Heroin / Methadone: Effects & Symptoms of Heroin Use: Friends of Narconon Intl

Effects & Symptoms of Heroin Use

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Effects & Symptoms of Heroin Use

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How does heroin abuse affect pregnant women?

Heroin abuse can cause serious complications during pregnancy, including miscarriage and premature delivery. Children born to addicted mothers are at greater risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), as well. Pregnant women should not be detoxified from opiates because of the increased risk of spontaneous abortion or premature delivery; rather, treatment with methadone is strongly advised. Although infants born to mothers taking prescribed methadone may show signs of physical dependence, they can be treated easily and safely in the nursery. Research has demonstrated also that the effects of in utero exposure to methadone are relatively benign.

What are the medical complications of chronic heroin use?

Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.

Of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse - infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other blood-borne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children.

Index of Terms

Term	Definition
Addict	ad·dict - n. a person who has a habit so strong that it cannot easily be given up [a drug addict] v. to give onceself up to some strong habit [Some people are addicted to watching TV.]
Addiction	ad·dic·tion - n. the condition of being addicted to something [trying to conquer an addiction to drugs]
Drugs	Drugs essentially are poisons. The degree they are taken determines the effect. A small amount acts as a stimulant. A greater amount acts as a sedative. A larger amount acts as a poison and can kill one dead. This is true of any drug. Each has a different amount at which it gives those results.
Heroin	A white crystalline "narcotic" powder derived from "morphine", formerly used as a painkiller and sedative.
Morphine	A powerful "narcotic" that comes from the opium plant.

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