Fighting an addiction is the most traumatizing experience anyone can go through. The withdrawal symptoms are not anything you would wish on your worst enemy. You go through phases of shivers, anxiety, nausea, insomnia…the whole shebang. Do not forget the feelings of hopelessness and failure.

There is hope in the form of heroin withdrawal medications that can help you cope with the physical withdrawal symptoms. Heroin is a very strong drug and getting hooked on it is pretty easy. Trying to get off dependency takes time as you will be tempted to use the drug to alleviate withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms are divided into two groups.There are initial withdrawal symptoms which can hit within 12 hours after last use, and others that kick in later. The initial withdrawal symptoms include:

ü  A constantly runny nose

ü  Getting agitated

ü  Profuse sweating

ü  Aching muscles

ü  Insomnia

ü  Anxiety

After prolonged periods without use, other symptoms set in. These include:

ü  Nausea and vomiting

ü  Abdominal pains

ü  Chills

ü  Diarrhea

ü  Dilated pupils

These symptoms can oftentimes be life-threatening and may require medication to ease them.

Treatment

Treatment varies from person to person. No two people ever react the same way to any situations and drugs are no exception. This means that every addict who is seeking to recover should be evaluated first before any drugs are administered.

Detox

If medication is recommended, it should begin at the initial stage of treatment when the physical effects are easier to control. Detoxification is not treatment. It is only the beginning; a sort of preparation to get the body ready for treatment.

The professionals evaluate the addicted person during the detox process to ascertain whether there is any need for medication. Medication is used for:

ü  Minimizing withdrawal symptoms

ü  Alleviating cravings

ü  Establishinglong-term sobriety

ü  Treating accompanying conditions like anxiety and depression

Recommended medications

Methadone

It is basically a pain medication used to treat mild to severe pain. When anaddict gets off heroin, they are put on methadone and as time goes by, the dosage is lowered until the patient no longer needs drugs.

Naltrexone

It blocks heroin’s ability to affect the receptors in the brain. It prevents relapse, but its effect on withdrawal symptoms is minimal. It can be in pill or injection form.

Buprenorphine

This one is what one would consider a form of ‘replacement’ for heroin. It triggers the same reactions in the brain that heroin would. It alleviates or even completely gets rid of withdrawal symptoms because the brain figures that it has had its fix.

Clonidine

This is used to treat high blood pressure but is effective in the treatment of opiate withdrawal symptoms. It acts as a sedative and radically brings down many of the aforementioned withdrawal symptoms.

The road to a completely heroin-free life is not easy, but it is possible with a strong desire to beat addiction and the help of heroin withdrawal medications, which alleviate the terrible withdrawal symptoms and set you on the path to a drug-free life.