Different drugs manifest with slightly different symptoms of abuse, so if you have someone in your life or your home who is starting to behave differently, act very secretively, and display physical signs like mood swings and irritation or changes to their sleeping and eating habits, you might worry for them. You might wonder how to tell if someone is on heroin and how to best support them.
What is Heroin?
Heroin is an illegal opiate that is derived from the poppy plant. Individuals who use heroin get high very quickly because of the drug’s ability to cross through the blood-brain barrier. Tolerance can develop within a matter of weeks, but so can the difficult withdrawal symptoms.
Heroin is often visually identified as a white powder or a black, sticky substance. There has been an increase in heroin-related emergency department visits and overdoses in large part due to a growing opioid epidemic where individuals receive prescription pain medications and, after completing their course of treatment, find that they are addicted. Those who cannot get additional prescriptions will turn to illicit versions like heroin.
How to Tell if Someone is on Heroin
Learning how to tell if someone is on heroin can be difficult, depending on how frequently you see them. If you live with someone, you might notice cycles of behavior indicative of whether or not they are high or going through withdrawal.
Behavioral Indicators
You can learn how to tell if someone is on heroin by looking for the behavioral indicators. behavioral indicators are changes in behavior that point toward addiction.
For heroin this might include the following:
- Wearing pants and long sleeves even if it’s warm out
- Sleeping an increased amount, sometimes for what might seem like an unhealthy length, days or more at a time
- Picking at the skin
- Slurred speech
- Having bursts of hyperactivity followed by irritability or paranoia
- Regularly engaging in risky behavior while simultaneously being unable to complete regular responsibilities
Beyond behavioral indicators, you might notice physical things, especially if you spend a lot of time with that person.
Physical Indicators
The physical indicators are things that you see on their body like rapid weight loss that doesn’t have any other explanation, injection marks around the inside of the elbow, scabbing or bruising on the skin.
You might also notice that they struggle a lot with nausea and vomiting, a constant runny nose even if they don’t have allergies, dry mouth, or itching.
Cognitive Indicators
You can also learn how to tell if someone is on heroin by considering the cognitive indicators. As mentioned with behavioral indicators, someone who is struggling with an addiction to heroin will develop paranoia, and this can manifest as constantly checking that doors and windows are locked, peering out the curtains or trying to draw the curtains, and being continually suspicious whenever someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell.
Those who are struggling with addiction to heroin will also start to have problems with their concentration and their ability to make good decisions. They will also experience disorientation regularly.
Other Indicators
Then there are other indicators like a complete lack of self-control, no longer enjoying activities that they once did, having unstable moods, dealing with serious financial strain without other explanation, or getting into legal trouble.
Getting Treatment for Heroin with Sequoia Recovery
If you can tell that someone is on heroin and they are close to you, there are ways that you can get help for them. Whether you plan an intervention or continue to support them until they are ready for care, Sequoia Detox Centers will be there when the time comes to get help.
We offer a full continuum of care so those in need can start their treatment with our heroin detox program, which provides 24/7 supervision throughout the detox process. Heroin detox comes with several potential side effects and risks, which is why we offer programs with over-the-counter and prescription medications to ease the discomfort of the withdrawals.
Once that part of treatment is complete, clients can transition seamlessly into other levels of care, such as residential programs where our staff handle daily schedules, meals, and more making it possible to focus full time on recovery while living at our treatment center. For those who want to remain at home, our flexible outpatient programs can provide daily group and individual therapy, allowing clients to return home at the conclusion of each day.
Determining whether someone is on heroin can be difficult, but with the right support, you can help those you love get the care they need. At Sequoia Recovery Centers, we make it possible for our clients to enjoy a full range of care, going through each program in a step-down process during treatment.
Contact our team today by calling 1-866-824-0709.