Heroin: Are You Addicted?

Heroin is one of the most addictive substances known to man – are you addicted?

Heroin addictions ruin lives. If you suspect you have an addiction to heroin, you should reach out immediately. Help is available to anyone living in the UK, for free, on the NHS. Otherwise, you can seek private rehab clinic care to recover from an addiction. Here is all you need to know about heroin addiction and what its effects may be for you.

What is Heroin?

Heroin is a substance we derive from the poppy plant. Formerly called milk of the poppy, heroin has appeared in several medicines and cures over the years. We harvest heroin directly from the seed pods of the poppy when it is ready to burst. When collected, the white substance produces an intense high with a sedative effect. The substance dries out and forms a white powder.

To take heroin, you must blend this white powder with water to make a liquid substance. You then heat the substance to ensure the ingredients blend together. Next, users place the heroin inside a syringe and injected directly into the veins. Heroin users are often easy to spot thanks to the multiple injection sites all over their bodies. Stealthier users might inject between the toes or fingers to disguise use.

The only way to recover from heroin addiction is to go to heroin rehab. Heroin is highly addictive and users can take it once and form an addiction. When you do opt to stop taking heroin, it is so strongly addictive that your healthcare provider needs to wean you off it is using another illegal drug, until the withdrawal symptoms recede.

What are the Effects of Heroin?

Heroin use comes with multiple effects and not all of them are pleasant. Users report that use sends them into a sedated yet pleasant state. The user may lose consciousness, could choke on potential vomit caused by heroin induced nausea, and might die from bursting a vein. While the effects might be blissful and pleasant, the health problems heroin creates are not.

Long term heroin use changes the structures of your brain. it changes your ability to regulate behaviour or respond appropriately to stressful situations. It affects decision making, convincing you that bad ideas are good ones and especially with regards reckless endangerment of your own wellbeing. It impacts your nervous system, your hormones, deteriorates your brain’s white matter and more.

How do you Treat Heroin Addiction?

If you are addicted to heroin and you don’t want to be, you need to check yourself into a rehab clinic that specialises in heroin abuse. They will wean you off the drug using other drugs, then finally walk you through complete abstinence. It will save your life if you stick it out. Once you have gone through heroin detox, you will enter rehab. Rehab will teach you ways to tackle your emotions in positive, healthy ways, without relying on drugs. Stick with it and one day you will be heroin-free.