How to Overcome Heroin Addiction

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states that although heroin abuse declined in the past several years, its prevalence is still more than it was during the early 1990s. The long-term effect of heroin use is addiction, a severe relapsing disease, which results in compulsive drug seeking and significant changes to the brain's normal function. Heroin addiction causes your body to become dependent on the drug, which makes overcoming addiction difficult. Although overcoming addiction is a painful process, it can be achieved.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Overcoming Heroin Addiction

1. Observe the damages your heroin addiction has or can cause to your life. Heroin addiction makes you susceptible to HIV/AIDS (by sharing needles), collapsed veins, heart lining and valve infection, arthritis and abscesses (boils). Examine how your addiction has affected those close to you. Most likely, your addiction has caused problems in your home, work or school life. Realize that the only way to fix these issues is to get clean.

2. Speak with a trusted individual about your mission to overcome heroin addiction. This may include a family member, friend or physician. If you do not have a physician, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) to locate a treatment facility near you.

3. Undergo detoxification at a treatment facility. Detoxification includes ridding your body of heroin, which it has become dependent on. Once you stop using heroin, withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, muscle and bone ache, and restlessness occur. These symptoms are severe but are hardly fatal. To ease your symptoms, your physician may prescribe you with buprenorphine---an FDA-approved drug designed to block heroin effects.

4. Do not rely only on detoxification for treatment. It is a useful step in the treatment process, which should be followed up by outpatient or inpatient care. According to NIDA, for best results, a residential treatment program lasting 3 to 6 months is recommended.

5. Be open to behavioral therapy, which includes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT concentrates changing your thoughts and behaviors toward your drug use, enabling you to lead a more healthy life. CBT addresses the root of your problem, which medications are incapable of doing.

6. Know that relapses can happen but can also be prevented. By staying in treatment you learn the necessary coping skills to help you refrain from future heroin use.

7. Enroll in a support group, such as Narcotics Anonymous. As a recovering heroin addict you will need all the support you can get. Your support group peers are not there to judge you because they have also traveled the rocky road of heroin addiction. They are present to support you.

8. Be serious in your attempt to overcome heroin addiction. Your decision should not be a whimsical one. It should be a genuine desire to change your life for the better.

References

• Research Report Series - Heroin Abuse and Addiction
• Drug Abuse and Addiction

Resources

• Treatment Facility Locator
• Narcotics Anonymous

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