If you need a heroin addiction treatment program in Colorado, AspenRidge Recovery offers hope for a life of sobriety. Our first-class facilities are luxurious and affordable, blending a relaxing break from the stress of home with a chance to get your daily needs met through group sessions, counseling, and our drug detox center in Colorado.
Heroin has rightfully gained a reputation as one of the world’s most addictive and dangerous drugs. Colorado is currently facing a heroin epidemic. In 2013, 112 people died from the drug compared to 91 in 2012. Heroin rehab admissions have also increased exponentially, and anecdotal evidence suggests that heroin may be becoming more accessible, especially to teens. About 1% of 12th graders have used the drug, and 60% report that heroin is easy to obtain.
Heroin addiction has a long and storied history in the United States, and a brief perusal of that history reveals just how dangerous the drug is. In the late 19th century, a morphine epidemic swept the country, leaving doctors scrambling for an alternative. That alternative was heroin, which was originally marketed by the Bayer aspirin company as a virtual panacea for everything from headaches to anxiety. In a short time, this move led to an epidemic of heroin addiction, and the federal government quickly acted to stem the tide. By 1924, the Heroin Act rendered the drug completely illegal, including for medicinal purposes.
Of course, making heroin illegal hasn’t stopped its use or production. Heroin remains one of the most popular illegal drugs available, due in part to the intense high it offers. Colloquial street names for the drug include:
Heroin also contributes directly to organized crime. The overwhelming majority of heroin derives from Afghanistan’s poppy crops, which have been used to fund terrorism, illegal wars, and an assortment of human rights abuses for decades. In short, if you abuse heroin, you’re doing much more than just harming yourself. You’re potentially contributing to a dangerous international political culture and directly harming criminals’ victims. Enter our heroin addiction treatment program to overcome its abuse today.
Am I a Heroin Addict?The first time you use heroin, the intense high may bring you back for more. But if you’re like most heroin addicts in Colorado, you’ll find that your second high isn’t nearly as good as your first. This is due to a process known as tolerance. The first time you use heroin, your body begins changing its chemistry in a variety of ways to reduce the effects of the drug. This means you’ll feel less high, even though the drug is still affecting your organs in dangerous ways. Many heroin users react to this experience by using larger and larger quantities of the drug in an attempt to get the same high they once got. This process, known colloquially as chasing the dragon, helps explain why heroin overdoses are so common. About half of heroin users report at least one overdose scare in the previous year.
Why Do I Use Heroin In The First Place?So why do users stick with such a dangerous drug? The answer lies in the disease model of addiction. Addiction might seem like a personal choice, perhaps even a moral failing. Addiction, though, is a medical illness no different from osteoporosis or congestive heart failure. The disease component of addiction begins with chemical tolerance. Over time, this tolerance can give rise to a chemical dependency. With dependency comes the belief that you need heroin to survive. And your body reacts as if you do! When you try to quit using heroin, you may experience intense – and even life-threatening – detox symptoms that keep you using for months, or even years.
Heroin is notoriously difficult to quit. Indeed, some users resort to methadone to steadily transition themselves off of this dangerous drug. But methadone is addictive in its own right, and many users end up developing a secondary addiction. Inpatient treatment remains the safest way to treat your heroin addiction. With the right treatment and Colorado heroin resources, you can fight this disease and get clean once and for all.
You probably already know that heroin is bad for your health and your emotional well-being, but it’s easy to underestimate the far-reaching effects of this drug. In the moments after you use heroin, it’s common to experience some of the following side effects:
Over time, chronic heroin use can lead to more serious side effects, including the following:
The effects can vary depending on your age, social status, health history, and similar factors. Over time, though, things tend to get worse. Heroin addiction is a progressive disease that will not go away on its own, so it’s always best to seek early treatment, especially if you haven’t yet experienced some of the more severe effects of heroin addiction. Heroin rehab in Colorado is available throughout the state in cities such as Boulder, Denver, Aurora, Fort Collins and more!
Detoxing from heroin is intensely challenging. Not only must you contend with unpleasant psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, you must also learn to manage your cravings. Unfortunately, though, heroin detox in Colorado often comes with intensely unpleasant symptoms, including:
In some people, these symptoms can turn deadly. For this reason, it’s vitally important to pursue a heroin addiction treatment program in Colorado from a reputable medical provider who understands the disease of addiction. Without the help of a Colorado heroin rehab center, your odds of relapse are greater than 50%, assuming you’re able to get sober at all. Most heroin addicts who attempt to go it alone give up before they’ve managed even a few days of sobriety.
Because heroin abuse is a complex disease that affects its victims’ lives in numerous ways, there’s more than one option for treating heroin addiction in Colorado. Inpatient rehab near Denver blends all major forms of heroin treatment under one safe, drug-free roof. But you can also pursue outpatient treatment as you save up for drug rehab, after you leave rehab, or in an attempt to avoid having to go to drug rehab in Colorado. Addiction treatment options include:
Medical Heroin Addiction Treatment in ColoradoA number of medical heroin addiction treatment options are available. The process begins with assessing whether you can safely go through drug detox in Colorado. If not, your doctor might refer you to a methadone clinic or recommend that you slowly taper down your heroin dosage. If your doctor determines that you can go through detox, he may prescribe medications designed to reduce the severity of your cravings or withdrawal symptoms. A physician can also help you devise a plan for combating the long-term health effects of heroin. And if you have a mental health condition that contributes to your desire to use heroin, your doctor can prescribe drugs to help.
Every addict becomes an addict for a reason, and the process of addiction can wreck your mental health, not to mention your relationships. A Lakewood, CO addiction therapy program helps you sort through the chaos of addiction so you can understand why you’re an addict, what factors keep you using, and what coping skills might serve as valid alternatives to heroin addiction. If you struggle with adjusting to the stress of life without the assistance of heroin, your therapist will help you find better alternatives.
Many addicts are able to get clean with the assistance of support groups alone. Narcotics Anonymous and similar 12-Step programs encourage you to maintain a life of sobriety. And if your loved ones have suffered as a result of your addiction, NA offers family support in the form of its sister program, Nar-Anon. Of course, 12-Step programs aren’t right for everyone. These programs rely on Christian philosophy and make nondenominational religious references. If you prefer a secular drug treatment in Colorado, consider SMART Recovery or Rational Recovery as an alternative.
A number of practitioners promote alternative remedies, such as energy healing, acupuncture, or acupressure, to treat heroin addiction. These treatments have not been scientifically verified, but they have also not been shown to be harmful. This means they probably won’t work, but they also won’t harm you. If you prefer an alternative drug treatment in Colorado, try using it as an adjunct to a proven medical treatment rather than opting for alternative remedies on their own.
Lifestyle RemediesJust as a new diet won’t “cure” you of diabetes, so too is the case with heroin. However, some lifestyle changes can aid you in your journey to getting clean. These changes include:
Colorado does have heroin addiction treatment programs, and they can make it easier to recover. Try blending a lifestyle change with one or more standard treatments for heroin addiction to get the most bang for your buck. Adopting a healthy lifestyle may also help you reverse some of the problematic health effects of prolonged heroin abuse.
At AspenRidge, we see recovery as a journey, not a race. We believe everyone has to chart their own course toward sobriety, and we help you figure out which path will work best with your values, needs, and lifestyle. Every addict is an individual, and we never lose sight of the strong-willed and lovable person who lurks underneath the veneer of heroin addiction. Even when you feel like you can’t love yourself, we’ll remind you that a worthy person lies just under the surface of your addiction. You deserve to get better. We will help you accept this fact, then diligently work to provide the best heroin addiction rehab center in CO to help you set, stick to, and exceed your goals.
The secret is in compassionate care from a world-class team of addiction experts in Colorado. Our staff has seen the hard cases. We know that addiction isn’t easy to fight. Our job is to give you the best possible weapons in the arsenal against this disease. But we want much more than just sobriety for you. We want to see you thrive in every area of your life. We know that addiction has probably already robbed you of much. Our job is to help you get back as much as you can.
At AspenRidge Recovery, we’re on your side when you need us. We have the tools you need at a facility you’ll love located near Denver, Colorado. Rehab and a Lakewood, CO drug addiction treatment program is within reach. But we can’t do it for you. The first step is up to you to take. Contact AspenRidge Recovery in Lakewood so we can start helping you sculpt the life of your dreams. You can do it, and AspenRidge can help with our heroin addiction treatment program in Lakewood, CO. Call us today at 866.977.8625 for more information and admissions help.