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Friday, September 11, 2009

Breaking Heroin Addiction By Shane Dayton

While every addict to every addiction can feel shamed from receiving help, breaking an addiction to heroin is not a path to go alone as it is not an easy road. Multi-pronged treatments including support from family and friends, medications, life-style changes and in treatment detoxification centers are some of the many tools available to breaking heroin addiction.

Heroin is a very powerful drug derived from morphine, a natural compound found in certain species of poppy plants. Heroin affects the brain chemistry by driving out and replacing the neurotransmitter endorphin. Because of this addicts can build an intense physical and psychological need for the drug. As such, jail or prison has little to offer an addict trying to free themselves, and will power and family support aren't always enough to permanently break the addiction cycle.

Certain medications have been developed to reverse the physical dependency of heroine. Though methadone has been the bread and butter of medication treatments, the newest on the market is called buprenorphine. Short term substances have shown it to be less addicting than methadone especially when used in conjunction with other forms of therapy.

Treatment centers utilize multiple treatment options to overcoming heroin and other addictions, and they boast teams of physicians and therapists working together. Their first goal is detoxification, eliminating heroin from the body. Symptoms include muscle ache, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. The second goal is to utilize medications to restore a more natural brain chemistry to make the third goal more effective. The third goal involves rebuilding an addicts self esteem, helping them commit to lifestyle changes, develop a negative response to narcotics, and return to active and productive lives permanently drug free.

So for those burdened by an addiction to heroin, or for a family member or friend watching a loved one suffer please take heart. As knowledge of the science of drug addictions grows, so do the number of successes of those breaking a heroin addiction.

If you would like to learn more about breaking heroin addiction, please feel free to visit my page made to answer a request on the heroin use and HIV connection.

Thanks for Reading.

Shane Dayton

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