Addiction to heroin is a terrible price to pay for a moment’s pleasure. Heroin abusers almost inevitably pay for the “rush” they crave from the drug with a physically debilitating addiction that can lead to death from pneumonia, infection, or respiratory or cardiac arrest. Thousands of people have walked away from heroin, however. In 2006, 335,000 people were treated in the United States alone for heroin addiction. A coordinated and sustained program of treatment can successfully wean abusers off the drug and manage cravings lifelong.

The first step in breaking a heroin addiction is detoxification. Heroin Detox is required to flush all traces of the drug from the body, but it must be carefully managed, and it is not in itself a “cure” for heroin addiction. Stoppage of heroin in addicts leads within a few hours to withdrawal symptoms. While seldom fatal, they are extremely unpleasant. They include:

 

Heroin Detox is designed to manage or eliminate the withdrawal symptoms and keep patients as comfortable as possible during this crucial first phase of recovery. Major withdrawal symptoms for heroin addiction peak 24-48 hours after the last heroin use. Generally, they subside within a week or so, but some people experience persistent cravings for weeks, even months. It is crucial to combine Heroin Detoxification with continued counseling and behavioral therapy to overcome the desire to relapse and return to the drug.

Methadone is the most common treatment for Heroin Detoxification and withdrawal. A synthetic opiate like heroin, methadone is addictive in itself but blocks the effects of heroin and eliminates withdrawal symptoms. Methadone is generally taken orally and is effective because its effects last much longer than heroin (24-36 hours), and it does not impair the user’s mental functions as heroin does. Methadone has been in use for over 30 years to safely manage the Heroin Detox process and prevent relapse.

Buprenorphine is a new drug also used for Heroin Detox. Less addictive than methadone, it has been used successfully to manage heroin recovery and treatment. Patients experience fewer withdrawal symptoms after they stop taking it.

People looking to get free of heroin must begin with detoxification. Getting the drug toxins out of the body is essential in order to break the physical addiction. However, as the National Institute on Drug Abuse states in its research report on heroin abuse and addiction: “Not in itself a treatment for addiction, detoxification is a useful step only when it leads into long-term treatment that is either drug-free (residential or outpatient) or uses medications as part of the treatment. The best documented drug-free treatments are the therapeutic community residential programs lasting 3 to 6 months.”

Heroin Detox, therefore, should be considered as the first step to a new life, not a cure-all that will magically make the drug monkey go away.