Heroin addiction is a deadly, terrifying epidemic. You’ve heard this on the news. It’s certainly no secret. But what are the signs of heroin addiction, so you can know if someone you love needs help?
At Serenity House Detox & Recovery Florida, we assist with heroin detox and other detox needs. Finding the right treatment center is critical, as an improper detox or detoxing at home can lead to uncomfortable, and even deadly, side-effects. At our treatment center, we can provide safe and effective detox services. To learn more about our professional heroin detox services’ benefits, reach out to Serenity House Detox & Recovery Florida today at 866.294.5306.
The American Heroin Epidemic
Signs of heroin addiction are all around us. This is because our country is suffering a heroin epidemic. Nearly one million people spend each day seeking and using this drug, in the cycle of addiction, on a one-way path to destruction. The heroin problem is a matter of life and death. This is also proven, through daily death counts from a heroin overdose. Fatal overdose deaths now outnumber car accident deaths. The epidemic, overdose death counts, and your loved one’s safety are all reasons why you need to know the signs of heroin addiction.
Signs of Heroin Addiction
Heroin leads to an instant high, once injected, snorted or smoked. When someone uses the drug, the signs begin with their high. Heroin’s high symptoms include:
- Dilated pupils, flushed skin, and dry mouth
- A runny nose and sleepy eyes
- Slowed breathing
- Needle marks on skin if they inject
- Nodding in and out of sleep
- Slurred speech
- Nausea, vomiting, and constipation
People with a heroin addiction do everything they can to hide their drug use from others at first. Once everyone around them knows they use heroin, they stop bothering with hiding the symptoms of use. At that time, they try to mask signs of addiction. This is where denial takes over, admitting drug use but not drug addiction.
Tools Used for Heroin Addiction
People use heroin by injection, smoking, or snorting. Regardless of how drug use occurs, it requires preparation. For example, to smoke heroin, you need a pipe, such as a glass pipe. Snorting requires a tube, often made of glass, metal, rolled dollar bills, or a straw. As an alternative to a tube, some people scoop heroin powder with a house or car key, then snort it from the tip of the key. Injecting heroin requires syringes, spoons, or metal bottle caps in which to heat the drug to liquid form and something to constrict blood flow while injecting. Many people use belts, bandanas, scarves, rubber tubing, or other materials to “tie off” their arm, leg, or other areas where they inject.
Risks of Heroin Addiction
Heroin addiction brings many risks along with it. For instance, some of the risks of heroin addiction include:
- Collapsed veins
- Bloodborne illnesses, such as HIV
- Bacterial blood infections
- Arthritis and other rheumatological conditions
- Clogged blood vessels
It’s critical to seek heroin detox and addiction treatment services to avoid this addiction’s long-term consequences.
Heroin Detox at Serenity House Detox & Recovery
In Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter, Florida, Serenity House Detox & Recovery provides the help you or your loved one need after heroin addiction. Serenity House Detox & Recovery offers many services as part of supervised, safe heroin or opiate detox, including:
- Individual therapy
- Group and family therapy
- Co-occurring disorders therapy
- Behavioral therapies
- Medical detox
- Men’s detox
- Women’s detox
If you or someone you love needs help for heroin addiction, that help begins at Serenity House Detox & Recovery. Call Serenity House Detox & Recovery now at 866.294.5306, or contact us at your earliest convenience and get that monkey off your back.
