What Does Heroin Cold Turkey Mean?
The expression ‘going cold turkey’ means the giving up of an addiction without preparation or medical therapy. Cold turkey means actually means stopping to take heroin altogether, from one day to the other without a substitution therapy such as methadone. Cold turkey heroin with drawl symptoms are extremely unpleasant and start 6 to 24 hours after the last application of the drug.
Many addicts try to quit heroin abuse on their own as they are ashamed of admitting their addiction problem. As the symptoms of cold turkey heroin with drawl are so unpleasant, a lot of them don’t carry through with it and resort to taking the drug again. If the with drawl takes place in a rehab center, with or without medication, chances are better as the patient receives more support in his endeavor.
The etymology of the expression ‘cold turkey’ in this context is not quite clear. The two most common one cited are that the name derives from the meal ‘cold turkey’ that requires little to no preparation or that it refers to the cold sweat, emaciated appearance and the goose bumps that a heroin addict in with drawl typically suffers. Cold turkey heroin with drawl is certainly the most drastic and unpleasant way of terminating a heroin addiction.
They include excessive sweating, anxiety and panic, pains, especially in the muscles and bones, nausea, vomiting and fever and last up to seven days. Unlike alcohol with drawl symptoms those of heroin are not life threatening.
How to get through a heroin withdrawal or detox cold turkey
I have seen recently an increase in the number of people interested in stopping heroin on their own with no medications to help them. This lets me know a couple of things one of which is that there are some people who actually want to stop using heroin. The other thing may be that they do not have the funding or know how to go about getting any help for a heroin detox.
Let’s take a look at what this is all about. The person that decides to quit using cold turkey heroin will have to face many challenges like these cold turkey heroin symptoms….
Cold turkey heroin
Insomnia
Diarrhea
Cold chills or goose bumps
Nausea and vomiting
Craving heroin
Sweats
Leg cramps
Restless leg syndrome
If you are up for the challenge here is what I would suggest. Stay awake as long as possible try to do this a couple days before your heroin detox. This should make you very tired. One reason this is so important is that you want to be able to sleep through the worst of your cold turkey withdrawal.
Next thing I would do is get a family member or friend to come and stay with you. They can be of great help as far as you actually making it through your heroin wthdrawal. The reason for this is that we need people in our life that actually car about us.
Next I would go to the pharmacy and get some medications that will help me with my detox. These will include Motrin for headache and leg cramps. I would also get some keopepetate for diarrhea and Benadryl to help you sleep. If you follow these suggestions the worst of your heroin withdrawal will be over in 3 to 5 days. But you will want to have a plan of action in place to stay clean; for instance, are you going to attend NA meetings or try something else. I will leave the rest of the plan to you.
good luck
My name is Art. I help people to recover.