As any of the counselors, therapists, and other professionals of Beaches Recovery can attest, heroin is highly addictive. This heroin addiction treatment center in Jacksonville FL takes in clients from all over the country. Many of these people seeking long-term recovery suffer from heroin addiction. But when they picked up their first dose of the drug and used it, none of them thought they would soon need help to quit.
How Addictive is Heroin?
Virtually every Florida heroin detox center treats clients with the same story, of only intending to use heroin once or twice. But addiction to this powerful drug quickly draws you in and takes over your life. Before you know it, you find yourself asking, “How did I get here, to heroin addiction?”
Heroin, the opioid made from morphine, is one of the most highly addictive drugs in the world today. You know this, firsthand. Or, you know someone who is suffering in addiction right now and needs help. That help comes from a quality heroin rehab center in Jacksonville FL, where recovery begins.
Heroin is so addictive that about 4.2 million Americans have used the drug, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. About one-quarter of those who use heroin eventually suffer addiction to it. When you join that 25 percent, you need treatment to stop using. Why is it so hard to quit?
Heroin Changes Your Brain, Making It Hard to Quit
What is an addiction, anyway? An addiction is your brain’s dependence on a substance for daily functioning. The drug changes your brain cells and parts of this major organ, to the point that it adapts to those changes. When you suffer addiction, these brain changes lead to a deep psychological need for your drug, to the point that you cannot control your behavior.
Heroin is notoriously easy to become addicted to, just as it is challenging to quit. At the point that your brain and body are dependent on the drug, you need help from a licensed and accredited addiction treatment center in Jacksonville FL. Without medically supervised treatment in detox, you risk an array of problems in withdrawal, even relapse leading to a deadly overdose.
Other Reasons Why Heroin Is So Hard to Quit
Besides the physical and mental effects of heroin, making it so hard for you to quit, using this opioid brings other problems. Some of those problems come from common cutting agents; things added to heroin to make it cheaper for the pusher to sell. Cutting agents increase the seller’s profits.
Some common cutting agents in heroin include baking soda, starch, sugar, or over-the-counter medications like aspirin. Others are rat poison, talcum powder, caffeine, laundry detergent, or powdered milk. If snorting, smoking or injecting heroin is not damaging enough, imagine what putting these substances into your bloodstream does to your body.
Many cutting agents build up in your arteries and cause a blockage. You can also suffer infection in your heart tissues, blockage of brain blood vessels, heart attacks, and liver damage. Even worse, you possibly suffer a multi-drug addiction without knowing it. Many drug sellers add other drugs to their heroin, to keep you addicted and coming back for more.
Fentanyl is one of the most popular drugs added to heroin to increase its addictive nature. But fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin. This hooks you quickly and reels you into buying and using more heroin. It also puts you at a significant risk for deadly overdose.
Do I need help from a heroin addiction treatment center in Jacksonville FL?
If you abuse heroin and find yourself unable to quit on your own, you need help from a heroin addiction treatment center. There is no arguing the extent of the hold this drug puts on your life, affecting you physically, mentally, socially, financially, and even legally.
Programs available to help you put heroin in your past include:
- Inpatient or residential rehab
- Medically supervised detox
- Dual diagnosis treatment
- PHP, IOP and outpatient programs
- Sober living and aftercare
- Alumni programs
It is time to stop risking your life with each injection or inhalation of heroin. Get the help you need to stop using and start building a healthier, happier life. That help takes place in a heroin addiction treatment center in Jacksonville FL at Beaches Recovery. Call a counselor at your chosen rehab today and take the right steps to save your life and start anew.
