Heroin addiction recovery is not something any of us who have lived the sheltered life could ever understand. Chained to a demon that screams at us all day long every day without pause and reminds us how hopelessly worthless we are without him might be some small way of trying to describe what being addicted to dope, smack, dog food, or the all time winner, Dr. Feelgood is actually like. From its humble beginnings as juice found in a flower to juice that absolutely and without question has wrecked tens of thousands of lives and might be one of the main reasons for the ruination of urban America, heroin is the demon that breaks lives and careers and families into little pieces. The beaches of American life are littered with the bones of countless men and women of all races who found that dog food should have been left to the dogs who sold it. When it rolls off the tongue, heroin addiction recovery sounds like getting over a bad sore throat or getting out of a leg cast, but this black hole is darker and deeper than many tough experiences most of us have faced.
As with most addictions, the addict doesn't have a chance for a normal life until he or she faces cold hard reality: I will probably die unless something changes. When the money for a fix runs out and when life then dips to street level where stealing or strong arming becomes the only way to make money for a "score," something will have to give. Those on heroin who have no income possibilities lose all moral compasses and getting the next fix is the single great devotion of life. Parents and children and relatives and friends and strangers are all blended together into one great soup of potential money providers and family means nothing anymore, only the money for a heroin fix. And until the addict is tired of this life of using people and lying to them and deceiving them the demon will continue screaming and heroin addiction recovery treatment success is not possible.
Heroin addiction recovery treatment, once an addict has faced reality, will probably begin in a hospital setting or if the addict is monied perhaps in a private recovery center. The withdrawal symptoms of such an addiction are storied from movies that show often very violent withdrawal reactions from "Dr. Feelgood." Most of these depictions are not exaggerated. But the amount of the withdrawal is based on how much "smack" the user has been consuming. Some medical estimates place the percentage of actual physical dependence of addicts on the street at about 60%. This means that some people who choose to be clean may not have the intense withdrawal that other heavier users will face.
For the heavy user and stone cold addict, the seventy two hours of physical withdrawal from heroin can only be described as a nightmare. The craving for the drug can only be described as excruciating during withdrawal and include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, cold flashes, vomiting, diarrhea and insomnia. Many addicts have gone through withdrawal on their own but the intervention of the medical community for heroin addiction recovery treatment can make those long hours a little more bearable. Heroin withdrawal by heavily dependent users is sometimes fatal if the patient is in poor health, but in terms of danger, withdrawal from Dr. Feelgood is actually less dangerous than withdrawal from alcohol or barbiturates. So if a person must go through this withdrawal without medical help, here are some suggestions: drink a great deal of water to help flush out toxins and listen to music. Physical activity such as walking can help during the withdrawal stages and take as many warm baths or showers as one needs to help with the aches and pains that will occur during the withdrawal period.
But getting sober and getting well is really not the same thing. Many addicts mistake the two. This is when the really difficult road begins for the heroin addict and when the treatment process really begins. One might be able to make the withdrawal alone, but the addiction cannot be kicked without professional help. Some of the most highly acclaimed experts suggest that a 12-step program be part of the heroin addiction recovery treatment program. A twelve step program has been around for many decades and has not been found to be deficient in its ability to help give support, confrontation and honest assessment to struggling addicts of many kinds. The 12-step approach is used for alcohol, eating, drug and sex and gambling addictions.
But 12 steps is not enough for heroin addiction recovery treatment because while the group approach that uses 12 step will be quite helpful for accountability and support, there are specific insights that an addict needs that only can come from one on one counseling. Psychotherapy featuring cognitive-behavioral counseling is also needed for the drug addict's heroin addiction recovery treatment to be successful. This counseling approach is structured in a way to help the client understand that other people and circumstances do not cause someone to think a certain way. It is an attempt by the trained counselor to help the client take responsibility for his or her own behaviors and not blame them on someone or something else. While it is often easy for the addict or any of us to blame circumstances or people for our behavior, God blames our own sinful nature for our choices. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
As with most addictions, the addict doesn't have a chance for a normal life until he or she faces cold hard reality: I will probably die unless something changes. When the money for a fix runs out and when life then dips to street level where stealing or strong arming becomes the only way to make money for a "score," something will have to give. Those on heroin who have no income possibilities lose all moral compasses and getting the next fix is the single great devotion of life. Parents and children and relatives and friends and strangers are all blended together into one great soup of potential money providers and family means nothing anymore, only the money for a heroin fix. And until the addict is tired of this life of using people and lying to them and deceiving them the demon will continue screaming and heroin addiction recovery treatment success is not possible.
Heroin addiction recovery treatment, once an addict has faced reality, will probably begin in a hospital setting or if the addict is monied perhaps in a private recovery center. The withdrawal symptoms of such an addiction are storied from movies that show often very violent withdrawal reactions from "Dr. Feelgood." Most of these depictions are not exaggerated. But the amount of the withdrawal is based on how much "smack" the user has been consuming. Some medical estimates place the percentage of actual physical dependence of addicts on the street at about 60%. This means that some people who choose to be clean may not have the intense withdrawal that other heavier users will face.
For the heavy user and stone cold addict, the seventy two hours of physical withdrawal from heroin can only be described as a nightmare. The craving for the drug can only be described as excruciating during withdrawal and include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, cold flashes, vomiting, diarrhea and insomnia. Many addicts have gone through withdrawal on their own but the intervention of the medical community for heroin addiction recovery treatment can make those long hours a little more bearable. Heroin withdrawal by heavily dependent users is sometimes fatal if the patient is in poor health, but in terms of danger, withdrawal from Dr. Feelgood is actually less dangerous than withdrawal from alcohol or barbiturates. So if a person must go through this withdrawal without medical help, here are some suggestions: drink a great deal of water to help flush out toxins and listen to music. Physical activity such as walking can help during the withdrawal stages and take as many warm baths or showers as one needs to help with the aches and pains that will occur during the withdrawal period.
But getting sober and getting well is really not the same thing. Many addicts mistake the two. This is when the really difficult road begins for the heroin addict and when the treatment process really begins. One might be able to make the withdrawal alone, but the addiction cannot be kicked without professional help. Some of the most highly acclaimed experts suggest that a 12-step program be part of the heroin addiction recovery treatment program. A twelve step program has been around for many decades and has not been found to be deficient in its ability to help give support, confrontation and honest assessment to struggling addicts of many kinds. The 12-step approach is used for alcohol, eating, drug and sex and gambling addictions.
But 12 steps is not enough for heroin addiction recovery treatment because while the group approach that uses 12 step will be quite helpful for accountability and support, there are specific insights that an addict needs that only can come from one on one counseling. Psychotherapy featuring cognitive-behavioral counseling is also needed for the drug addict's heroin addiction recovery treatment to be successful. This counseling approach is structured in a way to help the client understand that other people and circumstances do not cause someone to think a certain way. It is an attempt by the trained counselor to help the client take responsibility for his or her own behaviors and not blame them on someone or something else. While it is often easy for the addict or any of us to blame circumstances or people for our behavior, God blames our own sinful nature for our choices. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
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