Risks of Quitting Heroin Cold Turkey

By Web Dev | October 12, 2021 |

If you or a loved one has become addicted to heroin and expresses a desire to stop, quitting heroin cold turkey may seem appealing. This is because doing a detox at home and quitting cold turkey may look easy on the surface. While your goal of beginning recovery is commendable, there are significant dangers to quitting heroin cold turkey.

Before attempting to detox at home, reach out to the medical professionals at Alina Lodge online or call 833.685.1700 today to discuss how our heroin addiction treatment can help you begin a safe journey toward a life free from addiction.

Why Is Quitting Heroin Cold Turkey Difficult?

Detox at home may seem like a quick and easy way to achieve a noble pursuit of stopping heroin from continuing to destroy your family life, friendships, and your career and doing so far from the perceived judgments of others. Unfortunately, quitting heroin cold turkey could bring about extreme withdrawal symptoms. When doing this alone, without the constant, round-the-clock care of compassionate medical professionals like the team at Alina Lodge, you are at a greater risk of relapsing and suffering an overdose. Some of the withdrawal symptoms you may experience shortly after quitting heroin cold turkey include:

  • Muscle pain and spasms
  • Excessive sweating
  • Abdominal pain
  • Irregular heart rate
  • Increased sensitivity to pain
  • Restlessness
  • Mood changes
  • Dilated pupils
  • Intense craving for more heroin

Your specific withdrawal symptoms may range from mild to severe, depending on the severity of your heroin addiction. When a person has a substance use disorder, drugs and alcohol have become an integral part of how their body functions daily and what their body and mind need to function as “normal.” Therefore, as all of the traces of those drugs are removed after quitting heroin cold turkey, your body and your mind will have to struggle to adjust to this new life, this new normal, this healthier life that does not involve or need the drugs.

This is the natural first step in any recovery from drug use but going it alone, with detox at home and without supervision, can be dangerous. This is not only because the cravings may be too strong to ignore, but because the physical toll quitting heroin takes could negatively impact your body and mind long term.

Additional Dangers of Quitting Cold Turkey

In addition to the common detox withdrawal symptoms, quitting heroin cold turkey and stopping drug use abruptly and without medical care can also include dangerous side effects, including:

  • Dramatic blood pressure changes
  • Tremors
  • Seizures
  • Delusions
  • Hallucinations
  • Coma

There’s already a high relapse rate for people who are trying to kick their heroin addiction. Detox at home, without the supervision, therapy, assistance, available medications to ease the pain of withdrawal, or the around-the-clock support of a skilled and trained team only intensifies the risk of a harmful relapse.

Withdrawal symptoms while quitting heroin cold turkey can be so intense that your mind will attempt to convince you that it is better to use drugs again if only to make them go away and feel less pain. A relapse can be extremely dangerous and even life-threatening. There is no need to go at this alone. You are ready to begin recovery, and our Alina Lodge team is ready to help.

Face Your Heroin Addiction Safely at Alina Lodge

Although it is the best decision to end your heroin addiction, quitting heroin cold turkey is not the best way forward. Contact the team at Alina Lodge using our secure online form or call us confidentially at 833.685.1700 today to learn more about our heroin detox program. Let our team become part of your team by reaching out to us today.

Posted in Addiction Treatment, Detox Programs, Drug Rehab, heroin addiction, substance abuse treatment

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