Heroin Addiction

Heroin the addictive drug is derived from morphine. Morphine is obtained from opium poppy. Morphine and therefore heroin, is a depressant which affects the brains pleasure centre and interferes with the pain creating functionality of the brain. For this reason, morphine is used in hospitals as a high end pain killer.

The regular use of heroin results into a tolerance build up in the body. That means; to achieve the same effect, one must use more of the drug. The same dosage cannot always yield the same desired results. The use of higher doses leads to a dependence on the drug. This means addiction.

With a dependence on heroin, the normal body functioning is not possible without the drug. This is due to the withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin.

Withdrawal symptoms start as early as 5-6 hours since the last intake. They peak between 48 - 72 hours since the last intake. After the peak, they may last for another 4 days. That means that it takes the body at least a week to deal with heroin withdrawal symptoms. For much of that time the addict is incapable of engaging in any serious activity. They are very vulnerable to take another dose of the drug.

Heroin withdrawal has another drawback. In that sudden withdrawal of a heavy user may be fatal. Most literature does not consider this to be a serious issue since heavy heroin addicts are not likely to self rehabilitate. However, addiction specialists are well aware of this consequence.

Heroin addiction carries many short term symptoms, like dilated pupils, watery eyes, runny noses, excessive yawning, loss of appetite, panic, tremors, chills, nausea, insomnia, and many others.

A common short to medium term symptom of heroin is prolonged depression feelings. The feelings may wane from time to time, but when they kick in they last days. As a result, the consequences of intense depression feelings are applicable to heroin addicts.

Heroin addiction does have long term effects. Some of these are due to the risks that addicts get exposed to while trying to quench their habit. For example; HIV/AIDS and bacterial infections. Other long term effects are; collapsed veins, abscesses, arthritis and heart disease.

Heroin addiction is a heavy burden on the addict. It is a habit that is almost impossible to kick by self rehabilitation. As a result, addicts must always seek professional help for any chance of kicking the habit.