5 Heroin Facts That Will Make You Seek Addiction Help

Knowing heroin facts can be an important tool for getting help for yourself or a loved one. With the rise of heroin-related overdose deaths, it’s also important to know the facts about a heroin overdose and what it looks like. A person’s recovery from a heroin overdose depends greatly on how quickly they get medical assistance.

Five Important Heroin Facts

Heroin is an addictive drug formulated from morphine, which is a natural compound found in the opium poppy plant. Take a look at the following important heroin facts:

1. Heroin can be injected, smoked or sniffed and no method presents less danger or less potential for addiction than another.
2. Heroin tolerance develops quickly, which causes users to need more of it for the same high. This causes addiction to also develop quickly.
3. Heroin withdrawal may begin as quickly as six hours after the last dose and presents a range of uncomfortable, flu-like symptoms. It often leads to relapse.
4. Injecting heroin opens the door for a wide range of other complications, including infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis, tetanus and flesh-eating bacteria.
5. A heroin overdose presents with low blood pressure, delirium, shallow breathing, weak pulse, bluish nails and lips, and extreme drowsiness.

Heroin Facts About Addiction

Heroin addiction can develop quickly, even for a first-time user. If you have concerns about heroin addiction in a loved one, take a look at the following signs:

• Change in behavior such as becoming more secretive or concerned with money
• Mood changes like sedation and clouded thinking
• Physical signs like track marks from needles
• Heroin paraphernalia like baggies, syringes, pipes or aluminum foil
• Frequent flu-like symptoms that will come on between doses

Use and abuse of heroin is a very slippery slope. After a certain period of use, a person will become physically dependent on heroin. However, heroin also builds a tolerance fairly quickly. At that point, the user will need more of the drug to feel the desired effects. When the person has both a physical dependence and a psychological need of heroin in order to feel normal, an addiction has formed.

Heroin Facts about Treatment

Even first-time heroin use has the potential to result in addiction. Many cases exist where the person thought they could just try it once, only to keep coming back to the drug. Heroin addiction is one of the most difficult to kick, but a quality drug treatment center like Beaches Recovery in Jacksonville, Florida can help.

At Beaches, we offer a range of treatments to not only help patients get off heroin, but to help them stay off heroin as well. You can expect to find the following features at Beaches Recovery:

• Dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring mental health issues
• Addiction counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy
• Wellness programs
• JCAHO accredited
• Local detox partnership

Don’t wait to seek treatment for heroin addiction. Call Beaches Recovery today at 866.605.0532 to get started on the path towards a healthier future free of addiction.