Rehab for Heroin Addiction

How we treat heroin addiction?

Trying to come off opioids can feel impossible. Seeking out professional support at a residential drug treatment centre gives you the best possible chance of recovery. Our bespoke opioid treatment programmes help you safely withdraw from opioids, separate your sense of self from the addiction, and restore your health.

What is heroin addiction?

Heroin is a highly addictive opioid processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from poppy plants. Opioids work by blocking pain signals between the brain and body. It is a powerful sedative that can create feelings of warmth, relaxation, decreasing anxiety, and increasing euphoria. These effects are induced by the morphine present in heroin and are short-lived. Whilst the effects fade quickly, it takes the body a lot longer to break down all of the heroin’s additional byproducts. To avoid these side effects, individuals need to take more heroin to detach themselves from the pain. This process is what makes heroin so addictive as it can quickly lead to tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and addiction.

Sedatives depress the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is the subconscious part of the body that works to regulate breathing and heart rates. If it becomes too depressed, it has the potential to ‘forget’ to function altogether. Taking increasing amounts of heroin because of increasing tolerance levels heightens the risk that an individual will take more than their body can handle, leading to an overdose and death.

Among the short-term risks of heroin are: HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C due to contaminated needles, slurred speech, reduced motor skills, confusion, problems concentrating, decreased blood pressure and heart rate, irregular heartbeat, lowered body temperature and coma. The long-term risks of heroin are: overdose, intestinal issues, menstrual and fertility problems, decreased sex drive, diminished cognitive abilities, internal organ damage, damaged nasal passages (from snorting), and abscesses and damaged veins from injecting.

Through our combination of medical, psychological and personal care, we are proud to be the only clinic in the world that addresses co-occurring conditions and every possible root-cause of heroin addiction. In doing so, we can help you recover in a matter of weeks, rather than years or months.

What causes a heroin addiction?

In our experience, the only deciding factor is whether or not you are in pain. For example, what tends to happen is that a doctor prescribes an opioid-based painkiller for chronic pain (e.g., cluster headaches caused by an undiagnosed anxiety condition). Those opioids release dopamine. Mental health issues deplete our brain of this neurochemical, so pre-medication, that patient would have been functioning in a deficiency state. But suddenly, they feel happy and normal. Of course, that feeling only lasts so long, and it leads to tolerance, which sets people up for addiction.

What causes withdrawal symptoms?

All opioids act on the body’s opioid system by binding to opioid receptors in our brain. Our endorphins temper pain signals by binding to these receptors. Opioid drugs essentially bind much more strongly and for much longer. When a drug binds to opioid receptors, it triggers the release of dopamine, which leads to euphoria.

But it also suppresses the release of noradrenaline impacting wakefulness, breathing, digestion and blood pressure. A therapeutic dose will suppress noradrenaline enough to cause side effects like constipation. At higher doses, it will decrease heart and breathing rates to dangerous levels, which leads to loss of consciousness and overdoses.

With continued use, the body needs to adapt to this change in its system. To do so, it will decrease the number of opioid receptors. So now, if you want to experience the same mood effects (release of dopamine) as before, you need to take a larger dose (this is how tolerance forms).

But, as people take more to compensate for tolerance, noradrenaline levels continue to decrease. To compensate, the body increases its number of noradrenaline receptors. This increased sensitivity to noradrenaline allows the body to continue functioning normally, but opioids are now essential to maintain the new balance.

This is because when someone stops taking opioids, noradrenaline levels will start to rapidly increase. But the body needs time to remove all those additional noradrenaline receptors. This imbalance causes withdrawal symptoms (dope-sickness). It also means that people are most likely to overdose when they have been off opioids for a while (or in withdrawal) because what would have been a standard dose while your tolerance was high is now lethal.

Hence, the only deciding factor is whether someone will become addicted is if they are in pain and lacking dopamine because that increase in dopamine levels can stabilise them, leading them to want more.

What are the signs?

Symptoms of heroin addiction include:

A growing (and deeply painful) feeling that all you want or care for is heroin (this often manifests as a growing sense of alienation or indifference towards your job, family, or even your own self)
Constantly thinking about heroin.
Heroin use is negatively impacting your career, relationships, and finances.
Willingness to take great risks or engage in reckless behaviour to obtain heroin.
An ever-increasing dosage of heroin is required to achieve the same euphoric feeling.
Feeling intense fear at the idea you won’t be able to access heroin.
Extremely painful, flu-like symptoms when sober.

Additional symptoms include:

What are the physical symptoms of heroin addiction?

• Withdrawal symptoms: severe muscle aches, sweating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea when not using.
• Track marks: visible scarring or sores from injecting heroin.
• Collapsed veins: a result of frequent intravenous use.
• Pinpoint pupils: noticeably smaller pupils, even in low light.
• Chronic fatigue: constant exhaustion or low energy levels.
• Respiratory issues: slow or laboured breathing after using.

What are the emotional symptoms of heroin addiction?

• Using heroin as a way to escape feelings of sadness, anxiety, or emotional pain.
• Feeling intense shame or guilt about your heroin use.
• Emotional numbness or a detachment from reality when using.
• Mood swings, including intense irritability or anger when sober.
• Emotional withdrawal from loved ones or meaningful connections.

What are the psychological symptoms of heroin addiction?

• Craving heroin to feel “normal” or avoid withdrawal symptoms.
• Experiencing paranoia, confusion, or disorientation during or after use.
• Obsessing over obtaining and using heroin, to the exclusion of other thoughts or priorities.
• Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or recalling memories.
• Losing a sense of self-worth or hope for the future.