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What Treatment Options Exist for Heroin
Addiction?
A range of treatments exist for heroin addiction,
including medications and behavioral therapies. Science
has taught us that when medication treatment is combined
with other supportive services, patients are often able
to stop using heroin (or other opiates) and return to
stable and productive lives.
Heroin addiction treatment usually
begins with medically assisted detoxification to help
patients withdraw from the drug safely. Medications
such as clonidine and, now, buprenorphine can be used
to help minimize symptoms of withdrawal. However, detoxification
alone is not treatment and has not been shown to be
effective in preventing relapse—it is merely the
first step.
Other Names for Heroin:
Some common names for Heroin are: Al Capone,
Antifreeze, Aries, Aunt Hazel, Bart Simpson, Big Doodig,
Big H, Big Harry, Blue Star, Bombs Away, Brain damage,
Brown crystal, Brown Rhine, Brown Sugar, Brown Tape,
Bull Dog, Capital H, Choco-fan, Dead on Arrival, Dead
President, Deck, Diesel, Dog Food, Dogie, Doogie/Doojee/Dugie,
Dooley, Doosey, Dr. Feelgood, Dreck, Duji, Dujra, Dujre,
Dyno, Dyno-Pure, Ferry Dust, Galloping Horse, Gallup,
Golden Girl, Golpe, Good and Plenty, Good H, Good Horse,
H Caps, Hairy, Hard Candy, Hard Stuff , Heaven, Heaven
Dust, Hell Dust, Hero, Horse, Horsebite, Hospital Heroin,
Hot Dope, Hot Heroin, Jerry Springer, Jive Doo Jee,
Jolly Pop, Joy, Joy Flakes, Joy Powder, Junk, Lady,
LBJ, Lemonade, Little Bomb, Little Boy, Load, Love Boat,
Mac, Mayo, Money Talks, Monkey, Mortal Combat, Mud,
New Jack Swing, Nice and Easy, Nickel Bag, Nickel Deck,
Noise, Nose Drops, Old Garbage, Old Navy, Old Steve,
Orange Line, Perfect High, Poppy, Predator, Pure Rambo,
Raw Hide, Rush Hour, Second to None, Shoot, Silk, Spider,
Sweet Jesus, The Beast, The Witch, Thunder, Tootsie
Roll, Train, Twin Towers, White Junk, White Nurse, Wicked,
Witch Hazel
Heroin is an opiate drug that is synthesized from morphine,
a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed
pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin is an addictive
drug that can be injected, snorted, or smoked. Heroin
usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black
sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”
Short-term effects of heroin include a surge of euphoria
and clouded thinking followed by alternately wakeful
and drowsy states. Heroin depresses breathing, thus,
overdose can be fatal. Users who inject the drug risk
infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
How Does Heroin Affect the Brain?
Heroin enters the brain, where it is converted to morphine
and binds to receptors known as opioid receptors. These
receptors are located in many areas of the brain (and
in the body), especially those involved in the perception
of pain and in reward. Opioid receptors are also located
in the brain stem—important for automatic processes
critical for life, such as breathing (respiration),
blood pressure, and arousal. Heroin overdoses frequently
involve a suppression of respiration.
After an intravenous injection of heroin, users report
feeling a surge of euphoria (“rush”) accompanied
by dry mouth, a warm flushing of the skin, heaviness
of the extremities, and clouded mental functioning.
Following this initial euphoria, the user goes “on
the nod,” an alternately wakeful and drowsy state.
Users who do not inject the drug may not experience
the initial rush, but other effects are the same.
With regular heroin use, tolerance develops, in which
the user’s physiological (and psychological) response
to the drug decreases, and more heroin is needed to
achieve the same intensity of effect. Heroin users are
at high risk for addiction—it is estimated that
about 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become
dependent on it.
What Other Adverse Effects Does Heroin
Have on Health?
Heroin abuse is associated with serious
health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous
abortion, and—particularly in users who inject
the drug—infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS
and hepatitis. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins,
infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses,
and liver or kidney disease. Pulmonary complications,
including various types of pneumonia, may result from
the poor health of the abuser as well as from heroin’s
depressing effects on respiration. In addition to the
effects of the drug itself, street heroin often contains
toxic contaminants or additives that can clog the blood
vessels leading to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain,
causing permanent damage to vital organs.
Chronic use of heroin leads to physical dependence,
a state in which the body has adapted to the presence
of the drug. If a dependent user reduces or stops use
of the drug abruptly, he or she may experience severe
symptoms of withdrawal. These symptoms—which can
begin as early as a few hours after the last drug administration—can
include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia,
diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps
(“cold turkey”), and kicking movements (“kicking
the habit”). Users also experience severe craving
for the drug during withdrawal, which can precipitate
continued abuse and/or relapse. Major withdrawal symptoms
peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose of
the drug and typically subside after about 1 week. Some
individuals, however, may show persistent withdrawal
symptoms for months. Although heroin withdrawal
is considered less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate
withdrawal, sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent users
who are in poor health is occasionally fatal. In addition,
heroin craving can persist years after drug cessation,
particularly upon exposure to triggers such as stress
or people, places, and things associated with drug use.
Heroin abuse during pregnancy, together
with related factors like poor nutrition and inadequate
prenatal care, has been associated with adverse consequences
including low birthweight, an important risk factor
for later developmental delay. If the mother is regularly
abusing the drug, the infant may be born physically
dependent on heroin and could suffer from serious medical
complications requiring hospitalization.
Information contained above is courtesy
of The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) for more
information please visit: http://www.nida.nih.gov
If you have come across our Addiction Treatment
Center web site, is because you or someone
you love is in need of help for heroin addiction.
Cove Center for Recovery is an Addiction Treatment
Center offering a premier drug addiction
treatment program that can help you or your
loved one. Our aim is to treat the whole person, and
not just an isolated symptom. During the addiction
treatment process we will work with the client
to identify the factors that may have contributed to
their addiction– home, work, relationships and
medical history. We also believe that families have
a vital role to play in the recovery process, and each
program has a place for family participation, to educate
them in the addiction treatment process
and to equip them for their role as supporters.
Call us at 1-888-387-6237 for further information on
our heroin addiction treatment program.
Together, we can discuss how you may benefit from seeking
treatment at Cove Center for Recovery.
Reach out to us. Recovery from addiction is just a click or a phone call away.
If the information you are looking for is not found here and you need immediate
attention you may contact us:
Addiction Treatment for adults and young adults: 1-888-387-6237
Addiction Treatment for Teens: 1-888-757-6237
http://www.inspirationsyouth.com
You may also send us e-mail.
Please keep in mind that e-mails are answered within 24 hours Monday
through Friday.
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