Heroin Addiction - Chasing the Monkey

Heroin addiction is one of the most common addiction problems in the United States. Heroin addiction affects children and adults, men and women, across all social and racial classes. While the number of people suffering from a lifetime of heroin addiction has decreased, thousands of people – 166,000 in 2003 alone - still suffer from heroin addiction in the United States.

Heroin addiction is supported by people looking for an escape from reality. Over time, a person suffering from a heroin addiction will develop a tolerance to heroine and will, therefore, need to take more heroin in order to get high.

A person suffering from heroin addiction will often suffer from withdrawal symptoms within hours after injecting heroine. This causes the person suffering from heroin addiction to seek another hit to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms.

When going through withdrawal, a person suffering from heroin addiction begins to feel restless and has intense cravings for heroine. A person suffering from heroin addiction will also feel bone and muscle pain, cold flashes, diarrhea, vomiting and insomnia when going through withdrawals.

Withdrawal for a person suffering from a heroin addiction can also result in watery eyes, runny nose, loss of appetite and tremors. More severely, withdrawal for a person with a heroin addiction can cause shallow breathing, convulsions and coma.

Withdrawal symptoms for a person suffering from heroin addiction usually reach their worst point between 48-72 hours after the last injection. The withdrawal symptoms then begin to lessen after approximately one week. Sudden withdrawal by a person heavily involved in heroin addiction can cause death for a person in poor health.

Heroin addiction can cause feelings of depression that can last for several weeks. Heroin addiction results in a vicious cycle in which the person suffering from the heroin addiction attempts to stop using heroine, but then uses it again to alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal. These symptoms can cause the person suffering fro heroin addiction to do anything to get another hit, from stealing, to lying to even murder.

A person suffering from heroin addiction can’t overcome the addiction alone. He needs help for the intense withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin addiction and should seek professional assistance in overcoming heroin addiction.