Fighting with drug abuse can be the scariest thing someone experiences in their life – but coming out sober and better at the end of a long journey is worth the frightening process of recovery. With an opioid epidemic on the rise in the United States, heroin addiction has become scarily high and is one of the most painful addictions.
Understanding Heroin Addiction
Heroin is a powerful opioid with a powerful impact on the brain’s reward system. Heroin operates in the body by regulating the synthesis of feel-good neurotransmitters such as dopamine and endorphins in the brain making. Heroin addiction is so dangerous that almost one in four first-time users can get hooked. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 23% of heroin users become addicted.
Quitting Heroin
Recovering from heroin addiction involves detoxifying the body of the harmful opioid and its byproducts. This procedure is called detoxification or detox, and this is when the body goes through drug withdrawal. When you abruptly cease using a narcotic (such as heroin), your body goes through a withdrawal process. Heroin withdrawals can be agonizing, worse than any flu or sickness you could have experienced, and are also very dangerous. Some of the symptoms of withdrawal can include:
- Anxiety and agitation
- Aches and cramps in the abdomen
- Inability to sleep
- Diarrhea
- Runny nose, teary eyes, and excessive perspiration
- Vomiting and nausea
- Goosebumps and dilated pupils
Dangers of Detoxing Alone
It is critical to give your body the time it needs to cleanse and rewire itself, but it’s impossible to achieve it on your own. The unpleasant withdrawal symptoms are hard to deal with without professional help to conquer your triggers and avoid a relapse. When the body detoxes from heroin experiences withdrawal symptoms, it’ll also experience severe cravings. It can lead to the brain operating irrationally and doing whatever is necessary to reintroduce heroin into your bloodstream to escape the painful withdrawal symptoms. The detoxing stage is the most dangerous time when most people are prone to relapsing and binging to satisfy their drug cravings.
Taking Professional Help
A skilled addiction center can assist clients in gently weaning themselves off heroin. It can also give medication-assisted therapy that can increase the odds of long-term healing and lower the risks of health complications. The highly trusted heroin addiction treatment in Owings Mills at our suboxone clinic in Baltimore, Maryland Medication Assisted Treatment and Technology uses the MATdrug suboxone that aids in both long-term opioid rehabilitation and the early stages of withdrawal. Call us to book an appointment with a trusted suboxone treatment center in Owings Mills.
