Heroin Addiction Treatment in Orange County, CA

Heroin is listed as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act and is considered one of the most addictive and dangerous illegal drugs. It is an opiate, made from morphine and originated from poppy seeds. There is some confusion between morphine, which is still a common treatment for people who are in severe pain, and heroin, which is a much stronger version of morphine; medically known as Diamorphine.

Heroin is so highly addictive because the body quickly builds a tolerance to the drug, meaning that a person will need to increase the dosage and frequency of use to feel the same high they felt when they began using; sometimes known as “chasing the dragon”.

Despite being an illegal and extremely addictive drug heroin use and addiction affects over 10 million people. Those that use heroin are often aware of the negative social, physical, and psychological effects of the drug, but continue to use the drug despite the negative effects. Frequent users will encounter financial issues, experience an inability to get or hold a job or to develop and maintain relationships or interests.

Once heroin is ingested the drug enters the brain and the depressant chemicals elicit feelings of euphoria and relaxation in the user. Heroin masks the ability to feel pain and produces a feeling of detachment and numbness. For those who have experienced traumatic events, this can be used as a form of escape.

Symptoms of heroin addiction include constricted pupils, mental preoccupation, and shallow breathing. Paraphernalia such as burned foil, spoons, and a change in mood and behavior can also be strong indicators that a person is suffering from heroin addiction.

It becomes much more difficult to stop using heroin as tolerance builds and usage increases. Increased use introduces several obvious physical signs of heroin addiction, such as extreme weight loss, abscesses, bruises, and infections where needles have entered the skin. Due to the rapid weight loss, women can stop menstruating which can permanently affect fertility.

When heroin use has progressed from dependence to addiction users end up needing the drug to perform even the most basic tasks or think clearly and rationally. It can feel impossible to consider stopping the use of heroin due to the extreme withdrawal effects. It is extremely important to seek help and support from medical and addiction professionals when beginning the rehabilitation process. Without appropriate medical assistance, withdrawal can lead to lethal complications.

There is no fixed cause for becoming addicted to heroin. However, there are risk factors that may increase the likelihood of heroin addiction:

• History of addiction in your immediate family.
• A neurological disorder that inhibits the natural production of endorphins.
• Proximity to and familiarity with a person doing heroin.
• Pre-existing or co-existing mental health conditions.

The most obvious signal that someone is struggling with heroin addiction is noticing paraphernalia, or evidence of drug use to smoke, inject or snort heroin. Signs of this include:

• Unexplained needles or syringes
• Metal spoons with evidence of being burnt
• Shoes missing shoelaces, or drawstrings missing from hoodies or tracksuit bottoms (used as a makeshift tourniquet)
• Plastic bags, or similar with white powder residue
• Burnt foil or gum wrappers

The person you care about may certainly be putting a great deal of effort to hide their drug use or the extent of their use. Changes in behavior can be as evident as the appearance of the paraphernalia of heroin addiction, such as:

• Being unwilling to disclose, or being dishonest about their whereabouts or reasons for needing or not having money.
• Appearing withdrawn, unmotivated or apathetic.
• Spending more time alone, or needing more sleep than what was previously considered normal.
• Neglecting personal hygiene or usual appearance.
• Distancing themselves from social events, family, and friends.
• Wearing clothes that do not match the weather; for example, long-sleeved t-shirts on hot days, to cover scars or marks from injections, or skin irritations.
• The suddenly reduced motivation for work, impaired performance, or loss of employment.
• Lower self-esteem than usual, evidence of self-deprecation.
• Committing crime for monetary purposes, or stealing money from loved ones.

The most common way to use heroin is to inject it intravenously, however, it can also be smoked, snorted, or inhaled. All of these methods send the drug into the bloodstream and brain almost immediately. Once the drug reaches the brain it is chemically changed to morphine and binds to opioid receptors. These receptors are those that identify pain in the body and others that are necessary to live.

In order to maintain the same high that may have been experienced at the primary stages of drug use, usage is often increased in volume and in frequency. Subsequently, dependence and addiction develop quickly and lead to negative physical and psychological conditions and even fatal overdose.

Persistent and prolonged heroin use can lead to addiction, along with a variety of serious health issues and conditions. The risk of HIV or Hepatitis B or C is largely increased by sharing needles or any other kind of apparatus that may leave traces of blood. Long-term users of heroin may endure chronic constipation along with other digestive issues, diseases of the kidneys or liver, or infection of the heart lining or valve.

If drug use has begun to take priority over basic survival needs, such as nutrition, there is often a dramatic weight loss that can lead to malnutrition, leading to further health complications. Those that choose to smoke heroin are at risk of respiration complications, chest infections, and congested lungs.

The pain relief appeal of heroin or the suppression of negative emotions along with a gripping fear of withdrawal symptoms can result in a person feeling trapped and helpless in their addiction. In some cases withdrawal symptoms begin to take effect in as soon as a few hours since the last use, thereby tightening the vicious cycle of addiction.

With the severity of the physical symptoms associated with heroin withdrawal, it is extremely dangerous to attempt rehabilitation at home. Medical professionals agree that heroin rehab should always be done under proper supervision, where health and safety can be closely monitored. At Cornerstone of Southern California, we provide a free initial assessment to help you understand the treatment options available. During this assessment, our recovery specialists explain how we support you throughout the rehabilitation process with medical oversight, counseling, and continuous care.

The physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms of heroin are often what trap individuals in long-term use. While some discomfort is a natural part of rehabilitation, at Cornerstone our personalized treatment programs and supportive environment can greatly reduce the severity of these symptoms. With professional guidance from our medical team and addiction counselors, along with your strength and determination, achieving a life free from heroin is possible.

While inpatient rehab treatment from heroin is important and often life-saving, rehab alone is rarely enough to maintain long-term recovery from an opioid addiction.  In our experience, addiction is a symptom of an underlying issue. The cause can often only be discovered within a therapeutic setting. Frequently those with a substance addiction have underlying mental health problems that contribute to the addiction. Our treatment facility offers various forms of addiction therapy and counseling, all designed to help you develop the tools to sustain a life in recovery while addressing the underlying issues that caused your addiction. We know that recovery cannot be achieved alone; at Cornerstone, we have a strong recovery community, and throughout the early stages of your recovery, you will be alongside other people who are all at different stages in their own recovery, there to offer friendly support and advice.

Once inpatient rehab from heroin addiction is completed its important to maintain ongoing addiction counseling, group support, and individual therapy to support long-term sobriety. A sense of clarity will have returned and we encourage you to embark on the next stage of your recovery journey. At Cornerstone, we pride ourselves on providing a treatment center that empowers you to address the underlying causes of your addiction. Our Heroin addiction treatment program in Orange County consists of a wide range of therapeutic groups alongside individual therapy. We encourage yoga, meditation, and music therapy among others. We place great emphasis on having fun in recovery, outings to the beach are regular; bowling and miniature golf are just some of the activities we do as a group (depending on the weather of course).

We offer family therapy at no extra cost and believe that the healing of the family unit is as important as healing the individual.

Transportation is provided five nights a week to and from 12-step meetings. This is encouraged because we believe that by developing clean connections, a person is better equipped to face life in recovery.

Cornerstone is proud to offer ongoing aftercare because we have noticed that all too often, clients are left to their own devices once treatment has ended. We believe in the continuation of care, the building of a recovery community, and that by fostering this, long-term abstinence is more than achievable.

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