loved ones.

Once you’ve built up the mental fortitude to begin your journey of overcoming your addiction, you can start to tackle the next issue; withdrawal symptoms.

2. Dealing With Heroin Withdrawal Symptoms

If you’re recovering from a heroin addiction then it’s very likely that your body has grown dependent on the drug. This causes you to develop nasty withdrawal symptoms such as:

• Painful muscle cramps
• Tremors and shaking in your body
• Chills which can occasionally become very hot
• Drug cravings
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Insomnia
• Loss of weight
• Loss of appetite
• Headaches