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Overcoming Heroin Addiction: A Guide to Recovery

a person sits on a couch rubbing their shoulder while overcoming heroin addiction

If you use the potent street opiate heroin, there’s a very strong chance that you’re addicted to it. The overwhelming majority of all people who take the drug have a diagnosable opiate problem. Recovery from heroin addiction is a tall order. However, it’s far from impossible. Every day, heroin addiction treatment programs provide support for both short- and long-term recovery. You commit to overcoming your reliance on the drug by entering such a program.

Detox’s Role in Overcoming Heroin Addiction

The first step in overcoming heroin addiction is getting the drug out of your system. You can do this in a medical detox program. During detox you:

  • Receive an assessment of your current health and level of addiction
  • Get help for the withdrawal symptoms likely to arise when you stop taking heroin
  • Establish your initial sobriety from heroin
  • Prepare to move on to a heroin rehab program

Each of these steps serves its essential purpose. An assessment is needed to determine your specific needs while in detox. Help during withdrawal increases your ability to withstand the process and avoid relapsing, and establishing initial sobriety puts you in a position to achieve your next recovery goals. Preparation for rehab helps make those goals easier to reach.

Rehab’s Strategies to Stop Heroin Addiction – MAT Treatment

Today, rehab programs can take advantage of some well-researched strategies to stop heroin addiction. These strategies revolve around something called medication-assisted treatment (MAT). MAT combines addiction medication with psychotherapy. The end result is a coordinated plan that helps you:

  • Complete rehab without slipping back into heroin use
  • Control your urges to use more of the drug
  • Improve your knowledge of how addiction works
  • Identify addiction-supporting behaviors, emotional responses, and thoughts
  • Change your habits in each of these areas and limit your future addiction risks
  • Develop practical ways to stay heroin-free after you leave rehab

All heroin recovery plans are highly individualized. This means that you may receive different medication than others affected by addiction. It also means that you may benefit from different psychotherapy options. Effective MAT not only helps you overcome your addiction. It also helps make your transition back to everyday life as seamless as possible.

Aftercare to Help Maintain Your Sobriety from Heroin

When you complete rehab, you’ll have the core skills you need to stay heroin-free. However, over time, those skills can start to lose some of their sharpness. As a result, you may find it increasingly hard to stay sober. Addiction specialists are well aware of the difficulties of staying sober long-term. To help you overcome these difficulties, they offer aftercare programs.

An aftercare program can help you in more ways than one. For example, it may offer regular check-ins with a doctor who can monitor your progress. An effective program may also provide you with sobriety support apps for your smartphone or computer. In addition, an aftercare program will typically help you network with others in recovery. This networking may occur in an alum group or a mutual self-help group.

Get More Information on Overcoming Heroin Addiction at Northpoint Colorado

Want to learn more about how you or your loved one can overcome heroin addiction? Northpoint Colorado’s knowledgeable staff is standing by to assist you. With our help, you can start devising a workable strategy for your recovery.

Northpoint also specializes in comprehensive services for overcoming addiction. Start your journey in our detox program, and then continue to our opiate rehab program. You can also make use of our extensive aftercare resources. Ready to get started? Call us today at 888.231.1281 or complete our online contact form. We’re here to help you through your recovery journey.