Studies show that 9.2 million people in the United States use heroin. Therefore, it is understandable why there are so many heroin rehab centers throughout the country – including heroin rehab in Arizona. Sadly, a substantial number of lives have been lost as a result of the abuse of this specific drug as well. Aside from death, there are quite a few life-changing (and life-threatening) long-term effects of heroin that can plague the lives of its users and abusers.
Immediate Effects are Just the Beginning
When most people think of the side effects of heroin, such symptoms as breathing problems, depression, nausea, and itchy skin may come to mind. However, the alarming truth and grim reality is that these immediate effects are just the beginning. Delusions, memory loss, disorientation, respiratory failure and unexplained body aches are just the immediate, short-term effects that heroin abusers experience. The long-term effects are much more severe.
Chemical Imbalance in the Brain
With heavy and frequent heroin use, the human brain eventually loses its ability to produce the key chemicals needed to produce enjoyable feelings of pleasure. Depending on the average dosage size consumed and the frequency of usage, the chemical imbalances and resulting bran damage can vary greatly from one patient to the next.
Emotional Damage
On an emotional level, there are quite a few conditions that can be caused by an addiction to heroin. For instance, a patient who may have been emotionally stable and fun-loving before the addiction may suffer from severe depression as a result of the addiction. Studies have shown that this emotional damage could even lead to the development of suicidal tendencies.
Blood Circulation Issues
Due to the nature of injections conducted as part of most heroin addictions, this can also lead to the long-term damage of your circulatory system. Excessively repeated injections into a person’s veins can gradually cause them to swell. This swelling will quickly hinder blood from circulating properly throughout the body. Over time, without the proper treatment and recovery from this addiction at a center such as heroin rehab in Arizona, the vein wall could become permanently damaged – which could cause a permanently damaged and collapsed vein.
Other Diseases, Infections and Complications
A heroin addiction can also cause the average person to suffer from the emergence of boils on their skin and abscesses along with bacterial and/or skin infections. Due to the repeated injections, they are also exposed to such life-threatening blood-borne diseases as HIV and AIDs or even Hepatitis B/C. The addict could also suffer from various rheumatologic and arthritis complications in addition to the extreme effects of overdoses, sudden losses of consciousness and death.
The best way to prevent long-term effects from wreaking havoc is for anyone struggling with heroin usage to seek assistance from a heroin rehab in Arizona. In addition to receiving effective treatment options that can help to save and improve the quality of their lives, these programs can also help recovering addicts get to the root of their addiction origins in a supportive, healthy and sober way.
