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Can I Detoxify Alone?

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Providing Trusted, Evidence-Based
Treatment for Three Decades and Counting

If you or a loved one is experiencing addiction, we’re here to help.

When you live with a heroin problem, you have a complicated relationship with the drug. On the one hand, you need to continue drug use to avoid withdrawal symptoms. On the other hand, constantly fighting off illness is a battle that never ends. The idea of fighting withdrawal symptoms can be really scary.

Unfortunately, many people make it worse for themselves by choosing to attempt a heroin detox on their own. Without the benefit of medical care and psychological support, relapse is very common. If you would like help with your heroin detox, we can provide you with the medical care you need at Michael’s House. Call us now to find out more.

Possible Complications

Unhappy womanIt is never recommended that anyone living with a heroin problem attempt to go through heroin detox without the medical supervision of professional substance abuse treatment specialists. In some cases, medical complications can be potentially fatal. Because few people get regular medical checkups when they are actively using drugs, there’s a good chance that chronic heroin use has led to other underlying medical problems. When these health issues go untreated, the addition of withdrawal symptoms can cause even more health problems.

Heroin detox at a drug treatment center gives individuals the medical resources required for proper care. Medical professionals stand by to make the process as comfortable and safe as possible.

Risk of Relapse

The most common time for a drug overdose is after a period of abstinence. When someone stops heroin use for a period of time, the body’s tolerance for the drug goes down. However, if the withdrawal symptoms become too much to bear, many addicts take the same amount of heroin. The body is not prepared to synthesize that amount of heroin. When people overdose on heroin, their breathing often slows or stops, so not enough oxygen goes to the brain.1 As a result, the individual may go into a coma, seizures, cardiac arrest or even death. An estimated 14,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in 2015 in the U.S. compared to roughly 2,000 deaths in 2005.2

When you choose a medically supervised heroin detox, you not only have people there to support you but you also have a safe haven that will keep you from relapse. Heroin rehab is a safe place where you have no access to heroin or to those who will provide it to you. As a result, you are protected from yourself. When you want to relapse most, you will have the medical care you need to stick to your treatment goals and get through heroin detox.

Helping You Move Forward

Wherever you are right now, know you’re not alone. And know that a better life awaits.

Just ask Karen, who writes about her experience in treatment for Heroes In Recovery. “Recovery is a lot of work, but it’s all worth it,” she says. “Now I have a beautiful life and a wonderful family. I’ve become a teacher, which I love.”

At Michael’s House, we see success stories like Karen’s every day — people who come back to life after years of drug addiction. Michael’s House provides you with the medical care and psychological support you need to get through heroin detox and to live a life without drugs. We are ready to help you move forward. Just give us a call at 760.548.4032 and we will do all we can to help.


1Heroin.” National Institute on Drug Abuse. January 2018.

2Overdose Death Rates.” National Institute on Drug Abuse. September 2017.

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