Recovery is never easy, especially when one is recovering from heroin addiction. However, staying sober is absolutely possible. While it often takes constant effort and consideration, sobriety can be made easier with a number of proven tips and tricks.
The Relationship Between Heroin Addiction and Relapse
Long-term addiction to heroin or other forms of opioids can cause several mental and physical changes to a person’s body. According to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, the changes that heroin use makes to the brain can impact a person’s ability to make decisions, regulate their behavior, and how they respond to stress. Because of this, an individual with heroin addiction is more likely to act erratically and use heroin as a response to stress.
In most cases, the repeated use of heroin essentially rewires the brain and body to seek further heroin use. This is how an addiction forms. The brain and body tolerate and then depend on a drug like heroin, so they adapt to seek further drug use. However, this vicious cycle can be broken with help from treatment and rehabilitation facilities.
Tips for Staying Sober After Recovering From a Heroin Addiction
While breaking free from the cycles of heroin addiction is not easy, it can be done. A life of sobriety is possible. To ensure it, here are five proven tips to avoid a heroin relapse and stay sober:
1. Anticipate and Avoid Triggers
The most important thing for a person recovering from a heroin addiction to do is to anticipate and avoid triggers for heroin use as much as possible. It is always best to avoid any activity, person, or place that may trigger the desire to ingest heroin. However, avoiding all triggers all the time is not feasible. Eventually, a person may encounter one. In situations like these, it is best to anticipate the trigger as well as a healthy response, such as a coping technique, to avoid a relapse.
2. Build a Reliable Support System
One of the best ways an individual can maintain their sobriety from an addiction of any kind is by building a reliable support system. By surrounding oneself with family, friends, counselors, and more, a person can receive the support and motivation they need to stay sober — no matter the circumstance.
3. Receive Expert Counseling
Knowing what triggers a desire for heroin use can be difficult. It often requires significant self-reflection. Fortunately, the process of self-reflection can be made easier with a counselor or therapist who specializes in treating patients with addiction. They can help their patients discover their triggers and even provide coping strategies.
4. Meditate
Another tool for self-reflection and coping is meditating. Through the process of meditation, one learns to be with oneself, which can allow a person to learn what triggers their desire to use heroin. Meditation can also be a calming activity, which can provide a person with the assistance they need once triggered.
5. Find New, Healthy Hobbies
Lastly, because addiction often becomes the center of a person’s life, it is usually helpful to find new, healthy hobbies while in recovery. New hobbies like a sport or reading can fill one’s time with joy and keep their mind off of any desire for drug use.
Although these five tips are not the only methods for staying sober after a heroin addiction, they are proven strategies one can use to ease their recovery.
Staying Sober is Possible with Help
A heroin addiction changes a person both mentally and physically. However, these changes can be undone, allowing a person to rediscover themselves. To make staying sober easier after recovering from heroin addiction, a person should anticipate and avoid triggers, build a support system, receive expert counseling, meditate, and find healthy hobbies. By doing so, staying sober will be less problematic.
For more information on how to stay sober after recovering from heroin addiction, contact us at Knoxville Recovery Center today! Our team is more than happy to help you begin or maintain a life of sobriety.
