Select Page

Heroin Addiction Intervention Treatment in Florida 

 

 

Heroin is an accessible and highly addictingopiate drug with increasing usage across the state of Florida, making family intervention and drug rehab programs in Florida essential for anyone struggling with an addiction. Heroin is an addictive drug due to the actions that it has on the user’s body and brain. Heroin addiction can happen to anyone, regardless of social or financial status. Effective drug detox and drug rehab are important. Drug rehab centers and services in Florida are equipped to manage all severity of heroin addiction.

 

What is Heroin, and How is the Drug Used? 

Heroin is an opioid drug that is made from morphine, a substance taken from the seed pod of the different opium poppy plants.  Heroin has an effect on the brain’s reward system, influencing the production of feel-good chemicals dopamine and endorphins. People who use heroin report feeling a rush of pleasure or euphoria. Heroin can be a white or brown powder or a black sticky substance known as black tar heroin. Other common names include big H, horse, hell dust, and smack. People using heroin will inject, sniff, snort, or smoke it, while some people mix heroin with crack cocaine, a practice called speedballing.

 

What are the Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Heroin Use? 

There are risks of abusing heroin, both short-term and long-term. The longer heroin is used, the more severe the issues may become. The Short-term effects of heroin use include the following: inability to focus, lapsing in and out of consciousness, heart arrhythmia and palpitations, decreased respiration, low blood pressure, anxiety and depression, and dry mouth. The long-term effects of heroin abuse include the following: heart damage and heart disease, circulatory system problems and collapsed veins (especially with injected heroin), lung problems, increased risk of developing pneumonia, memory loss, increased depression, anxiety and moodiness, liver or kidney disease, overdose potential, including slowed or stopped breathing, coma, and death.

 

What Causes Heroin Addiction? 

Heroin is a highly addictive opioid drug that binds to receptors in the brain, causing a release of the chemical dopamine. Dopamine is an important chemical messenger in the brain that, when released in large amounts, creates a feeling of reward and pleasure. As with most drug side effects, the release is only temporary.The addict is left wanting more of the drug once the euphoric feeling wears off. If a person takes an opioid repeatedly over time, the brain does not naturally produce dopamine as it once did. Eventually, the addict develops a tolerance requiring the addict to take a higher or more frequent dose of the opioid to achieve the same level of good feeling, thus creating dependence or addiction.

Those addicted to heroin and stop using abruptly experience withdrawal symptoms as early as a few hours after the drug was last taken. Common withdrawal symptoms can include restlessness, severe muscle and bone pain, sleep problems, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goosebumps (“cold turkey”), uncontrolled leg movements (“kicking the habit”). Often opioid abuse begins with legal drugs prescribed after a surgery or some other injury, drugs that act similarly to heroin. If a person becomes addicted to those prescribed pain medications and cannot obtain them anymore, there is the potential that they may pursue heroin to achieve the same pleasurable feeling.

Furthermore, other mental health disorders occur with heroin addictions. They can include brain chemistry issues and self-medication. Self-medication occurs when a person who has another mental health disorder may abuse heroin to self-treat the symptoms of those disorders, leading to addiction. Based on these factors, and others, addiction can be both a result of and a cause of other mental health disorders. Using heroin to self-treat can lead to addiction, while the mental effects of heroin abuse can lead to other mental health disorders. In particular, heroin can cause a person to experience decreases in the ability to feel pleasure due to damage in the chemical systems that regulate reward responses.

 

Heroin Addiction Treatment and Detox in Florida 

Heroin addiction is treated at drug detox and drug rehabilitation programs in Florida. No one form of drug rehab is right for every person, and every plan should be individualized for each situation and person. Detoxing from heroin is the first step in the drug rehab process. Going through drug detox can be very painful and uncomfortable, often causing people to re-use heroin to stop the pain from withdrawal and detox itself. To enhance the safety of detox, the person may be medically supervised, potentially even hospitalized. Although drug detox is important, it is only a step in the drug rehabilitation process and should be used in conjunction with adequate therapies and counseling.

After detox, a stay at an inpatient facility is often the best option for heroin addicts.  Outpatient rehab can also be effective, but only if the addict has proper support at home while attending treatment.Upon completing a drug rehab program, it is beneficial for a recovering addict to consider aftercare support such as 12-step meetings, peer support groups, or sober living homes. Aftercare support is an important stage of recovery because heroin addicts spend years abusing heroin, destroying aspects of their lives and the lives of family and friends. Through a commitment to an individualized treatment plan tailored to meet specific needs, drug rehab in Florida can help the person stop using heroin and avoid relapse in the future, increasing the chances for a happy, fulfilling life.

 

Family Intervention for Heroin Addiction in Florida 

Most heroin addicts either do not recognize that they have a problem or are unwilling to seek the help they need. Organizing a family intervention in Florida can often be the step needed to get them the help they need. Family interventions conducted in Florida are more often seamlessly done when a professional interventionist is hired. Hiring an interventionist allows family and friends to come together and confront the addict about the impact of their addiction on their life and the lives of loved ones.

A professional interventionist works with the family to create a plan that outlines the best course of action for a successful outcome. Family interventions require a lot of careful planning, and if done poorly, the addict can feel attacked, often making the situation worse. Hiring an interventionist in Florida empowers the family to execute an intervention properly while helping them sort out any confusion during the days leading up to the intervention.

 

Sources-

www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs5/5169/heroin.htm#Top.

www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Call Now Button