Heroin withdrawal: signs of withdrawal, withdrawal

Heroin withdrawal syndrome in drug addicts

Heroin has a pronounced narcotic effect. Due to the rapid formation of addiction, almost every heroin addict is familiar with the withdrawal symptoms that inevitably occur when the next dose of the drug is delayed.

What it is

The reasons why withdrawal occurs are quite simple: heroin is integrated into a person’s metabolism, and his body stops producing endorphins, which are similar in structure to opiates. In the absence of the next dose, a disruption occurs in the functioning of the nervous system, which is accompanied, to put it mildly, by unpleasant physiological manifestations.

How does heroin withdrawal work?

The painful symptoms of heroin withdrawal can be divided into four stages. There is no specific boundary between them - they smoothly follow each other:

Begins 8-12 hours after consumption. Experienced drug addicts sense changes in the functioning of the physiological mechanism in advance. Restlessness and anxiety increase, appetite and sleep disappear. A runny nose appears, sneezing, and pupils dilate. The body becomes covered with “goose bumps”, the person feels weak and chills, turning into fever.
The next day the symptoms intensify - the second stage begins, more acute. The sneezing develops into attacks, the chills do not go away, and drooling appears. My neck, back and legs hurt a lot, and I get cramps.
A day later, the symptoms include stool upset, vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever increases. There is no sleep, but the addict periodically falls into unconsciousness. The skin becomes dry and takes on an earthy tint.
Starting from the third day, the final stage begins to count down. Depending on the individual characteristics of the body, its duration varies from 5 to 15 days, after which the symptoms subside.

When does severe withdrawal begin?

Narcologists have thoroughly studied how heroin addicts “break”—severe abstinence will not be long in coming. Not getting what you want, on the third day of quitting the drug, the increase in painful symptoms reaches a critical level. The person shudders, his gaze becomes distant. Observed:

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An integrated approach to drug addiction treatment

In a specialized clinic, complex treatment is offered for a chemically dependent person who seeks help and wants to completely get rid of drug addiction. It makes it possible to cure the disease completely, that is, to achieve stable long-term remission. The treatment course includes three stages:

Detoxification. The stage of eliminating physical dependence.
Rehabilitation. The stage of personality restoration, liberation from psychological cravings for alcohol.
Socialization. The stage of adaptation to ordinary life. Includes treatment of relatives for codependency.

Symptoms of withdrawal in a drug addict

Symptoms associated with heroin withdrawal include the following:

Emotional instability.
The skin takes on an earthy tint, and the facial expression is mask-like.
Dark circles under the eyes.
Dyspnea.
Sweating with an unpleasant odor.
Sleep disorders.
Dyspepsia, gastrointestinal disorders.
Muscle weakness, dizziness.
Aching joints and muscles throughout the body, pain in the head area.

The withdrawal state becomes so intense that the addict can not only walk or sit, but also lie down.

How do drug addicts feel - their internal state?

Metabolic disorders cause vivid psycho-emotional experiences. A person is literally obsessed with drug addiction. Unsuccessful attempts to avoid drug withdrawal lead a person into an aggressive and embittered state, in which he is easily capable of causing harm not only to himself, but also to others. Periods of active resistance are replaced by complete indifference.

Being in a desperate situation after unsuccessful attempts to get the drug, and feeling increasing physical pain, the addict, out of hopelessness, plunges into boundless fear. A person experiencing withdrawal experiences severe physical and emotional discomfort, which seriously affects the psyche. A heroin addict's intellect is destroyed, the pain threshold decreases, but only one thing remains unchanged - the attraction to the drug. Experienced drug addicts constantly experience withdrawal, their tolerance to the drug increases, and they no longer experience pleasure from taking the substance. The addict uses to feel normal.

How do the first signs appear?

As soon as the addict does not receive the next dose, internal processes completely or partially stop. The body is trying to get things working, but it takes time. All receptors disabled by opiates open, and a condition called withdrawal begins. The first signs appear 8-10 hours after taking the drug. The drug addict develops a cough, runny nose and sneezing, and his pupils dilate. Tears flow involuntarily, the body becomes covered with goose bumps. A person cannot fall asleep, becomes irritable and tense, and his movements become sharp and jerky.

How does heroin work?

Heroin belongs to the category of semi-synthetic fast-acting drugs that affect not only the physical, but also the psycho-emotional state. To achieve a narcotic effect, heroin is used for smoking, in inhalation form (by inhalation), and also for intravenous administration. The injection method of administering the drug is the most dangerous, since the narcotic effect is observed after 20-30 seconds, and addiction develops in a short time.

Heroin, like other drugs, affects serotonin-sensitive receptors, which causes a feeling of happiness and euphoria. After the next dose is administered, a feeling of permissiveness and openness appears, and such a quality as sociability is activated. After a while, the addicted person stops feeling euphoria and loses interest in what is happening. The danger of any addiction, and in particular heroin addiction, is that tolerance to the drug quickly disappears, but it is replaced by addiction, the need for regular increases in the dosage of the drug.

In addition to the drug itself, the mixture called heroin contains additional impurities that negatively affect the human body.

How long does heroin withdrawal last for an addict?

The development of drug withdrawal is painful for a person. After the acute phase, the addict remains with a strong craving for the drug. After detoxification in the clinic, the attraction will remain - comprehensive rehabilitation is needed. Subacute withdrawal syndrome can last up to six months, and the fragmented phase of addiction lasts about 3 years.

Without recovery treatment, another drug use inevitably occurs, and everything starts all over again. Therefore, to treat drug addiction, an integrated approach and long-term recovery are required, from 6 months to 1 year. The body of a drug addict does not have time to recover in 2 weeks - 1 month. He needs to learn to overcome cravings, restore his psyche, and change his thinking. When a patient ignores doctors' recommendations, a relapse occurs. The next withdrawal becomes even more unpleasant and severe, the addiction progresses.

Treatment of withdrawal symptoms in the clinic

You can relieve withdrawal symptoms in a clinic faster and more effectively than at home, for the simple reason that intravenous drips cleanse the body of toxins much faster.

Inpatient treatment also has a number of other advantages: availability of detoxification equipment, therapy and diagnostics, constant medical supervision. A narcologist can not only quickly relieve withdrawal symptoms, but also restore organ functions by adding the appropriate medications to the IVs:

hepatoprotectors that restore liver function;
nootropics that stimulate cerebral circulation;
cardioprotectors aimed at restoring heart function;
products that restore natural metabolism in the body;
as well as drugs that help normalize the patient’s mental state.

Coming off heroin – what next?

Despite the extremely severe course of the withdrawal syndrome, drug withdrawal, having reached its peak, slowly reduces the intensity of pain. The “retreat” begins. The process of restoration of the physiological mechanism of opiate metabolism after heroin is slow. At the same time, the psychological dependence remains, and attempts to find the next dose are renewed with renewed vigor.

Suffered withdrawal causes serious damage to internal organs and systems; a person, if he survives, becomes even weaker and susceptible to infections and other diseases. Having found a dose, the addict closes the circle, and everything repeats again. Sooner or later he will die from an overdose or chronic diseases. Only professional drug treatment assistance and the participation of loved ones can save a person.

Consequences of heroin use

In addition to information on how to overcome withdrawal from heroin addiction, it is important to familiarize yourself with the consequences of addiction. Drug addiction does not go away without leaving a trace, both on a psychological and physical level.

The main consequences of heroin addiction include:

A sharp increase in the risk of infection with viral hepatitis and HIV infection.
Decreased immunity and high susceptibility to any infectious diseases.
Severe damage to the cells of the liver, brain and cardiovascular system.
Menstrual dysfunction in women and suppression of erectile function in men.
Digestive disorders. Most often, heroin addicts experience chronic constipation.

Removing withdrawal symptoms

7,000 pcs.

Visit of a narcologist
Patient examination
Consultation with a narcologist
Sedatives and metabolic agents
Saline solution
Amino acids and hepatoprotectors
Vitamin complex

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What to do during an acute period

Relatives should hospitalize the drug addict in the hospital or call a narcologist at home to minimize the consequences of withdrawal. Under no circumstances should you give money for drugs. On an emergency call, a private clinic doctor arrives faster than an emergency room and immediately carries out the necessary procedures.

The doctor has with him all the necessary drugs and materials to relieve acute conditions. A doctor will help you overcome heroin withdrawal with minimal health consequences. However, it will not be possible to get rid of addiction at home, and the situation will quickly repeat itself. A drug addict needs comprehensive treatment and subsequent recovery. Such help can only be obtained in a specialized center for drug addicts.

How can a drug addict relieve withdrawal symptoms at home?

Narcologists and chemical dependency specialists strongly recommend that withdrawal treatment be carried out in a clinic. But sometimes it is necessary to help the patient before the narcologist arrives.

You need to try to find out what the patient consumed; this information will help doctors quickly select an antidote. It is necessary to provide the addict with peace, because during the period of withdrawal he has an unstable mental state. Offer the patient warm, plenty of fluids, vitamins and protein foods. And the most important thing is to communicate with him, to switch his attention from painful symptoms to something else.

If the addiction is short-lived and the withdrawal is not intense, then withdrawal can be relieved at home using available means. In this case, all of them are necessary in order to enhance the natural cleansing processes in the body:

Carbon-based adsorbent tablets.
Drink plenty of fluids. Use pure water or mineral water without additives.
Dietary food that excludes fatty, spicy, fried foods.
Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.
The use of natural diuretics: green tea and herbal kidney preparations.
Contrast shower and warm bath.
When you feel better, it’s good to visit the bathhouse and sauna.
Physical exercise.

Stages of addiction formation

Heroin leads to one of the most persistent drug addictions. After the first use, changes occur at the receptor level with the subsequent formation of physical dependence on the drug.

The whole process of addiction to a drug can be described as follows:

drug use;
the effect of heroin on opiate receptors in the body;
depletion of internal reserves of opiate mediators, dopamine, adrenaline, oxytocin;
resistance of opiate receptors to endogenous stimuli;
the appearance of physical dependence on the intake of exogenous stimulants of opioid receptors (heroin, morphine).

Unlike other drugs, when using heroin, the stages of addiction and psychological dependence may be completely absent.

It is generally accepted that the frequency of administration, a single dose, and the chemical composition of the drug play a role in the formation of addiction and the timing of development.

Each time the dose of the drug increases, as resistance appears in the opiate receptors and sensitivity to the effects of heroin decreases.

Dependence on heroin forms as quickly as possible, and the development of tolerance to receptors leads to an increase in the single dose. Cases have been described when a patient's daily dose reached 2 g or even more.
Taken from the article: Progression of heroin addiction and the influence of personal factors on it. Author: Tuzikova Yu.B. Igonin A.L.

Heroin greatly suppresses a person's will. Patients described cases where, after the first dose, the subsequent months passed “in a fog.” They realized that they were using heroin, but at the same time they only felt that they needed a new dose.

At what stage does relief occur?

Heroin withdrawal is a difficult test not only for the addicted person, but also for his relatives and friends. During the development of the syndrome in question, a person melts before our eyes, he loses weight, the skin becomes gray or sallow, weakness and a sharp drop in immunity are observed, due to which the condition worsens daily. Timely relief from heroin withdrawal will help alleviate the symptoms, so positive dynamics will be observed approximately 5-6 days after the start of treatment. If treatment is not started, symptoms will disappear in about 12 days.

What does a drug addict do when self-medicating?

A drug addict who decides to self-medicate his illness uses several ways to combat it. The most common one is to relieve withdrawal symptoms. To make the withdrawal period less painful, the drug addict uses various medications. The logic of his behavior is quite simple. He believes that if he can withstand withdrawal, then he will not use “drugs” later. To ease withdrawal, a drug addict can take painkillers and sleeping pills.

During the course of treatment, a drug addict experiences unpleasant sensations. And so, in order to isolate themselves from feeling unwell, the addict takes painkillers or sleeping pills. It is worth noting that the latter are the most popular among addicts. They are ready to swallow handfuls of sleeping pills just to forget and survive the withdrawal symptoms.

Today, the majority of drug addicts are saved from withdrawal by Reladorm. These sleeping pills are available in tablet form. It contains cyclobarbital, which is considered a barbiturate hypnotic. It has been proven that barbiturates form drug addiction. Also, using these pills in large quantities (which is exactly what drug addicts do) leads to encephalopathy, that is, irreversible destruction of the brain.

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Even if a drug addict uses not Reladorm during withdrawal, but any other sleeping pill, this will still not lead to anything good. It is clear that after taking sleeping pills, a person falls asleep and does not feel withdrawal. However, after waking up, all pain sensations arise again, and often with greater force. This forces the “addict” to take a heavy dose of sleeping pills again, since the usual (recommended by prescription) dose during the abstinence period will not help you fall asleep.

This cycle of waking up and falling asleep can last from 1 to 2 weeks. An overdose of sleeping pills worsens the well-being of the drug addict. He still feels sick and broken, although the withdrawal symptoms may already be lessening. Moreover, the longer a person takes sleeping pills and the greater the quantity, the more severe his condition becomes.

Resocialization

Resocialization is the patient’s return to an active social life, restoration of family relationships, employment and search for new friends. At this stage, it is important to provide the most comfortable conditions and protect contacts with people who actively use drugs, even if it is not heroin.

The confessional (with a religious bias) approach is more successful than other methods of resocialization without a confessional component.
Taken from the dissertation: “Resocialization of drug addicts: socio-psychological aspects” by Kutyanova I.P.

Resocialization should occur step by step, from less to more. A classic example is 12 step resocialization.

Working with codependents

Codependent people can become a stronghold of salvation for the patient or, conversely, lead to a breakdown. The psychologist’s task is to re-teach such people to live together. Discuss the problems that provoke conflicts, teach them to trust each other.

In relationships with codependent people, it is important to create an atmosphere in which no one blames anyone. Because any complaints or accusations provoke conflict, potential relapse and a return to drug use.

Often people have breakdowns because they feel lonely. They lose the motivation to control themselves. Own excuses arise related to the fact that there is nothing to lose, that no one needs a person. Therefore, along with psychotherapy, the patient must undergo consultations for codependent people.