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Heroin Withdrawal

Withdrawal from heroin use usually sets in from a few hours to a day after the last effects of a hit wear off, though the length of time before symptoms set in can vary a great deal with the individual in question, how large their last dose was and how heavy a user they are in general. The general symptoms of heroin withdrawal include sweating, general anxiety and restlessness, as well as depression - which differs in severity from manageable to intense - malaise, cold sweats, chills, muscle cramps and spasms, priapism (a persistent, potentially health threatening erection), insomnia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea and a fever, amongst the many, many symptoms.

Heroin addicts that attempt to cease their consumption of the drug altogether and stop immediately - known as going 'cold turkey' - experience these withdrawal symptoms in a far more intense and pronounced fashion than those that pursue medical and psychological help. While it is possible for an addict to get off heroin using the cold turkey method, the severity of the symptoms they experience are likely to push the user back towards the comforting embrace of heroin, thus undoing any good work that has already been done.

This is the main reason why addicts turn to drug rehabilitation clinics to cure them of their heroin addictions - it can simply prove too difficult to get off the drug on a person's willpower alone, or simply with the help of a few friends. As well as professional medical and psychological help, clinics offer a number of medications proven to help limit or completely eradicate symptoms of withdrawal - from the long term solution of methadone, a synthetic opiate substitute that simply takes the place of heroin, to the more recent medical offerings such as buprenorphine, a drug that suppresses the user's cravings for heroin, as well as making it so only a very high dose of the drug will produce any kind of high.

These treatments, along with the few others available, help an addict to combat withdrawal symptoms and aid them on the road to recovery, pushing them away from the comfort zone they have established through heroin use.