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Recognizing the Signs of Heroin Use
It can be heart breaking when a loved one is doing dangerous drugs. Suspecting that they might be using heroin is stressful.
Obviously, they would be getting it illegally from the streets or directly from someone that is also using or selling. This can put their whole life in danger, and the consequences can be fatal. You need to become aware of the signs of heroin use, and help your loved one seek treatment.
Heroin is one of the most destructive drugs in the world and highly addictive. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin overdoses frequently involve a suppression of breathing, which can be fatal. Regular heroin use also changes the function of the brain. One result is tolerance, so your loved one will use more to achieve the same effect, and dependence, which produces the need to use more to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
To avoid a life-threatening situation, get to know the signs of heroin use early on. The more you know, the better the chances to intervene early, and save their life.
When someone you love is using heroin, they may exhibit some signs and symptoms that can serve as a warning to you. While users of heroin may react differently to the drug, here are the most common signs you can learn to identify:
- Their behavior changes. A loved one may become resentful.
- The pupils will become constricted.
- A loved one can start feeling depressed.
- Their diet can change. They eat poorly, and lose weight.
- They may seem disoriented.
- Start to lose interest in family activities.
- Become irresponsible at their job or at school.
- Lie about their whereabouts.
- Problems with managing money. They may be spending their money on heroin.
- Getting in trouble. If they start stealing in order to get money for heroin.
- If they shoot heroin, their body will have needle marks.
- Their appearance seems droopy.
- They may go through a cycle of being hyper, and then nod off.
- Their speech may become slurred.
- Nose is always runny. This can be from snorting the heroin.
These are some signs of heroin use that you can learn to spot. Every user may act differently to the drug depending on the amount use, and the frequency of heroin use.
There are also definitive signs you can watch out for such as paraphernalia used to prepare heroin.
If your loved one is in possession of any of the heroin related paraphernalia, they may be using it to prepare heroin to inject it, snort it or smoke it.
Here are some definitive signs to warn you:
- Small plastic bags with white powder residue.
- Needles or syringes hidden in drawers or found elsewhere.
- Pieces of aluminum foil with burn marks.
- Silver spoons found burnt.
- Razor blades
These are just some of the related paraphernalia used to prepare heroin. Any of them may indeed be a sign that a loved one is using this drug.
What If a Loved is Using Heroin?
If your suspicions have proved to be positive and your loved one is using heroin, you will need to intervene. You need to talk to them about how they are putting their life in danger, and how they are worrying and hurting their family. They need to understand how their use of heroin can turn fatal. This may be hard to do since many heroin users try to hide or lie about their drug use.
You will need to seek help 800-853-1387 for them, and do whatever is possible to help them overcome the heroin addiction. Once you have seen the signs of heroin use, immediate heroin addiction intervention should be the next step to take.
