Heroin Archives | Harmony Treatment & Wellness of Stuart

Different Treatment Options for Addiction to Heroin

Do you or a loved one have a heroin addiction? If so, it is important to know that you aren’t alone. There are many others who have struggled with this type of addiction and gotten the help they need to overcome it. You can get the support and treatment you need, as well. There are actually many different treatment options for an addiction to heroin. Your treatment plan here at Harmony Stuart Treatment and Wellness could include a range of these treatments.

Heroin Detox Program

If you have a heroin addiction, it would be a good idea to start your recovery in a heroin detox center. During this program, the nurses and doctors will help to make you more comfortable during the withdrawal process. The symptoms of withdrawal are different for everyone. However, some of the symptoms they can help to manage and reduce include:

Nausea
Stomach pains and cramping
Heart racing
Anxiety
Restlessness
Cold and hot flashes
Vomiting
Insomnia
Depression

It is highly recommended that every heroin user attend a professional detox program. The program will greatly reduce the chances of relapsing.

Medication-Assisted Treatment Programs

One of the heroin addiction treatment options is medication-assisted treatment. It is a program that helps to manage symptoms with medications. Many heroin users will experience moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms make it very difficult to get and stay clean. However, if you attend a medication-assisted treatment program you can get prescriptions to help manage and reduce the withdrawal symptoms. Over time, the doctors can wean you off these prescriptions, so you can be completely substance-free.

Some of the many medications that can be used during medication-assisted treatment programs include:

Suboxone (naloxone and buprenorphine) – helps to reverse opioid overdose
Buprenorphine (subutex) – helps reduce heroin cravings
Naltrexone – takes away pleasure from using heroin
Methadone – helps to wean people off from heroin

The exact medications that are used in your treatment program may vary from what other clients receive.

If you want to know more about any specific medication, you can reach out today to ask questions or to get more information.

Different of Therapy for Heroin Addiction

If you do have a heroin addiction, it would be a good idea to attend an inpatient treatment program. However, if there are reasons why you can’t stay in a treatment center for an extended period of time, there are also partial hospitalization and outpatient treatment programs, as well.

During all these treatment programs, there are various therapies offered to help manage emotions, overcome obstacles and work through other problems. Some of the many therapies you can attend include:

Individual therapy
Group therapy
Trauma therapy/EMDR
12-step facilitation therapy
Adventure therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Mindfulness meditation-based therapy

Each one of these therapies offers you the opportunity to talk about your past and present issues.You can discuss recovery-related goals, learn coping skills and discuss ways to prevent a relapse.

If you would like to learn more about any of these therapies, don’t hesitate to let a member of our team know.

Treatment Program Options

As noted above, there are various treatment center programs you can attend. Some of these options include:

Outpatient treatment (you generally will stay in a sober living house or at home while you attend different therapies at the treatment center a couple times each week)
Intensive outpatient (you will likely live in the sober living home while attending therapy a few hours a day, multiple days a week)
Partial hospitalization (you spend most of the day at the treatment center and then go to the sober living home for the evening and nighttime hours)
Inpatient treatment program (you stay in the treatment center for the length of your treatment)

The treatment program that is best for you will depend on various factors. For example, if you have tried to get clean in the past, but have had multiple relapses, it may be best for you to attend an inpatient treatment program this time. If you just recently started using heroin and realize that you have a drug use problem, you might be alright attending an intensive outpatient or even outpatient program.

If you want to discuss which option you should choose, talk to a member of our team about your drug use history today.

Get Treatment for a Heroin Addiction

Do you have an addiction to heroin? If so, don’t wait any longer to get into a treatment program. There are so many treatment options available to you – with everything from outpatient to inpatient programs.

Painkillers such as Codeine, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Morphine are all narcotics from the same family of drugs as Heroin. Opiates are derived from Opium derived from Poppies while Opioids are synthetically made versions that mimic Opiates. Because of this connection, painkillers can often lead to heroin.

This class of drugs act as depressants, relieving pain by binding to receptors in the Brain and Central Nervous System. They work by mimicking the effects of pain-relieving chemicals that are produced naturally in the body, but to a much higher degree. When opiates bind to opiate receptors in the body, they block the perception of pain.

While excellent for short-term pain mitigation and management, opiates create both tolerance and dependence in the longer-term. Not only does a patient need higher and higher doses to get the same effect as before, but they also become addicted and dependent on the medication to function normally. It takes less than a month to develop a dependence on opiates, after which a person will experience withdrawal without it.

Furthermore, Opiates are also known for producing feelings of euphoria, which then leads to recreational abuse.

The Opioid Crisis

Most people know that Opiate and Heroin use, abuse and overdose has increased over the years. The Opioid Crisis regularly makes national headlines. In response to the Opioid Crisis, regulators cracked down on production and prescriptions of opiates. They demanded that manufacturers decrease production by 25% and made it harder for doctors to prescribe them for pain. On the surface, this makes sense. Reduce the amount of people getting opiates and you will reduce the amount of people addicted to opiates. However, this did not answer the problem of people experiencing chronic pain nor those are already hooked on prescription opiates.

Turning to the Streets

Imagine you are a person with a chronic back injury and your doctor has been prescribing Oxycontin to help manage your symptoms for months. As we know, it takes less than a month to develop dependency, so you are fully addicted to your Oxycontin prescription. Now, due to regulations, your doctor can no longer prescribe your dose. Your pain has not subsided, nor has your addiction to opiates. Thus, you head to the streets. Unfortunately on the streets the price of prescription opiates, which was already high, has now spiked significantly. The street price of Oxycontin is $1 per milligram. If you have someone who takes 80mg per day, suddenly they find themselves with an $80/day habit. In order to get your fix, your painkillers can lead to heroin, a much cheaper option. 75% of all people with an opioid addiction end up switching to heroin as a cheaper source of opioids.

Statistics on Use and Abuse

Opiate use, and substance abuse in general, is on the rise all over the world, not only in the United States. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that:

In 2017, opiate painkillers were prescribed more than 190 times
Roughly 21 to 29% of patients prescribed opiates for chronic pain misuse them.
Between 26 and 36 million people worldwide abuse opiates
Over two million people in the U.S. suffer from substance abuse problems related to opiate painkillers
In 2010, the overuse of opiate painkillers resulted in nearly 17,000 deaths in the U.S.
About 80% of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.
Overdoses from opioids increased 30% from July 2016 to September 2017 in 45 states.
The Midwest saw the highest increases overall, with overdoses increasing by 70% from July 2016 to September 2017.

Signs of an Opiate or Heroin Overdose

Early treatment can save a life. If you or someone else experiences these signs or symptoms after consuming Codeine or any other opiate, call 911 immediately:

Loss of consciousness
Unresponsive to outside stimuli
Awake but unable to talk
Body goes limp
Light skinned people: skin turns blue or purplish
Dark skinned people; skin turns grayish or ashen
Fingernails or lips turn blue or purple
Vomiting
Sounds of choking or gurgling in the throat
Pale and clammy face
Slow, weak or non-existent pulse

People who survive overdoses do so because someone was there to respond. It is rare that someone dies immediately from an overdose, getting them help can save their life and prevent permanent damage. The longer you wait, the more damage can occur. It is vital to act quickly.

Getting Help

We hope this article has helped you better understand how prescription painkillers can lead to Heroin. If you or a loved one are struggling with Opiate or Heroin addiction, please reach out.

Call us today and find out how we can help.

Sources

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/heroin.html

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/relationship-between-prescription-drug-heroin-abuse/prescription-opioid-use-risk-factor-heroin-use