Heroin Addiction Treatment: Heroin Addiction Treatment Success Rates, Types of Treatment, and Statistics.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that around 4.2 million people over the age of twelve have experimented with heroin at some point during their lifetimes. Around one-fourth of people who try heroin develop a crippling addiction to the substance, and there are around 900,000 chronic heroin users in the United States. Heroin is a difficult drug to overcome, but heroin addiction treatment is the first step towards recovery. Several types of treatments can be undertaken to successfully overcome a heroin habit, although heroin addiction treatment success rates vary widely by treatment center or clinic.
What Is Heroine?
Heroin, informally known as smack, horse, H, and black tar, is a sticky brown, black, or white powder that is made from morphine, a substance found naturally in the Asian poppy plant. Heroin users mix the substance with water and inject it into their bodies with a syringe. Heroin can also be snorted up the nose or smoked in a pipe. No matter which route is used to get it into the body, the substance is very addictive.
Why Is Heroin Addictive?
To understand heroin addiction treatment, it is important to understand how heroin affects the brain. When heroin enters the brain, it devolves from its current state back into morphine. Morphine binds to the receptors in the brain that are involved in the perception of pain and reward—opioid receptors. This action causes a sense of euphoria to engulf the user. When the drug wears off, the feeling goes away. It is this longing for the euphoric state induced by heroin that makes it so addictive. This state is described by addicts as a feeling of happiness and well-being. When the body adapts to the presence of the drug, the user will experience symptoms of withdrawal until more of the drug is used.
Heroin Dependence
Many users don’t realize that they have a problem with heroin dependence until they go into withdrawal. Withdrawal from heroin can include bone pain, muscle pain, restlessness, cold flashes, vomiting, and diarrhea. When no heroin is available, users will have severe cravings for it accompanied by symptoms of withdrawal. If you develop an uncontrollable desire for the drug, find it hard to stop using heroin, or continue to use it even though it is causes harm, you may suffer from addiction.
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Medication-Assisted Treatment
Most heroin addicts realize that they cannot kick the habit on their own, because addiction to opioids is a disease in much the same way diabetes is a disease. Several heroin addiction treatment options can help the heroin addict return to a healthy, normal life. These medications are not used on their own to overcome addiction but are offered in conjunction with counseling and a support network of friends or family when possible. Medications can be given as an inpatient or outpatient treatment, and the type of program that is used can have a big impact on completion and success. When it comes to heroin addiction treatment success rates, as part of an outpatient treatment, medication therapy has a 35 percent completion rate, while the completion rate for a residential program was as high as 65 percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Buprenorphine Treatment
Buprenorphine, which is sometimes referred to by its brand names, including Subutex, Zubsolv, or Probuphine, is a popular type of medication that is used to treat heroin addiction. While this medication does not make the user feel high, it tricks the brain into thinking that it is receiving heroin. This keeps symptoms of withdrawal away while reducing cravings for the drug. Another similar medication is Suboxone, which contains not only buprenorphine but also naloxone. Naloxone is an ingredient that will cause symptoms of withdrawal once the drug is injected into the system. This drug is usually taken once daily, or even every other day.
Methadone Treatment
Methadone, also known as Dolophine or Methadose, is a long-acting opioid-agonist medication that is taken orally to dampen the high normally felt by heroin users, because it reaches the brain slowly. Methodone clinics dispense daily doses of the drug to participants. This is an effective medication for managing and overcoming heroin addiction and is often recommended for patients who cannot tolerate other medication-based treatments. Research has shown that this type of medication-assisted treatment for heroin addiction is more effective when combined with a group or individual counseling plan.
Naltrexone
Naltrexone, also known as Revia or Depade, is an opioid antagonist that is sometimes preferred over other medication options because it is not addictive and does not act as a sedative or cause physical dependence. Naltrexone is also used for patients who are unable to tolerate an agonist program.
Proven Results with Medication-Based Therapy
In a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published in the “New England Journal of Medicine,” it was shown that each of these medication-assisted therapies were effective, at least to some extent, in countering heroin use. There was little difference in the treatment outcomes of those taking high-dose methadone or burprenorphine, with heroin addiction treatment success rates ranging from 72.7 percent for those in the methadone group to 20 percent for those patients on a low-dose of methadone. Those taking burprenorphine and high-dose methadone saw nearly the same outcomes. Overall among all groups, the rate of heroin use decreased by around 90 percent after treatment was started.
Which Heroin Addiction Treatment Works Best?
An addiction counselor or your doctor can be instrumental in helping you determine which heroin addiction treatment option is the best for you and your particular situation. Regardless of which option you choose, statistics show that overcoming heroin addiction is easier when the condition is approached as a chronic disease and treated with both medication and counseling. Having a good support system in place during heroin addiction treatment is also important, including support from family and friends who understand what you’re going through.
For more statistics on substance abuse you can read 11 Drug & Alcohol Substance Abuse Statistics
the real truth is very grim. They need to start telling the real truth before people take one dose. Basically if you get addicted and then your treated and then you use again. You are dead.
I
Suboxone is a temporary fix for the heroine user, and methadone is as addictive as the drug itself. For the addict, the only sure way to stay clean of Heroine, is to give your life to Jesus Christ, and submerse yourself in his love and follow as closely as humanly possible.
ACK !. I didn’t intend for that post to get on facebook. Ugh! It is however how I feel.
I had to go into a “shooting gallery” on the east side to retreve a 5′ 4″ 120 lb, gorgeous blonde. She made money to supply a bunch of the dopes. A week later she was back, a month after that she was dead at 24 years old.
Thank you so much for writing this. I am an ex heroin addict. I am currently on methadone and it is working. I do know that it is hard to kick but I am going to take it slow .
Why has the governmentintriduced something so deadly to poor people.. WHY,WHY,WHY
Im a recovering heroin addict ive been sober for over a year now. No drinks no drugs i even quit smoking. I lived in a sober living house for seven months. There are 50 residents total and people wait months to get in so it was always full. In those seven months i witnessed over one hundred people relapse and leave. It all depends on the user. If you have had enough pain and truly want to stay sober you will. Maybe 1 person in a 1000 can quit without some sort of treatment. If you think just detox will keep you clean your so wrong. Addiction is a disease that centers in your mind. Its your thinking process thats screwed up. As you became addicted to heroin your body and mind reprogramed itself. It turned the want for heroin into a need. Your body and mind crave and obsesse over it as if its in survival mode. Its like trying to quit drinking water or eating food. This is why you will see addicts choose drugs over food with their last bit of money in their pockets. Its not something you can just turn off. Every addict needs atleast 6 months to a year of intense treatment if they stand a chance. Good luck. God bless
The only way to fix this problem, is to shoot every drug dealer. America need 100,000 vigilantes willing to rid this country of this plague.
Yes I was asking if there was a known statistic for heroin addicts successfully kicking heroin Without any kind of treatment? And yes if there is a sttistic for heroin addicts successfully kicking heroin with treatment. But mostly I want to know if there are heroin addicts who quit heroin without the help of treatment?
This is a sad obsession. Both my children, 25 year old son and 30 year old daughter, both afflicted. I raised my children in a 12 step program, me starting Alanon in 1993. I had a brother, die a sister who’s addicted, and my ex husband, the kids dad, never has gotten sober. I thoroughly believe it’s a spiritual disease. Last weekend, a family friend, his 21 year old died from heroin. They tell me the only thing I can do is to pray. Based upon results, nothing that I have done to help, has helped. This is their path. They must decide if they want to get out. My heart aches, and it breaks, but it is what it is. My Creator has His hand on this.