The Heroin Detoxification Process

During detox, trained addiction specialists use medication-assisted therapy to treat heroin addiction. These medications can ease some withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings. Generally speaking, detox involves clearing the body of all toxins, including drugs like heroin. If a person doesn’t receive medication or treatment, then the detox process will involve acute heroin withdrawal symptoms and severe drug cravings. However, the best place to go through detox is in a hospital where a medical team can monitor you.

You may be eager to reach your goal, but your body needs time to adjust to lower levels of opioids, and then to none at all. A step-by-step plan to lower how much opioid medicine you take will help this process go smoothly. This slow tapering also helps ease the discomfort you may feel as you stop taking opioids. During this time, you can practice new skills to manage pain and other long-term symptoms too.

1. When you take heroin, it binds to the opioid receptors in your body and blocks pain signals.
2. Not only does the dependence on heroin deepen, but the act of stopping heroin intake becomes more difficult and more dangerous on its own.
3. This type of program relies heavily on regular check-ins with a medical doctor and counseling.
4. Your medical team can help you find the treatment plan that works best for you.
5. Heroin is a drug that comes from a flower, the opium poppy, which usually grows in Mexico, Asia, and South America.
6. If you’re ready to detox from heroin, it’s important to seek professional help.

If you are withdrawing in a treatment facility, make the most of the support offered, and try and have support arranged in the community when your stay is over. People often experience nausea, diarrhea, runny nose, achiness, tremors, fatigue, chills, and sweats. More severe symptoms can also occur, such as difficulty breathing, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. While heroin withdrawal typically isn’t life-threatening, some addicts may experience complications that can lead to death if untreated.

Why Do You Need to Detox From Heroin?

But health professionals don’t recommend overcoming heroin addiction and withdrawal on your own because the chances of success are so low. The symptoms are so painful that few people are capable of powering through opioid withdrawal. Withdrawal varies individual to individual and is dependent on the amount of substances taken. Some may experience lasting signs of withdrawal for several months after having taken the drug. Others may develop heroin use disorder due to continued use of the drug.

What Causes Heroin Withdrawal?

Naltrexone blocks those receptors so opioids like heroin don’t have any effect. Overcoming heroin withdrawal at a detox or rehab facility is much easier than detoxing at home. During heroin detox, you’ll receive understanding alcohol withdrawal stomach pain lantana recovery around-the-clock medical supervision. It is important to remember that you are not the only one dealing with heroin addiction. Addiction, recovery, and treatment involves all of your family and friends.

It’s important to get support during withdrawal to ensure you stay safe. Everyone’s experience of heroin withdrawal is different, but here are some of the most common symptoms. In addition to managing a successful family aa meetings: what they are types and format schedule medical practice, Dr. Hoffman is board certified in addiction medicine by the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine (AOAAM). Dr. Hoffman has successfully treated hundreds of patients battling addiction.

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Here’s your five-step solution to successfully overcoming heroin addiction with heroin detox treatment. The drugs target receptors of the GLP-1 hormone, which has been found to increase insulin production. Notably, however, no pharmaceutical companies are currently studying GLP-1s to treat addiction. While all opioids work in roughly similar ways, heroin’s chemistry is such that it works much faster, and to a much stronger degree, than other opioids.

Dr. Hoffman is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of AddictionHelp.com and ensures the website’s medical content and messaging quality. Once withdrawal symptoms have passed, the patient can focus on therapy and relapse prevention like Naltrexone. Heroin detoxification takes a few days to a few weeks, depending on several factors like dose, frequency, and pre-existing health conditions.