Heroin Rehab

Free by the Sea is a comprehensive heroin rehabilitation center located in beautiful Washington State. At our facility, we understand the devastation of heroin addiction, and we help men and women reclaim their lives and achieve their full potential after recovering. While we understand that heroin addiction is among the hardest things to beat, with our caring, supportive, and highly trained medical staff you can achieve sobriety. Our staff is here to guide you along the road to recovery.

Heroin addiction treatment involves supporting patients both psychologically and physiologically. Although the physical aspects of heroin withdrawal fade within about a week, psychological symptoms, such as cravings, often require greater time and effort to overcome. At Free by the Sea, which is fully accredited as a substance abuse rehabilitation facility, our goal is to help you during this difficult journey and provide you with aftercare to help you maintain your drug-free life.

What Is Heroin?

Heroin is processed and derived from opium, a substance derived from the white, milky sap of the opium poppy. Humans have used the drug since ancient times, and experts have found evidence of heroin use in Mesopotamia and other parts of ancient Europe. Heroin extracted from morphine was first developed in 1874 and marketed widely during the end of the 19th century. The drug was touted as a less-addictive morphine alternative, but heroin turned out to be terribly addictive. As a result, the drug was branded as a controlled substance in 1914. Heroin has long since been made illegal due to its extremely high potential for abuse, addiction, and harm.

Heroin acquired off the street is particularly hazardous due to its high level of impurities. It can contain added substances such as strychnine (rat poison) or other narcotics. Heroin’s potency is also highly variable, so overdoses are a significant risk. When heroin is pure, it takes the form of a white powder, but street-level heroin can range in color from white to black or brown, depending in part on what other substances it’s been mixed with. Other additives commonly found in heroin include baby laxatives, lactose, powdered milk, quinine, and talc. These impurities can cause serious vascular damage when injected.

How is Heroin Consumed?

Over the years, people have become very creative in the use of heroin. Because it comes in different forms, heroin can be taken in a variety of different ways. The most common way heroin is consumed is by injection into the body. Users fill syringes up with a liquid form of the substance and inject it into a vein or muscle. The reason this way is the most popular is that it is believed to give the user the quickest, most effective high.

Heroin can be mixed with marijuana into a joint or into a regular cigarette and smoked if in powder or tar form. Some users choose to inhale the smoke that comes from these makeshift cigarettes into their nose with a straw. This process is commonly referred to as “chasing the dragon.” Another way crack cocaine is consumed is by snorting the powder by itself. These types of methods are more commonly practiced by newer heroin users.

What Are the Signs of Heroin Abuse?

​When it comes to recognizing the warning signs of heroin use, they can sometimes be tricky to spot. Here is a list of warning signs of heroin abuse:

• Declining performance at work or school
• Arrest and criminal record
• Missing important events and dates
• Neglecting everyday responsibilities
• Isolation from friends and loved ones
• Strained interpersonal relationships
• Higher rates of health problems, including overdose emergencies
• Risky and irresponsible behavior, including driving while intoxicated, sharing needles, and promiscuous sex
• Lying about or otherwise hiding heroin use
• Chronic dry mouth
• Feeling out of breath
• Excessively constricted or “pinpoint” pupils
• Otherwise unexplained weight loss
• Being abnormally tolerant to cold temperatures
• Wearing excessive clothing in warm weather
• Confusion and disorientation
• Sudden deviations from normal behavior, such as periods of high activity followed by lethargy

Heroin abuse often has severely harmful effects on a person’s interpersonal or romantic relationships, job, motivation, financial situation, and social and academic lives. Abuse happens in cases where heroin use becomes negative, destructive, or otherwise harmful and leads to addiction, which often causes or contributes to poor health and a decline in the ability to function normally. If you think you or someone you care for may be struggling with heroin addiction, seeking professional medical help is strongly recommended.

Detoxification

Detoxification is the process of slowly weaning an individual off of the heroin they have become addicted to. Because heroin is such a highly addictive substance, the withdrawal symptoms that come along with quitting the use of heroin are almost unbearable. Medical detox is necessary to prevent the continuation because it is almost impossible to quit otherwise.

Our staff at Free by the Sea understands how important the detoxification process is to our heroin patients. We offer detox placement to all of our patients in order to achieve the desired results and be ready to attend our rehabilitation treatments. Once detox has been completed, our patients will be transferred over to one of our facilities to continue to receive further treatment.

Heroin Treatment

Cessation of heroin use causes numerous withdrawal symptoms that can be very hard to tolerate. In many cases, people relapse just to stop the symptoms. Most individuals need a comprehensive heroin addiction treatment program to get the support necessary to succeed in the difficult process of detoxing, avoiding relapse, and dealing with cravings.

At Free by the Sea, we offer treatments for heroin addiction that involve medications for preventing the heroin’s effects. Synthetic narcotics, such as methadone, can help recovering addicts work through the withdrawal process and begin getting their lives back under control. Outpatient and residential programs provided by Free by the Sea, an accredited treatment center, offer many options for those struggling with a heroin dependency.

• Counseling for families
• Group counseling
• 12-step meetings
• Aftercare services
• Relapse prevention programs

People who are dependent on heroin often don’t seek help on their own because the drug hinders their ability to care for themselves. For this reason, friends or loved ones may need to intervene and encourage the person to get the help they desperately need.

About the Heroin Recovery Process

Heroin withdrawal symptoms can be mentally and physically painful. The symptoms are often severe enough to cause the user to relapse, even when the person truly wants to quit. Recovery rates are highest in treatment centers that focus on helping patients manage sleep problems, pupil dilation, irritability, blood pressure, and heart rate changes, restlessness, and cravings.

Although treatment and detoxification instantly disturb the abuse pattern, patients must maintain the lifelong process of recovery by going to aftercare and 12-step programs. Free by the Sea provides you and the people you love with complete programs that include relapse prevention and addiction treatment.

Why Choose Free by the Sea?

Free by the Sea is a beautiful campus, located on the Long Beach Peninsula in Ocean Park, WA. Our community of dedicated professionals is committed to providing care to all individuals with dignity and respect. Client-centered care respectful of individual needs and concerns is the foundation of our approach. In all of our residential, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatments, we adhere to evidence-based practices that are focused on successful outcomes for long term recovery.

Our certified substance abuse counselors will be there every step of the way to help you achieve your goal of a full recovery. We offer high-quality, evidence-based addiction treatment for your heroin addiction. We use DBT, CBT, EMDR, and trauma-informed treatment to address underlying issues of addiction. Some of these may include depression, anxiety, and past traumatic experiences. You will also be taught relapse prevention techniques to take out into the real world once you have completed your time here at Free by the Sea.

Our goal is to reteach you the life skills you may have forgotten while caught up in your heroin addiction, and you will learn these through your individual and group therapy sessions. You will also have the chance to form important bonds with those around you who are also struggling with addiction, as well as work on your physical health. We have built multi-sport areas around campus that include volleyball and basketball courts and an exercise room for you to use whenever you would like.

Call Us Today!

Free by the Sea, located in the State of Washington, is nationally recognized for its comprehensive treatment programs designed to help men and women struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. By intervening, we can support you and your loved ones and help you navigate the difficult path of recovery.

You have many reasons to fight your addiction and break heroin’s destructive cycle. Heroin ruins relationships, finances, jobs, and lives. At Free by the Sea, we’re ready to help you in your decision to reclaim a healthy, sober life. Please contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals and overcome your addiction.