Success Stories

More Success Stories

Withdrawal from Heroin

If users take heroin on a regular basis, their bodies will develop a tolerance to the drug. This will lead to the user needing to take more and more heroin to achieve the same "high" or "rush" because the body is becoming tolerant to the doses that they have been taking. If the user stops taking heroin, or does not increase the dose enough, then they may experience withdrawal symptoms.

The Canyon provides a heroin withdrawal treatment that helps you avoid the withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin detox both before and during your heroin addiction treatment. The Canyon's staff and therapists will help you break the cycle of heroin addiction in the quickest and least painful way possible, and give you the tools you need to stay off the drug for life.

How Heroin Withdrawal Happens

Heroin addiction, like any other, comes about when a user has taken the drug over a long period of time. Heroin addiction can come about quickly and has severe repercussions depending on how much of the drug has been taken and in what doses. The users will begin to crave the drug if they don't take it on a regular basis, and they will begin to experience withdrawal symptoms if they don't take the drug. Heroin stimulates the brain's pleasure center by mimicking the effects of the brain's natural pleasure transmitters, dopamine. Once these have been blocked through the prolonged use of heroin and a user doesn't take their heroin on a regular basis, the brain becomes imbalanced due to its dependence on the drug for stability. Thus, the users body will begin to experience other symptoms soon after the brain begins to experience withdrawal from the drug.

Heroin Withdrawal Symptoms

Heroin's withdrawal symptoms are not pleasant, and some think that they are some of the worst drug or substance related symptoms that a person can experience. They can occur both if a person stops taking heroin, or even if they reduce their doses of heroin. Most of the major symptoms surface and come to a head between two and three days after a person has stopped taking heroin, and they can continue for around a week. The symptoms can resemble the flu, and include things like:

• Goose bumps on the skin
• Extreme yawning
• Loss of appetite
• Panicked thoughts/behavior
• Chills
• Nausea/vomiting
• Stomach/muscle cramping
• Runny nose

How Heroin Detox Fights Heroin Withdrawal

If a person wants a successful recovery from heroin addiction, a detox is very important to the process. If a detox is not performed, residual heroin can stick around in the body, causing cravings to resurface and withdrawal symptoms to continue on longer than they otherwise could. Heroin detoxification's goal is to rid the body of all traces of heroin so that the withdrawal symptoms will be minimized and the user will have the best chance at a successful recovery. Detox can include a diet change, behavioral changes and the ingestion of certain drugs that help purge the body of heroin.

Heroin Rehab at The Canyon

At The Canyon, the Healing Life Program provides individuals with the best opportunity to reclaim their goals and dreams and to reawaken an authentic relationship with themselves. Using a variety of traditional and nontraditional drug treatments and therapies, patients are given the best chance possible to break their addiction and go on to lead a healthy, normal life. Call The Canyon at to get help today.