Quitting heroin on your own is exceedingly difficult. It’s safer and more effective to go to one of the detox centers for heroin. There, you work with medical professionals to relieve the signs of heroin withdrawal. Here’s what goes on at a heroin rehab and heroin detox program.
Understanding the Heroin Withdrawal Timeline
You’ll feel the first twinges of withdrawal eight to 12 hours after the last dose. Initially, there are some muscle aches. As the day progresses, the nervous system you’ve kept dormant for so long comes back online. Besides that, you’re dealing with severe muscle pains and gastrointestinal upset.
These signs of withdrawal gradually worsen. If you were at home alone, nausea and diarrhea would threaten to dehydrate you. Similarly, you’re sweating and shivering all at the same time. Withdrawal symptoms worsen for about three days.
Beginning on day four, the pain starts to subside. You now feel like you can think clearly. This is typically the time when depression worsens, however. Because heroin affects the brain’s reward center, it doesn’t produce dopamine appropriately.
Therefore, you now struggle with lessening physical pains but increasing psychological discomfort. Anyone moving along this timeline on their own is in danger of relapse. If you do so, there’s a chance that you’ll overdose. That’s because you no longer have the same tolerance for the heroin that you used to have.
Dealing with Signs of Heroin Withdrawal at a Detox Facility
In contrast, there’s much less of a risk when you decide to detox at drug detox center California trusts. You check-in before the withdrawal symptoms manifest. Therapists monitor you. There are several treatments that ease discomfort.
Examples include:
- Medication-assisted treatment that weans you off the heroin and minimizes cravings
- Pharmacological support for pain management
- IV therapy that replenishes nutrients and fluids to prevent dehydration
- Nutritional counseling as a tool for helping you embrace a healthier lifestyle after you finish treatment
- One-on-one talk therapy that focuses on plans for dealing with the psychological aspects of withdrawal
After you break the physical addiction, which takes about a week to ten days, it’s time to move to rehab. At a good-quality California substance abuse treatment program, you work on the psychological addiction. This takes between 30 and 90 days. Almost all people with heroin dependency do best in a residential setting.
This simply means that you stay at the facility for the duration of treatment. It’s a great way of getting away from stressors and triggers. As you immerse yourself in healing, you also have a lot of supervision. Therefore, you’re at a low risk of relapsing.
Evidence-Based Therapies Facilitate Healing
Detoxification prepares you for clinical care at rehab. It’s essential to move to rehab as soon as you finish detox. There, you work with therapists who’ll customize a care protocol for you. One typical need is assistance with depression.
Dopamine production slows after quitting heroin. Therapists can assist you with pharmacological support and talk therapy. Besides that, they’ll also help you with post-acute withdrawal symptoms.
In the process, they’ll help you understand why you reached for heroin in the first place. You learn how the drug hooked you and how you can prevent it from happening again. Conventional modalities include behavioral counseling, which encourages you to develop functional coping skills.
In the process, you may discover that you have unresolved trauma in your past. Therefore, you undergo trauma treatment to help with it. Similarly, you work with psychiatrists on dealing with any other underlying conditions. One by one, you disarm heroin use triggers.
Of course, before you can begin this level of treatment, you have to go to detox. Don’t put off getting the help you need. Make the call today!
