Heroin Withdrawal

Heroin withdrawal tends to be one of the hardest narcotics to withdrawal from. Once an individual has become addicted to heroin their bodies physically need the drug to function at a "normal" level. When the user stops using heroin or even lowers the amount of heroin that they consume their bodies will suffer withdrawal from the drug. Heroin withdrawal typically begins 6 to 8 hours after the users last dose of heroin. The most severe withdrawal symptoms tend to be experienced around 48 to 72 hours after the users last dose and last for an average of a week. Heroin withdrawal symptoms are typically compared to a bad case of the flu depending on the users history of heroin use.

During heroin withdrawal the individual experiences elevations in blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and temperature. They may also experience goose bumps, watery eyes, runny nose, yawning, loss of appetite, tremors, panic, chills, nausea, muscle crams, and insomnia. Depression is also a symptom of heroin withdrawal. During withdrawal, many individuals experience such a deep and overwhelming depression that they are not able to make it through the withdrawal process. This sad fact is what leads many back to heroin and continual relapses, even though they have the full intention of ending their use.

A research study conducted by Swedish and U.S. Doctors concluded that they have found an alternative to treating heroin withdrawal with methadone. Researchers from Stockholm's Huddinge University Hospital – together with researchers from Rockefeller University Hospital in New York – say that a treatment involving the drug buprenorphine, in combination with a form of therapy called cognitive behavioral treatment, should be made available to heroin addicts. Their study concluded that approximately 75% of those receiving this therapy were opiate free a year later, whereas those receiving a placebo treatment had all gone back to using heroin and other opiates again. This method of heroin withdrawal may be a welcomed option for those attempting to quit heroin.