Heroin Addiction
One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself. Heroin addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neuro-chemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse.
In small doses Heroin can give the user a sense of warmth and wellbeing. In larger doses it gives feelings of drowsiness, relaxation and a sense of being separate from the real world. Heroin is a powerful copy of morphine, which is a barbiturate, as when Heroin enters the body, it travels to the brain and it easily attaches to the nerve endings. The brain then begins to go into a state of analgesic or a state where pain cannot be felt. These feelings are a result of the drug's opiate effect which detaches the user from pain, anxiety, and desires for food and sex. However, this numbing effect doesn't last long and after just a couple of hours the high is followed by a crash and a craving for more.
Heroin use has both short-term and long-term effects. Whether injected, snorted or smoked, heroin will begin to affect the body's central nervous system almost immediately after it is used. Because Heroin suppresses the central nervous system, the user experiences "cloudy" mental function. Users will begin to breathe at a slower rate and their breathing can reach a point of respiratory failure. After repeated use users develop a physical and psychological dependence and as they learn to tolerate heroin their body craves more to achieve the original intensity and effect.
The effect of Heroin is essentially the same regardless of how you take it. When injected, it reaches the brain in seven to eight seconds. The peak experience through snorting or smoking can take up to 15 minutes. Obviously the most serious effect is overdose which can result in death. Overdosing is common after the first-time user returns to heroin or the heroin is far purer than their normal score.
Chronic Heroin users who inject the dug may develop collapsed veins because they have injected too often, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulites and liver disease. In addition to the effects of Heroin itself, street Heroin may have additives that do not dissolve in the blood stream which can result in the blood vessels leading to the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain becoming clogged up. This in turn can lead to life-threatening infections.
Heroin withdrawal symptoms can occur within hours. Symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, vomiting and cold spells with goose pimples (cold turkey). Major symptoms occur between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose and usually subside after about ten days. But some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months.
The most serious health effect of Heroin use is the possibility of death due to accidental overdose. Because Heroin is an illegal drug and can be handled and cut (mixed with other ingredients) by various suppliers before it reaches street-level users, those who use the drug never know how potent or pure the Heroin they are using is until they use it. Heroin is often mixed with sugar, starch, quinine, and sometimes, strychnine or other poisons, adding other potential dangers. Because of the unknown strength and actual contents of the Heroin they are taking, users are at a great risk of overdose and death.
As with abusers of any illegal drug, Heroin abusers gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the Heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains. Repeated and chronic Heroin users will begin to experience the long-term effects of the drug, which can include: Infection of the heart lining and valves, liver disease, kidney disease and pulmonary (lung related) complications.
Symptoms of Heroin withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhoea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), and leg movements. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of Heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. Heroin withdrawal is never fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it can cause death to the foetus of a pregnant addict, there are many more problems associated with pregnant users, such as premature delivery, or stillbirth of pregnancies, if the child were to survive there is a chance that it would be born addicted, or there is also a greater risk of sudden Infant death syndrome (cot death).
Click here for further details of withdrawal from Heroin.
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