Heroin Addiction Treatment

Heroin is a highly addictive class A drug that is categorised as an “opiate” drug, meaning it originates from poppies. It is also made from morphine. Versions of the drug have been around for centuries and it does have some useful qualities, such as curing sleeplessness and easing pain. Heroin is a diamorphine, meaning it is a strong iteration of morphine.

Because heroin has highly addictive qualities, repeated use leads to desires to continually obtain the side effects of pleasure. This initially sounds appealing but the grim reality is that heroin poses a very serious short and long term risk to your physical and psychological health. Unpleasant side effects to heroin addiction include heart and liver disease, an uncontrollable urge to itch your skin and reduced mental capacity.

Becoming addictive to heroin can lead to a chain of self-destructive events which not only cause harm to yourself but can also result in damage to relationships with those closest to you. It is vital that an addiction of this nature is treated in the earliest possible instance, and the best way to do this is to get in touch with experts who can help you to manage your addiction and walk you step by step towards a life free from addiction and its harmful impacts.

If you are concerned that you or someone you care about is in the grips of a heroin addiction, please call us now on 0151 268 6992 and speak to our understanding team. Our staff have a wealth of experience in dealing with heroin addiction and you can rely on us to provide the best possible care that is tailored to you and your specific set of circumstances. We can begin to help you straight away and get to the root of the problem as quickly as possible to maximise the chances of a successful treatment.

Heroin Addiction Treatment 

At Action Rehab, we’re dedicated to your recovery from heroin addiction. We will treat you as an individual at all times and we fully recognise that your addiction doesn’t define who you are as a person. Our goal is your long-term recovery, to allow you to put addiction behind you and allow you to move forwards to a happier life. We can promise you judgement free, caring and compassionate heroin addiction treatment. Unlike the NHS, there’s no waiting time for our services and we can begin your treatment very quickly upon admission, meaning that you can begin your treatment sooner and give yourself a higher chance of successfully navigating the treatment process.

Our heroin addiction treatment centres are modern and staffed by people who want to help you. Your treatment for heroin addiction takes 28 days and is offered via residential rehab. Your treatment programme will involve an intensive period of both individual and group therapy. This will help our medical staff to get to the root cause of your heroin addiction and the impact it has had on you and those around you, and significantly reduce the chance that this will happen again once your treatment is over.

Recognising the need to get help is essential as heroin addiction treatment will almost always require residential rehab. Heroin abuse has likely caused a huge impact on all aspects of your life both physically and mentally, and we want to help you to see a brighter future for you and your loved ones by getting to the heart of your addiction and helping you resolve all of your problems. While there are a multitude of support options available to you, both with Action Rehab and among your personal circle of family or friends, the first step to beginning your recovery process belongs to you and you only, and it is critical that you accept your addiction for what it is and allow others around you to help you move away from it. 

Causes of heroin addiction 

There’s no specific cause of heroin addiction and dependency, however studies have concluded that the most likely reasons someone will become addicted are down to genetics, environment, biology and psychology. It can be really useful to try to establish the initial cause of the addiction in each individual case to be able to identify what circumstances led to the beginning of the problems to eliminate the possibility of them happening again.

If you have family members who have been or are addicted to heroin or have a history of drug use, this can indicate that you’re more pre-disposed to developing addictions of your own when compared to people who do not have a family history of substance abuse. While this is not a direct indication that an individual is likely to become addicted to heroin, it might be worth paying slightly more attention to any potential signs or symptoms of heroin addiction as they develop in their early stages. 

This directly ties into your environment. If you have been around addiction for a long time and particularly during your childhood, substance abuse and misuse can become normalised, allowing you to try particular drugs without being fully aware of their potentially disastrous consequences. People from upbringings such as this tend to turn to drugs much easier as a form of stress relief, and while this may seem relatively harmless in its early stages, heroin is one of the most addictive substances you can find, and any level of its use should be treated with the utmost severity.

Your biology is also linked to the development of addictions. Some theories conclude that people who suffer with heroin addiction have brains that don’t produce suitable amounts of endorphins – the brain’s feel good chemical. This emphasises the notion that those with mental illnesses or those who have experienced traumatic childhoods are at greater risk of being exposed to heroin and, in turn, becoming addicted to the substance.

Heroin is often medically prescribed as a painkiller, however this can lead to heroin addiction when the individual begins to crave the effects of heroin beyond the need for it to reduce pain and goes on to become addicted altogether. The patient is very much not at fault in this scenario, but still requires help and support in order to eliminate the addiction and to completely recover from the negative effects of the substance.

Sadly, heroin addiction and mental health disorders go in hand. People who suffer from heroin addiction are often dual diagnosed with conditions and disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. People have become addicted to heroin to help mask the symptoms of these conditions, especially if they are not yet diagnosed.  

It is important to recognise that there is no shame in any case of heroin addiction, and that addiction is an illness which cannot be controlled without the appropriate treatment and support. Many instances of heroin addiction formulate when an individual is trying to offset some form of pain or suffering with the high of substance usage, however this is only a temporary fix and the long-lasting damage that can be caused by heroin use is often even worse than the original cause of the substance use in the first place. Our team are extremely experienced in dealing with addictions from a wide range of different circumstances, and we are highly successful in dealing with the difficulties that patients face both before and during treatment. We will design a personalised recovery programme to account for your own circumstances and environment, and we will help you every step of the way to ensure that you are following the process and reaping the benefits of our treatment processes.

Treatment Options for Heroin Addiction 

Your heroin rehab will begin with a detailed assessment by highly trained and qualified staff who will ask you questions about your physical and psychological wellbeing. It’s important you’re honest and answer all questions accurately so that we can get to understand you and your addiction. We’ll be able to discuss a full list of heroin addiction treatments and we’ll be able to determine what works out best for you. 

We will then commence a medically-assisted detox at a heroin addiction treatment centre. Depending on the severity of your addiction, this can take between several days and a few weeks to be completed. Close monitoring is required and our team will be on hand 24/7 to guarantee your safety, as addiction recovery is not a smooth process and the peaks and troughs of the process are likely to need to be managed on a regular basis. Detoxification is an extremely effective method of treating heroin addiction, however there can be challenges throughout the process which are completely normal, and our team are highly skilled in combatting such issues and ensuring that you remain on the path to recovery throughout.

If your body has become used to a persistent supply of heroin in its system due to your addiction, the removal of heroin will cause several deeply uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms you encounter will vary based on how long you’ve been dependent on heroin and how much you have been using and your overall health. Withdrawal symptoms are the most difficult factor to manage within a rehabilitation process, and it is important to note that these are completely normal and will require a structured substitution plan in order to minimise them.

No treatment is a guarantee of success, and detoxification will require a great amount of will-power on your part, however following these guidelines is by far the most effective way to treat a heroin addiction and will offer you a great opportunity to begin a brand new chapter of your life away from the shackles of your addiction. We will help you to manage your withdrawal symptoms as best as you can, and our methods will be tailored towards your own situation and vary depending on your current intake of heroin and how long you have been using the substance.

Secondary care 

As we intend to provide the best treatment for heroin addiction, we will provide you with comprehensive aftercare. Once you have completed your 28-day heroin addiction treatment programme, we are able to offer you a 12 month aftercare programme. This is an integral part of your treatment. Around 15% of heroin addiction patients relapse from their treatment up to five years from the completion of the process, highlighting the significance of closely monitoring the situation long after the treatment has been concluded.

To avoid a relapse, we will provide a comprehensive aftercare programme to ensure that you are still fully in control of your addiction and that the previous causes for the addiction are no longer a risk of causing you to relapse from your treatment. Unfortunately due to the nature of the illness, addiction cannot be cured but it can be managed and if this is done correctly the patient will never take the substance again in the future. No matter how long ago your treatment was completed we will be on head 24 hours a day 7 days a week to help you if you ever need any support or feel that you may be slipping into your previous ways.

Our secondary care programmes provide ongoing access to support groups, talks and advice and assistance with networking – keeping in touch with people you’ve shared your experience with through your rehab will be excellent for your ongoing recovery. Speaking to people who have experienced similar difficulties can be extremely effective for a number of different reasons, not least because you can gain advice from other patients by finding out what worked for them on their path to recovery as well as which obstacles to watch out for. It can also be a particularly liberating experience to open up about your feelings and what you have experienced, and you can share your story of recovery to help others in similar situations with their own rehabilitation process.

Effective heroin addiction treatment 

We understand that making that first call is tough and accepting you have a problem is one of the hardest parts of having an addiction. You may have suffered from a job loss or fallen into a life of crime due to ongoing financial hardship. You may have lost relationships with your friends or family. All of this is because of your heroin addiction and it can often seem like there is no way out, but you can beat addiction and with hard work and a structured treatment plan there is every chance you can restore your life to the place it was at prior to your addiction.

Help is out there and a full recovery is closer than you think. If any of the above piece resonates with you it is vital that you seek support as soon as possible in order to give yourself the best possible opportunity to treat your addiction successfully. You are not alone and our experts have years of experience in dealing with situations, many of which will be largely similar to your own.

Please call us today on 0151 268 6992 and allow us to help you. Please don’t delay – your call could save your life or that of a loved one, and the sooner you get help the sooner you can be on the road to beginning your very own recovery story, just like thousands of other heroin addiction survivors.