Heroin use is an epidemic in the United States. Over the last 5 years, over 70,000 people have died of an overdose involving Heroin. While those numbers have declined over the last two, due to increases in Naloxone availability, another way to reduce the statistics is heroin treatment.
When determining effective heroin treatment, it is important to look at how heroin impacts the body and what is involved in heroin treatment. Through this process, you can determine what the best heroin treatment center is for you.
If you are struggling with a heroin addiction, call Findlay Recovery Center today.
What Is Heroin?
Heroin is an opioid, which means that it impacts the opioid receptors in the brain and body numbing the pain and causing a feeling of euphoria in the brain.
Heroin comes in powder, crystalized, or a tar-like substance and can be ingested, injected, snorted, or smoked. Heroin is a common street drug and according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 80% of people entering treatment started with heroin.
While heroin is dangerous from the first use, once the body develops a tolerance for heroin, a user needs to intake more of the drug to feel the same high. This makes heroin even more dangerous. As an opioid, people often mix heroin with other drugs increasing the lethality and the side effects of the drug.
Short-term side effects of heroin use include “the nod” or nodding in and out between consciousness, itching, and the slowing of the heart and breathing. Long-term effects of heroin use include collapsed veins from injection, loss of smell from snorting, and lung complications from smoking. Additionally, people who inject heroin are more likely to contract hepatitis B, C, and HIV from shared needles.
Withdrawing from heroin can be especially difficult and a person attempting to detox should be monitored at all times. Initial heroin withdrawal typically lasts from 4-10 days and usually includes nausea and/or vomiting, anxiety, insomnia, muscle cramps, perspiration, diarrhea, and hot and cold flushing. While the body readjusts to its detoxified state, it is common for the individual to have cravings, and general achiness, and an under-the-weather feeling for approximately 6 months.
