Methadone
If you ever suspect that one of your loved ones may be suffering from heroin addiction, it can be quite upsetting. Heroin addiction is one of the most consuming addictions that an individual can suffer from. It not only affects the person who is addicted, it affects the people who are close to them as well. It can devastate a whole family and turn an otherwise good person into a slave to this drug. This article is about heroin addiction and gives the sign of addiction.
Behavior Changes
When someone gets addicted to heroin, there are definitely signs in the way of changes in behavior. The person becomes consumed with getting heroin, especially if they have developed a physical dependency on the drug. Responsibilities that used to be number one priorities for the person often take the back seat to acquiring more heroin.
In addition to being preoccupied with getting more heroin, the person’s personality will show changes as well. The person may seem lethargic and sleepy much of the time. They may seem to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation. At other times they may show an increased amount of energy and may talk endlessly. If they are very intoxicated at the time, their coordination may become impaired, much like a person intoxicated on alcohol. Their speech may become slurred and sometimes they may interject random and inappropriate comments into a conversation.
The reason for this is because sometimes when a person is high on heroin they drift in and out of a dream state. They will think that they are awake and they know what it going on around them, when in fact they do not. Sometimes when they have these waking dreams they think that is what is really going on. When they come out of the dream state they will sometimes talk about what it was they were dreaming about as if it really was happening. This is the cause for the sometimes inappropriate comments.
Physical Changes
When person uses heroin, it does cause a decrease in appetite. Usually if the person is not going through active withdrawals, they will have a bit of an appetite. However, heroin causes constipation and the person may go days without having a bowel movement. This leaves the person with less of an appetite than they usually have normally. Over time the person will lose quite a bit of weight.
Also, when the person is going through withdrawals they will have no appetite what so ever. They will feel extremely nauseated and will have terrible diarrhea. They will also feel terrible flu-like symptoms. It is because of this that they often get such an obsession with heroin. They often become quite afraid of going through withdrawals.
When the person first starts using the heroin, when they get high they will often feel itchy on their skin. Their nose in particular will itch. The itchiness is just a result of the drugs effect on the body, but these phantom irritations will feel surprisingly real. Some people feel so itchy that they will scratch at their skin until it starts bleeding.
If you notice that the person you love appears intoxicated to the point of seeming quite drunk, but you don’t smell alcohol on their breath, and they are scratching at themselves, you can be pretty sure that they are on opiates, maybe heroin.
Depending on the method of consumption, you may also begin to notice needle marks on their hands and arms and other places on their bodies. The person may begin to wear long sleeves even in the summer months to cover up these track marks. If you have the opportunity to search their things or where they live, you may find hypodermic needles and spoons laying about or hidden.
If the person is not injecting the heroin, they are either smoking it or snorting it. If they are snorting it you may find cut up straws around, or rolled up dollar bills. If the person is smoking it, you will find pieces of burnt aluminum foils. The person often will put the heroin on a piece of aluminum foil and burn it with a lighter and inhale the smoke that is produced.
Priorities Change for a Heroin Addict
As the person becomes more and more consumed with their addiction, their love and compassion for other people will decrease. They will often no longer care about people except about how that person could aid them in getting more heroin. The only time when they will feel comfortable socializing is when their addiction is fed for the moment and they don’t have to worry about getting more drugs.
After a while the person will often lose most of their money and assets to their addiction. When the person has run out of money, they cannot be trusted at all. They will do anything to get high. They will either become desperate drug addicts who will steal or rob or even sell their own bodies to get more heroin, or they will seek rehabilitation. For those who don’t seek treatment, they will often ask to borrow money from whom ever they can. The person who is making the loan should never expect to see that money again. If the heroin addiction is known, it is better to not give the addict money at all. A heroin addict can not be trusted. When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, their one true love is heroin. They will put everything second to that, in some cases even their own children. Their ability to make good decisions is severely impaired. That is the reason that many mothers who become addicted to heroin get their children taken away by family services or family members
What to Do
The best thing to do if you have confirmed your suspicions that your loved one is using heroin, is to see if they are willing to seek treatment. If they are, see if they are able to go to a Narconon treatment center. Narconon has the highest success rate for getting people off heroin in the country. The reason for this is because Narconon is the only program that addresses heroin’s physical side of addiction. Narconon has a seventy-six percent success rate.
If for some reason your loved one is not eligible for the Narconon program, there is other programs that can be found on the internet. Teen Challenge is another program that is very good. If you or your loved one do not always have internet access, dial 211 from your telephone it will put you in touch with the United Way which has a referral line for people seeking addiction treatment. Heroin addiction can be deadly, and your loved one needs to go to treatment.
