Author: John Carter
Heroin Addiction: Symptoms, Treatment, and Overdose Signs
This amount of heroin can depend on factors like your metabolism and the type of heroin you use. You can recover from heroin use disorder when you receive the right treatment. Heroin is an illegal drug with a high potential for misuse. If you have heroin use disorder, it can be difficult to stop using it, even when you want to quit.
The U.S. opioid overdose death rate rose nearly 400% between 2010 and 2017. Some of these deaths happen because heroin is laced with other drugs, such as the powerful painkiller fentanyl. Fentanyl has become one of the leading contributors to overdose deaths in the U.S. Because addiction can affect so many aspects of a person’s life, treatment should address the needs of the whole person to be successful.
Does it pose a risk of addiction?
Approximately 948,000 people in the United States used heroin in 2016. The drug was responsible for more than 14,000 overdose deaths in 2019, according to the latest survey data available. The easiest way to lookup drug information, identify pills, check interactions and set up your own personal medication records. These treatments work by binding fully or partially to opiate receptors in the brain and work as agonists, antagonists or a combination of the two. Signs of an opioid overdose include extreme drowsiness, blue lips and fingernails, slow or halted breathing, pinpoint pupils, slow heart rate, coma, death.
However, by the early 1900s addiction and abuse were widespread, and by 1924 federal law made all heroin use illegal in the U.S. Find Support is an online guide that helps people navigate through common questions when they are at the start of their journey to better behavioral health. Opioid use disorder is a serious condition, but it’s treatable. Addiction can happen to anyone, and anyone who takes opioids can be at risk for developing an opioid use disorder.
What is heroin?
Another type of therapy called contingency management offers rewards such as vouchers or money if you can stay drug-free. People who become dependent on or misuse these drugs may start looking for a stronger, cheaper high. There’s no way to know what you’re taking or how strong it is.
While it’s impossible to say who’s at risk for an opioid use disorder, there are factors that can raise the risk of developing a drug addiction. If a person becomes addicted to these prescribed medications and can’t obtain them anymore, they may pursue illegal drugs like heroin to achieve the same pleasurable feeling. Additionally, medications are used to help people detoxify from drugs, although detoxification is not the same as treatment and is not sufficient to help a person recover. Detoxification alone without subsequent treatment generally leads to resumption of drug use.
This is recommended especially if you have friends or family members using opioids or undergoing treatment. Ask your pharmacist about access to naloxone in your state. Read the directions on administering the naloxone before an emergency occurs.
If you suspect that you or someone you care about has a heroin addiction, talk with a professional. This can include a mental health professional like a licensed drug or alcohol counselor or a social worker, physician, or psychiatrist. Although there’s no cure for drug addiction, treatment options can help you overcome an addiction and stay drug-free. Your treatment depends on the drug used and any related medical or mental health disorders you may have.
- Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances.
- Even after you use it just one or two times, it can be hard to stop yourself from using again.
- Your therapist or licensed counselor can help you locate a self-help support group.
- This amount of heroin can depend on factors like your metabolism and the type of heroin you use.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy is designed to help modify the patient’s expectations and behaviors related to drug use and to increase skills in coping with various life stressors.
It can look like a white or brown powder, or a sticky black “tar.” It’s also called horse, smack, junk, and brown sugar, among other names. As you might imagine, this back-and-forth puts a major strain on your organs. Your risk of overdosing from a speedball is significantly higher than your risk of overdosing on either drug alone.
Pharmacological treatment
The stimulant is meant to intensify heroin’s euphoria while masking its sedation effects. Here’s a basic rundown of what to know about using heroin, including how long it stays in your system, side effects, and signs of an overdose. Heroin was first introduced in 1898 as an upgrade to morphine. At the time, morphine was the latest and greatest cough-suppressing medicine for people with asthma. A combination of medications and psychotherapy can help you break the heroin use cycle.
Heroin is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, carries stiff criminal penalties, and has no acceptable medical use in the U.S. In Nov. 2020, the state of Oregon voted in Measure 110 to decriminalize use of all drugs, including heroin. The sale of drugs such as heroin or cocaine will still be illegal.
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
While not a treatment for addiction itself, detoxification is a useful first step when it is followed by some form of evidence-based treatment. Medications are also available to help treat addiction to alcohol and nicotine. Drug treatments for detoxification and long-term maintenance are most effective when combined with a medication compliance program and behavioral or “talk” therapy. These medications can relieve opioid cravings without producing the “high” or dangerous side effects of other opioids. While either one can be used individually, the risk for relapse is high when used alone. This was to ensure health care professionals discuss naloxone and assess need for the reversal agent in each patient.
Relapse rates for drug use are similar to rates for other chronic medical illnesses. If people stop following their medical treatment plan, they are likely to relapse. Process addiction is based on repeat behaviors that trigger your brain’s natural reward system. Unlike substance use disorder, there’s no drug introduced into the body to create chemical imbalances. Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances. In many pharmacies you can now access naloxone without a prescription to keep with you, at home or in your car in case of an overdose emergency.