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Withdrawal Overview and Symptoms
Heroin is a highly addictive drug, although a person doesn’t become addicted after one try, like people would try to make you believe. It takes constant every day use for a week or two for a person to become addicted. You cant get addicted on your first time or after using for only a couple of days.
Once addicted, unless regular doses are given, the user will start to get withdrawal symptoms. At this point they will be willing to do almost anything to obtain the drug (although some more than others). Whilst some users will just accept the situation and suffer, others will even mug old ladies to get money for their ‘fix’. Personally I can’t understand these people, as whilst turkeying is awful it isn’t life threatening. I never liked doing it, but I would never have done the things that some people do to get money, I would rather have suffered and many times I did.
Withdrawal occurs a few hours after taking the drug, once the effect starts to wear off and the body has broken down the heroin in the blood stream. This occurs more rapidly, the more frequently the drug has been used. People who only use in the morning and at night can manage a full day without withdrawing, unless they go past the 'normal using' time. Whilst others who use every few hours, won’t be able to go for more than a few hours without starting to feel the effects of withdrawing. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains.
After the last dose, users will normally start experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms around 4-8 hours later. If no more heroin is taken the user will start to experience withdrawal symptoms, which will get worse until they peak on the third day. This is the worst day, with things slowly getting better from this day onwards. These acute symptoms are usually greatly improved by the fifth day and are largely gone by seven to ten days. But that isn't the end of it!
This acute withdrawal is followed by a "protracted abstinence syndrome" which can continue for up to 32 weeks afterwards. The symptoms that continue over this time are: restlessness; disturbed sleep pattern, blood pressure & pulse rate; dilated pupils; feeling cold; irritability; change of personality and feeling, as well as an intense craving for the drug.
Heroin and other opiate withdrawal symptoms are extremely uncomfortable and are not likely to be fatal or lead to permanent injury, but can cause death to the foetus of a pregnant addict.
The intensity of the symptoms vary directly with the dose and duration of use of the drug. (This is true for heroin but may vary somewhat with other opiates such as Methadone where the symptoms tend to come on later and last longer).
Often the hardest part of detox, is not the withdrawing itself but staying off it altogether. To remain clean, a whole change of life is required. New friends, keeping away from areas where you used to score, and finding things to relieve the boredom and time you would have spend using, are amongst the things that have to change, as well as wanting to stay clean.
This is where people who have never used, can never hope to understand. It is not so easy to just change your whole life - never seeing your friends, starting to go out all the time when your used to staying in, etc. Even things like watching the TV are totally different when your clean, nothing feels the same. This is why so many people get clean and then go back to using.
WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS (Cold Turkey)
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Last updated: 15 March 2003 |