Mothers are losing their children. Husbands are losing their wives. Friends are losing their cherished pals. Co Workers are losing parts of their team. Unexpectedly, heroin is taking lives nobody ever expected them to. The face of addiction in America is changing. Mistakenly, many assumed that addiction is something that happened to other people in places where addiction is common. Today, there is a potent realization: addiction can happen anywhere, to anyone.
Addiction does not discriminate or favor. When parents with a mental illness of any kind give birth to a child, that child has a genetic predisposition for developing a mental illness of their own which can include substance use disorder. They are four to five times more likely to develop a mental illness. Co-occurring disorders can be precursors to experimentation with recreational drugs and alcohol, which will have a higher likelihood of turning into addiction. However, mental illness isn’t strictly genetic. Depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, in addition to many other mental illnesses can develop outside of genetic lineage. Likewise, addiction can happen to anyone who becomes chemically dependent upon drugs and alcohol. It is true, for example, that someone who chronically binge drinks will not become a chemically dependent alcoholic while someone else will. The truth is that anyone can develop an addiction with enough repeated exposure to mind altering substances.
Outside of substance abuse, genetic inheritance, and mental illness, which can happen to anyone, addiction doesn’t discriminate. Heroin addiction can happen to anyone of any skin color, race, income bracket, neighborhood, state, county, or country. Many more middle to upper class white families are facing heroin addiction as their loved one’s opioid prescriptions for an injury or surgery turns into an addictive habit. Heroin addiction is sweeping the country in high income areas as well as low income areas. Teenagers who are successful are dying of overdose as well as teenagers who meet all the “typical” conditions for addiction.
Signs Of Heroin Addiction
- Constricted pupils, like pinholes
- Sudden weight loss
- Loss of pigment in the skin
- Hollowed cheekbones
- Sunken eyes
- Seeming sleepy, falling asleep, or always checked out
- Wearing long sleeves and long pants to hide track marks
- Sneezing black
- Getting sick all the time with colds and flu-like symptoms
If you are concerned you or a loved one might be struggling with an opioid or heroin addiction, call Lakehouse Recovery Center today. Our residential detox and residential inpatient programs are designed to help you learn how to live without the use of opioid substances. For more information, call 877.762.3707.