Among the most difficult addictions to overcome is heroin addiction. This is because the nervous system of the heroin user and abuser has become familiar with welcoming persistent exposure to the drug, which is also an opioid. Since the nervous system had grown familiar with such, undergoing withdrawal would be very difficult and severe. Symptoms would be very observable. The symptoms of withdrawal would be first seen within 12 hours of stopping from use and would reach their peak after two to four days. Symptoms to look out for would be nausea, anxiety, diarrhea, insomnia, chills, abdominal pain, sneezing, sweating, sniffing, irritability and weakness. Despite recent development with heroin detoxification, still, patient discomfort and the rate of failure prove to exist.
Due to the agonizing process of withdrawal, rapid anesthesia-assisted opioid withdrawal procedures have become instantly popular as the best and easiest painless process to undergo withdrawal from opioids. However, like any other medical procedure, it also has its share of risks, like delirium, psychosis, and attempted suicide. Aside from this, the price of the painless procedure has reached from $5,000 to $15,000.
There are three significant and crucial brain chemicals or neurotransmitters that relate itself to heroin. Number one would be dopamine, which aids in controlling the appetite of humans for food and, yes, for sex. If and when an individual has a large amount of dopamine, he would be very extroverted and energetic. People who are suffering from Parkinson’s disease would envy these people. However, if the amount of dopamine in the body of the individual has reached its maximum, he will then suffer from schizophrenia. The use of heroin is the key to releasing dopamine.
The second would be norepinephrine. This brain chemical is responsible for controlling the sympathetic nervous system, i.e., the nerves of the body that cannot be voluntarily controlled. This is also the one responsible for alleviating the body’s blood pressure, for it does not get too low. Releasing the norepinephrine fuels the fight-or-flight response of the body. Yet heroin will then hold back the locus coeruleus, or the middle part of the brain, which provides the individual with the safety and contented feeling.
The third neurotransmitter is endorphins. These are morphine-like chemicals that the body utilizes to vary the mood, encourage pleasure, and handle reactions to stress. The use of heroin would increase to an exaggeration of these three brain chemicals.
In heroin detoxification, withdrawal symptoms would be the greatest struggle one has to go through. There has been no evident answer to studies if there one detoxification would do better than another. Deterioration has continued to take place that making heroin detoxification the big fiend of addiction. It has been supported by statistics that in 10 to 25 times that an addict stops and starts detox, their use of heroin deteriorates every time.
Heroin detox entails the admission that there is a problem, acting on it by seeking medical attention and help as well as focusing on the goal of rehabilitation and treatment while still undergoing the detoxification and rehabilitation program.
