Heroin Addiction Symptoms: What You Can Do – Greensburg, PA

Long-Term Heroin Addiction Symptoms

Over time, you’ll notice these things in yourself or in someone you care about:

• Needle marks and bruising where heroin is injected
• Infections or abscesses on the skin

The above heroin addiction symptoms are minor compared to the things that you don’t see. Long term heroin abuse causes significant problems with disease in liver, kidneys, and heart. Veins also collapse, giving way after so many injections.

Consequences of Heroin Addiction Symptoms

When your body is addicted to heroin, you develop a tolerance to the drug. First, you begin to need more of the substance to feel the same results. You may need more pure drugs or taking it by different methods. After this phase, your body demands heroin just to feel normal. This is called dependence. If you don’t get the heroin, your body begins painful and sickening withdrawal. This is a time when many people turn to fentanyl to mix with the heroin because it is extremely potent. You may know fentanyl-laced heroin as Apache, China Girl, China White, Dance Fever, Friend, Goodfella, Jackpot, Murder 8, TNT, or Tango and Cash. By whatever name, fentanyl-laced heroin is a deadly substance.

Breaking Free of Heroin Addiction Symptoms

According to studies cited by the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Repeated heroin use changes the physical structure and physiology of the brain, creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are not easily reversed. Studies have shown some deterioration of the brain’s white matter due to heroin use, which may affect decision-making abilities, the ability to regulate behavior, and responses to stressful situations.” But there is hope for treatment. Addiction is a disease for which there is no ‘cure,’ but it can be managed with help.

Also according to the NIH, “A variety of effective treatments are available for heroin addiction, including both behavioral and pharmacological (medications). Both approaches help to restore a degree of normalcy to brain function and behavior, resulting in increased employment rates, a lower risk of HIV or disease, and criminal behavior. Although behavioral and pharmacologic treatments can be extremely useful when utilized alone, research shows that for some people, integrating both types of treatments is the most effective approach.”

Medication-Assisted Treatment

Medication-assisted treatment eases the physical symptoms of withdrawal that are so hard to bear. Withdrawal is the reason that so many people relapse. They just can’t take it. However, there is significant danger for overdose when a person relapses. You may take more than your body can handle after a period of abstinence from the heroin. When you go to a medication-assisted treatment center, you receive the right amount of methadone or buprenorphine to stop the cravings and ease off of heroin. After your body moves through the transition, you still need medication to stabilize and manage the changes that happened in your body. Taking methadone or buprenorphine is not trading one addiction for another. Methadone and buprenorphine are legal, safe, and long-acting to help your body recover from addiction to dangerous and illegal opiates.

Medication-assisted treatment centers include counseling and behavioral therapies that help you get back to a healthy lifestyle. Without such support, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to beat addiction. In therapy, you learn how to cope with the stress of life without drugs and how to move forward to the life you want.

Help for heroin addiction recovery is available in Greensburg, PA and all over the country. Don’t wait. Ask for help.