6 Ways You Can Immediately Feel the Benefits of Heroin Addiction Treatment
Living with heroin addiction can damage just about every aspect of life. For people struggling with addiction, getting free of the drug and recovering a normal life can seem no more than a distant dream. But when you begin heroin addiction treatment with medication and recovery support, there are a number of benefits that you’ll feel right away.
1. You Won’t Have Withdrawal Symptoms
Comprehensive heroin addiction treatment includes both medication and a long list of support services to help people regain control of their lives and continue toward recovery. Medications such as methadone or Suboxone (a combination of two other drugs, buprenorphine and naloxone), when taken as prescribed, prevent the uncomfortable and potentially life-threatening symptoms of withdrawal that come from going without heroin.
2. You Won’t Feel Cravings
Using heroin “rewires” the parts of your brain that relate to pleasure, getting rewards and feeling relief from pain. The brain adapts to the drug and sends signals that cause you to crave more and more. Trying to satisfy that craving leads to the many destructive behaviors of addiction. When you start heroin addiction treatment, your medications stop those cravings, so that you aren’t distracted by them and can concentrate on taking care of the things that will support your recovery.
3. You’ll Be Safer
Using heroin is dangerous in many ways. Addiction leads to risky behaviors, including:
- Sharing needles
- Having unsafe sex
- Making dangerous deals to get more of the drug
- Overdosing, which can lead to death or permanent brain and organ damage
- Skipping healthy meals and sleep
- Neglecting personal hygiene and health issues
- Getting into accidents
- Breaking the law
Once you begin treatment, though, there’s no need for the many dangerous behaviors connected with getting and using heroin. You won’t need needles and dealers, or worry about how to pay for heroin. Because your medications reduce cravings and potential withdrawal symptoms, you won’t be on the roller coaster ride of highs and lows that come with addiction.
4. You’ll Feel Healthier
Heroin addiction damages the brain and the body. People in the grip of addiction can forget to eat, bathe or exercise, and the drug itself has powerful effects on the heart, digestive system and other organs. With medication that eliminates the need to take heroin, your body can resume normal functioning.
Because methadone and similar medications eliminate withdrawal symptoms, you’ll feel healthier and clearer headed almost immediately, and you’ll be able to make better decisions about health and nutrition.
5. You’ll Be Able To Resume a Normal Life
Medications like methadone and Suboxone work because they affect the same areas of the brain that heroin does, but in a controlled way that doesn’t trigger the intense cravings and physical dependency that heroin does. With the proper dosage, delivered consistently, you won’t feel the “high” of heroin, or any of its other effects.
That means you can drive a car or operate other machinery safely, focus on work that requires attention, and reconnect with other areas of daily life without the distractions caused by addiction.
6. You’ll Have A Supportive Community
Heroin addiction treatment programs connect you immediately with a community of people who understand addictions and can provide support. Although it can be annoying to report to a clinic every day to get methadone or other medications, that means that every day you’ll be in contact with someone who can help. Treatment programs also include peer support groups and resources for a wide range of services including:
- Housing
- Job-hunting
- Parenting support
- Legal aid
- Nutrition and health
- Family services
With the right treatment for heroin addiction, you’ll see and feel significant benefits immediately – and these changes lead to long-term recovery. Would you like to break the cycle of heroin addiction and feel better right away? We can help. Call us at 800-994-1867Who Answers? for the solutions you need today.