Heroin Addiction in New Britain CT (877) 804-1531
Heroin addiction is undeniably one of the most deadly forms of the disease. However, beyond that fact, many people know virtually nothing else about heroin use and addiction. Heroin addiction is one of the most commonly seen addictions in rehab centers and is also the source of the most medical detox difficulty. Unfortunately, heroin addiction is the subject of the most relapse. Get to know more about heroin, the symptoms and the effects it has on the body. This way you will know what to look out for in people you know and love that may have a dangerous heroin addiction.
We can provide support in your search for the treatment facility and rehabilitation program that best suits your needs. Call Drug Treatment Centers New Britain today at 860-357-6096.
What Is Heroin?
The drug is actually derived from morphine, which is a natural substance that comes from poppy seedpods. There are two forms of the substance commonly sold illegally in the United States. One form is pure and is a bright white powder. The other is "black tar," it that has a black or brown residue and is sticky due to impurities in processing. While the pure form of the drug can be snorted or smoked, the black tar variety is almost exclusively melted down and injected directly into the veins.
What Are The Symptoms Of Heroin Addiction and Use?
Use of the drug has some very distinct and disturbing symptoms surrounding it. For one thing, a person under the influence can fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. Their breathing will also slow dramatically. While awake, a person using the substance will have unclear thoughts and slurred speech. Drug abusers may also complain of nausea or suffer from spells of diarrhea or vomiting.
Additionally, users tend to experience inexplicable itching and will often scratch their skin so much that they will cause breaks in the skin and bleeding. Leg twitching and movement are also quite common. You may also notice that the user has constricted pupils and will appear as though their limbs are too heavy to lift or hold up.
Effects on the Body
The negative health effects of heroin use are numerous. Among the minor negative health effects of using the drug, the most common is a perpetually runny nose when the person is not otherwise ill. Extreme and rapid weight loss is also a common sign of addiction, as a person's appetite is reduced when using. Scratches and frequent wounds on the skin can also be problematic to a person's health as they can easily become infected.
Fatal overdoses are common among users, particularly those who inject it directly into their veins. Because the drug naturally slows down a user's breathing, an overdose can actually cause a person to suddenly stop breathing. In addition to ones breathing to be affected, the drug can cause a person to spontaneously fall asleep. An onlooker may assume the user is asleep and miss the window of opportunity to intervene.
Because heroin is most often injected, the risk of contracting a blood borne pathogen such as HIV, Hepatitis, or the like is extremely high among users. On top of that, the frequent use of needles in the veins can and will cause veins to collapse. Heart and cardiovascular infections are also quite common. Endocarditis is a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart that can cause a person's heart valves to collapse and can be extremely difficult to treat and cure. Open heart surgery and other radical or invasive treatments are often required.
Kidney disease and kidney failure are also common long term side effects of prolonged heroin addiction. Because the kidneys filter out toxins from the body, they work on overdrive when drugs are present. The more frequent or intense the drug use, the more the kidney have to work. Heroin puts so much pressure on the kidneys that they can become chronically ill and eventually fail. Dialysis and possibly organ transplants may be necessary for addicts. However, sometimes their bodies are so badly damaged that such procedures are impossible.
Once informed about heroin addiction and the its negative consequences, you will know what to look out for in order to intervene, should you know a person suffering from a heroin addiction. The sooner they get the issue under control, the less they will suffer from the long-term consequences of drug use.
We can provide support in your search for the treatment facility and rehabilitation program that best suits your needs. Call Drug Treatment Centers New Britain today at 860-357-6096.