Heroin Addiction
Heroin addiction can be devastating not only to the user, but the loved ones of the user as well. No one wants to see their family member or friend abusing drugs and nine times out of ten the user doesn’t want to be a substance abuser either. What most fail to realize is that if it were that easy to quit a damaging substance like heroin, then it would be done all the time with no qualms. However battling heroin addiction is no easy feat and all parties involved need to remain empathetic to each others’ needs. This is easier said than done, but it can be done.
Heroin addiction is not a habit that can be picked up overnight; it is actually a habit that is formed by previous dependencies. Addictions begin with early usage of other drugs such as marijuana, alcohol and other recreational substances. Abusers normally begin to try harsher drugs when they are attempting to self-medicate emotional pain or ward off withdrawal pains. What’s sad about this is that once this habit is formed the user begins to believe that they cannot escape using the drug.
Anyone has the mental capacity to stop using drugs; it just takes time and a lot of support. If the user continues to abuse heroin to the point of overuse the effects upon the heart, lungs, and brains can be fatal. Naturally no one would like to see this happen under any circumstances so detox is a must in order to prevent overuse from happening.
The heroin detoxification process is extremely uncomfortable as their body tries to rid of the opiate. The beginning symptoms include anxiety, inability to sleep, and obsessive sneezing. Then the detox symptoms will advance to nausea, vomiting, severe chills and shaking. These symptoms are harrowing and that is the main reason why quitting heroin cold turkey has such a low success rate. It is recommended to seek a hospital based detoxification process that will be followed by continued treatment.
As a family member it is natural to feel like your loved one has chosen the drug over you. It seems like they are being selfish and have no regard to how their abuse is making you feel or the effect it has on you and others around. While it is completely understandable to feel this way you have to understand where he or she is and how they feel as well. As stated earlier most abusers turn to drugs to escape some sort of psychological pain and torment. They feel alone and as though no one understands their pain and reasoning but please believe that deep down they want to quit. Remind them of reasons as to why they need to stop using but please be sensitive to their feelings and emotions.
Trying to help your loved one quit using heroin will prove to be one of the hardest tasks you’ve ever done, but please be patient and please offer every ounce of support that you have to give. When you and you’re family makes it through this ordeal, no task will ever seem difficult. The saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day” but without a doubt, it was built – and that’s all that matters.
Heroin Users
Heroin addiction is a personal struggle that many describe as the biggest monster they ever have had to deal with. Heroin is like most drugs in that it starts off just being something that the user does from time to time. They start off by just doing it in private or the company of peers and don’t realizing that they are about to change their life for the worse. Once a Heroin addiction has taken hold there are very harsh consequences to the body and mind. Heroin is an opiate drug that first reared its ugly head in 1874. It is a crystallized white powder that steams from morphine and has an extreme addiction rate. This addiction becomes so overpowering that people who become dependent on heroin are willing to do whatever it takes to obtain it. The strong addiction to heroin does not only hurt the addict but also their family and friends. Someone who is addicted to heroin is not in their right mind when consuming this life threatening drug, and their actions can easily break up families.
A Dangerous Addiction
The number of reported heroin overdoses each year is very high – being a factor in 164,000 emergency room visits across the US in 2006 – because of the drug’s high toxicity. Even though this drug has such obvious debilitating effects, like other opiates, once addicted it is hard for an individual to stop using it. One of the reasons for this is because the effects of withdrawal are so intense that many would rather stay using this dangerous drug then to feel the withdraw pains that come with trying to detox from it. The discomfort and anxiety of withdrawal can set in as little as 6 hours after discontinuation of the drug, contributing to the vicious cycle of dependency.
The rest of us can only wonder how family and loved ones feel when they see someone they love losing a battle to a drug that is taking over their life. Heroin is so harmful that it can effect many different parts of a person’s body. The heart, lungs and brain can very much be damaged permanently and given that these are such vital organs, if there is too much heroin in a person’s system it can easily prove fatal. A narcotic like heroin does not just take over the body but it also does terrible psychological damage and that is where people choose their addiction over there family, friends, job and life in general.
Ironically heroin is a pain medicine derived from morphine but the problem is that it ultimately brings the user more pain than it relieves. No one wants to see someone that they love throw away their life over a drug. It’s even worse knowing that this drug can potentially kill them on any given day without warning. The sad thing is that without proper help, heroin addicts have a very slim chance of ever kicking their addiction. If family or friends cannot get a heroin addict into some form of rehabilitation center then an addict may not ever shake their problem. That is why loving someone with a heroin addiction can be painful because you usually cannot help them if they are not willing to help themselves.
Drug Addiction, Alcoholism and Depression
Drug addiction and depression have always had a very complicated and intertwined relationship. Substance abuse and mental illnesses like depression are found together so frequently that doctors came up with a term for the co-occurring disorders, dual diagnosis. According to The US Department of Health and Human Services, individuals who suffer from major depression have higher rates of alcoholism and drug addiction. This same study found that more than 1 out of every 5 adults who experienced an episode of depression in the previous year also engaged in substance abuse. These daunting statistics left researchers wondering, which came first, the drug addiction problems or the depression?
How Substance Abuse Can Lead to Depression
Substance abuse can lead to depression in a variety of ways. Experts agree that extreme and prolonged substance abuse can cause psychiatric problems in those addicted. Symptoms of depression are commonly reported as are hallucinations to a lesser extent. Depressive symptoms can develop as a result of a current alcohol or drug addiction like with alcohol for example, a known depressant. Depressive symptoms can also come as a result of withdrawal symptoms or a “come down” from the high of a drug like cocaine. There are instances when the depression can be short-lived when coming as a result of substance abuse but there are instances as well where the symptoms turn into a full blown, prolonged illness.
How Untreated Depression Can Lead to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction
This cause and effect relationship has been incredibly well documented by addiction specialists, psychologists and psychiatrists alike. Depression when it is untreated can be all-consuming. You feel an intense sadness and hopelessness that lasts for weeks at a time. Activities that you used to enjoy no longer make you happy. Your personal feelings of inadequacy can be so overwhelming you question what the point of continuing is. You become desperate to numb the pain and silence the negative thoughts and feelings in your head so you turn to drugs and alcohol. This act of self-medicating can turn into drug addiction and/or alcoholism very quickly when you become dependent on a substance to make you feel a certain way. Unfortunately drug and alcohol abuse only serves to intensify the symptoms of depression over time rather than providing any real relief like the sufferers so desperately desire.
There are other factors that can cause the co-occurring disorders of alcoholism, drug addiction and depression that are independent of the dual diagnosis. A key independent factor that is important to note is an individual’s environment. Excessive stress and trauma for example are known to cause both depression and substance abuse issues in a person. But again, developing one of these disorders increases your risk of developing the other substantially.