How to Treat Heroin Withdrawal Safely? Medical And Natural Therapies For Drug Abuse

Drug addiction has been growing at an unstoppable pace in recent years. In the case of opioid drug addiction, Heroin is leading every other opioid right now. Heroin makes people easily addicted and it causes such a situation that the user starts feeling many sorts of discomfort. This discomfort usually occurs during the period a person is not under the influence of the drug. This phenomenon is called withdrawal which persists in many Heroin addicts. These withdrawal symptoms can be extremely powerful and they need to be treated at the earliest. This blog will provide you with a guide on how to treat Heroin withdrawal safely.

Safe Treatments For Heroin Withdrawal And Addiction

Heroin Definition And Mechanism

Heroin is a psychoactive opioid that has no medical use in most of the countries. A few exceptions are some European nations where it’s used as a painkiller in the form of Diamorphine. It is derived from the opium poppy plant where it is found in the form of Morphine. It is turned into Heroin in illegal laboratories that sell the substance to drug dealers as powdered pouches or IV injections, where Heroin could be mixed with Meth or other opioids. Its mechanism is instant as it breaks open into the blood-brain barrier and turns back into morphine in our liver. It binds to μ-opioid receptors to increase dopamine levels in the brain. This causes relaxation and euphoria for the user.

What Makes People Grow Tolerance To Heroin So Easily?

One of the main reasons behind Heroin being so addictive is its onset. Heroin has one of the fastest durations of onset among all the drugs. One can start feeling the effects of the drug as quickly as 20 seconds. But as fast as the onset is, the effects last that short too. After 10-30 minutes of taking the drug one will no longer feel its euphoric effects which makes it ideal for the user to take Heroin again. The user starts taking the drug more as the brain starts developing tolerance and increases its ability to intake dopamine. Because of this tolerance the patient becomes more and more dependent on Heroin.

How Does Heroin Cause Withdrawals?

A very intricate mechanism in the brain can cause withdrawal. The brain adapts to the structural changes caused by Heroin as physical dependence on the drug makes the user tolerant. It makes the neurons function with higher levels of dopamine released after constant use of the drug. Now when one does not take Heroin at this stage, the brain reactivates a part of itself that Heroin had initially affected. The Locus Coeruleus is responsible for vital functions like breathing, blood pressure and alertness. Heroin suppresses this area in its mechanism. Without the drug LC overreacts that causes a sudden release of norepinephrine. This makes the brain feel less rewarded as withdrawal symptoms show up.

Heroin Withdrawal Symptoms

The symptoms of Heroin withdrawal are extremely difficult to deal with. Heroin withdrawal has many typologies. But among all the types, the easiest to understand is the time-based categories of Heroin withdrawals. Let us first understand how long does Heroin withdrawal lasts.

Heroin Withdrawal Timeline

The symptoms will start showing up within 4-12 hours in the presence of the drug in your system. From here it can stay for almost 10 days while the effects will peak at hours 24 to 72. The National Survey Research Report on Heroin done in 2015 mentions this information.

Heroin Withdrawal Symptoms Typologies

• Acute Withdrawal Symptoms: Short-term symptoms like intense craving, faster heart rate, dilated pupils and stomach upsets.
• Protracted Withdrawal Symptoms: Includes long-lasting symptoms like sleeping issues, anxiety, depression, impaired memory and cognitive issues.

How to Treat Heroin Withdrawal Safely?

The problem of how to ease Heroin withdrawals has a long but effective solution. It is important to understand that Heroin withdrawals are not life-threatening. It can be treated with various means and methods that help a person reduce their dependence on the street drug. Let us make a deeper dive into the Heroin withdrawal treatment.

Heroin Withdrawal Treatment Inpatient

The Heroin withdrawal treatment in hospital is done by various medication-based treatments. The individuals are provided with many medications to detoxify the drug from the system. This is done by combining the FDA-approved medications for medical detoxification, which are collectively called Medications for Opioid-Use-Disorder or in short MOUD. The three main drugs for Heroin withdrawal treatment are:

• Methadone
• Naltrexone
• Buprenorphine

Heroin Withdrawal Treatment Home Remedies

While eliminating the drug helps in reducing dependence, withdrawals can remain in your body. Some people prefer to manage these acute symptoms comfortably at home. There are many ways in which people deal with this issue.

• Having a comfortable diet with light meals
• Bathing in hot water to help the muscles
• Doing breathing exercises.
• Taking OTC remedies for a bad stomach.

An article published in EBSCO mentions a few natural remedies to manage Heroin withdrawals. These would include:

• Passionflower
• Acupuncture
• Gingko Biloba
• Bacopa Monniera
• Kratom
• N-acetylcysteine

Outpatient Therapies For Dependence

To find longer relief from Heroin withdrawals one needs to take up the treatment for heroin addiction as soon as possible. It is obvious that the first step is to medically detoxify the drug. But now comes the second phase of the treatment where the addicted individual will be provided with many outpatient therapies. Group & Individual Therapy is a very reliable option here as it focuses on making people aware of the consequences of Heroin abuse. One can also take up Holistic Therapies which help people find the true “reward” by replacing drug use with activities that treat the trauma and fears gained from addiction.

Conclusion

Heroin is an extremely deadly psychoactive drug. But some people abuse it with no limits. In such a scenario withdrawals should not be a shocking outcome. To deal with the distressing Heroin withdrawal symptoms one has to take an inpatient treatment. The doctors will medically remove the drug from the nervous system with the help of MOUD. Natural remedies like physical exercise and hydration might help deal with the painful withdrawal. Heroin addiction treatment is a must to treat Heroin withdrawal safely.