Treatment for Heroin Addiction in Austin, Texas
Heroin addiction is a serious disease with destructive and life-threatening ramifications. It is important to seek professional heroin addiction treatment and not attempt to recover on your own. At Any Length Retreat, we address a variety of substance use disorders and can help you successfully conquer your heroin addiction. Contact us to get help today. You and your family deserve to have your lives back!
Heroin addiction is a serious disease with destructive and life-threatening ramifications. It’s a highly addictive opioid drug, and heroin overdose is a real risk with just one use. It is important to seek professional heroin addiction treatment and not attempt to recover on your own or quit cold turkey.
At Any Length Retreat, we address a variety of substance use disorders and can help you successfully you overcome heroin abuse. Contact us to get help today. You and your family deserve to have your lives back!
What is Heroin?
Heroin is derived from morphine, an opioid that comes from the seeds of the opium poppy plant. It can be a white or brown powder. There’s also something called black tar heroin because the substance is sticky and dark.
There are several ways to ingest heroin. People smoke, snort and inject heroin. It is also sometimes mixed with crack cocaine, a practice known as speedballing.
Heroin Addiction: Who Is At Risk?
Through movies and images in popular culture, many have come to believe heroin is a drug that only affects the lowest levels of society, but this could not be further from the truth. Substance abuse of all kinds does not discriminate and can affect anyone from any background.
The Role of Prescription Substance Abuse
One of the reasons heroin use disorder is so widespread is opioid prescription drugs. Heroin addiction is essentially opioid addiction. Many heroin users started by misusing prescription opioids either intentionally or unintentionally.
Prescription painkillers and opioids have become the number one gateway to heroin drug abuse in recent years. The NIH reports 80% of heroin addictions started with an addiction to prescription pain medication. For many people, once their prescriptions expire they find themselves already hooked on their medications. With no access to more prescription painkillers, and unable to tolerate their withdrawal symptoms, they turn to illicit street drugs like heroin to quell their addictions.
How Heroin, Morphine and Other Opiates Affect the Central Nervous System
How Heroin, Morphine and Other Opiates Affect the Central Nervous System
Like prescription opiates, heroin is a central nervous system depressant that binds to opioid receptors in the brain, directly affecting your pleasure and pain centers. With prolonged heroin use, the brain eventually stops producing the hormones that naturally fill these receptors and begins to rely on the drug to replace them.
This explains the agonizing heroin withdrawal symptoms people experience when they suddenly stop using the drug. In order to avoid these symptoms, most people continue using, which is part of what perpetuates the cycle of addiction.
Any Length Retreat in Austin, TX specializes in helping men with drug use disorders recover and reclaim their lives. Contact us today to learn more about our addiction recovery retreat and how we can help you or your loved one recover from substance use disorder.
Effects of Heroin on the Mind & Body
Heroin causes an immediate surge of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the “feel good” chemical that gives the user their euphoric rush, or “high.” The rush is intense but usually short-lived. Once the drug wears off, dopamine levels plummet significantly, leaving the user depressed, anxious, and craving more.
Short-Term Effects of Heroin
The short term effects of heroin abuse include:
- Slower, shallow breathing
- Nausea and vomiting
- Back and forth states of consciousness/unconsciousness
- Confusion or cloudy thinking
- Lower body temperature
- Dry mouth
- Flushed, itchy skin
- Sedation and drowsiness
- Impaired judgment
- Infectious diseases from sharing needles
Long-Term Effects of Heroin
The long-term effects of heroin abuse include:
- Insomnia
- Collapsed veins for people who inject the drug
- Damaged tissue inside the nose for people who sniff or snort it
- Infection of the heart lining and valves
- Abscesses (swollen tissue filled with pus)
- Constipation and stomach cramping
- Liver and kidney disease
- Lung complications, including pneumonia
- Mental disorders such as depression and antisocial personality disorder
- Sexual dysfunction for men
Heroin Overdose Risk Factors
When a person abuses heroin there are life-threatening risks involved. Heroin overdose rates have continued to skyrocket in recent years. The NIDA reports that heroin-related deaths increased more than sixfold between 2002 and 2018. It’s part of an overall growing epidemic of opioid overdose deaths.
A recent study in JAMA Psychiatry found that the greatest increase in heroin use between 2001 and 2015 occurred in white, middle class American males. The same study indicates that men are far more likely to be the victim of a heroin overdose, with death rates four times greater than those of women.
If you or someone you love needs men’s addiction treatment in Texas, please do not wait to get professional help from health care providers. Contact Any Length Retreat today, free of charge, no commitment. Let’s just talk. We are here to help you.
Signs of Heroin Addiction
How do you know if a loved one is using heroin and needs men’s addiction treatment? If someone in your life needs heroin addiction treatment, the following signs may appear:
- Needing more heroin to get the same effect (tolerance)
- Skin irritation and scarring due to constant itching and picking at the skin
- Unexplained weight loss and signs of malnutrition
- Periods of excessive energy, followed by very long periods of sleeping
- Withdrawal from friends, family, responsibilities, and activities
- Changes to appearance, lack of interest in hygiene
- Delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia
- Erratic mood swings, irritability, and hostility
- Intense, uncontrollable cravings for the drug
- Heroin withdrawal symptoms if the drug is suddenly stopped
Helping Your Loved One Benefit From Men’s Addiction Treatment
It’s easy to feel helpless watching someone struggle with addiction to heroin – especially if that someone is a person you care about. You want to take care of them yourself, but you know you aren’t prepared to handle a substance use disorder. In truth, few people are able to go it alone without professional help treating a heroin use disorder. Snort, inject or smoke heroin just once and it can prompt a drug addiction. That’s why it’s so important that your loved one seek professional guidance to overcome their substance use disorder.
At Any Length Retreat, we ensure that your loved one is guided safely and successfully through the various stages of their recovery journey so they can overcome their substance abuse and get a fresh start to life. Encouraging your loved one to seek our men’s addiction treatment in Texas can be your greatest act of love.
If you need assistance talking to your loved one about recovery, please reach out to us 24/7, free of charge, no commitment. We are here to help you!
Heroin is a highly addictive substance that typically cannot be stopped without professional heroin addiction treatment. Men addicted to heroin who stop taking the drug can experience severe withdrawal symptoms that begin as early as a few hours after their last dose. These symptoms include depression, anxiety and panic attacks, agitation and many more that make it difficult for families to help and addicts to stay clean.
Recovery from Heroin Addiction
Withdrawal symptoms can be agonizing and are often the reason why people find it so difficult to stop heroin abuse. It is extremely important to seek help from professionals to overcome an opioid addiction safely and successfully. At Any Length Retreat our systems focus on healing the whole individual – mind, body, and spirit. By treating the inherent causes of addiction rather than just their symptoms (triggers, cravings, etc.) men and their families achieve fundamental, lifelong recovery as well as a new freedom and a new purpose.
Treatment for heroin addiction includes:
- Residential Rehab
- 30 Day Intensive
- 60 Day
- 90 Day
- Individualized Care
- 12 Step Facilitation
- Social Learning Therapy
- Community Involvement
- Group Therapy
- Fitness & Wellness
- Mindfulness & Meditation
The Highest-Rated System for Heroin Addiction Treatment in Austin, TX
If you or your loved one suffers from heroin addiction, please contact us today. We are here to help you 24/7, free of charge and no commitment. Our addiction recovery retreats are open to men of all ages, including teens, college students, young men, and adults. The best thing you can do for a loved one that’s battling drug abuse is reach out for help.
Get on the path to your best life today with the highest-rated system for heroin addiction treatment in Austin, Texas. Our compassionate and supportive admissions staff is standing by to help you, day or night.
*Any Length Retreat is a supportive, educational recovery system and community. It is not a substitute for psychotherapy, clinical or medical treatment for substance use disorders or mental illness.