Heroin Addiction: Effects, Withdrawal & Rehab in Kansas City

Heroin is a widely used illicit opioid that carries a high risk of dependence and addiction. What may start as occasional use can lead to physical dependence and addiction over time, sometimes without the person fully realizing it. As the body builds tolerance, people often need higher doses to feel the same effects, increasing the risk of overdose and making it harder to stop using. 

Heroin can impact health, relationships, and daily life, but recovery is possible with the right support. Understanding the risks, including the presence of dangerous additives, is an important first step toward getting help. If you or someone you love is struggling with heroin use, Empowered Recovery in Kansas City is here to help. Reach out to learn more about our treatment options.

What Is Heroin? 

To make heroin, morphine is extracted from certain species of poppy plants.1,3 The morphine is then processed into heroin, which is commonly seen as a white or brown powder. Sometimes the drug is distributed in the form of a rock or a sticky, tar-like substance called “black-tar heroin.”1 Heroin can be snorted, smoked, or mixed with water and injected. Street names for the drug include “smack” and “horse.”  

Heroin belongs to the opioid class of drugs and is often combined, or “cut,” with other powders like sugar or powdered milk.3 When it is mixed with other materials, the user has no way of knowing the strength of the heroin. This can result in the user ingesting more heroin than intended, leading to an overdose. 

Effects of Using Heroin

When a person smokes, snorts, or injects heroin, the substance is immediately converted into morphine in the brain. The morphine then binds to the person’s opioid receptors, giving the user a rush of euphoria.4 This is followed by a short period of warmth and feelings of pleasure.2,4 This high often only lasts a few minutes, though the feelings may linger for a few hours. 

However, these aren’t the only heroin effects taking place. These are some of the other common heroin side effects:1,3,4

• Flushing of the skin
• Dry mouth
• Heavy feeling in the extremities
• Severe itching
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Drowsiness
• Lessened cognitive function
• Detachment from emotional and physical pain
• Slowed breathing
• Sweating
• Pinpoint pupils 

Long-term usage of heroin leads to even more serious health conditions, including lung complications, heart issues, sexual dysfunction, irregular menstrual cycles, and more.5

Risk of Heroin Overdose 

Heroin has a high risk of overdose compared to other substances for a few reasons. One is because it is often mixed with other substances without the user’s knowledge. When the person using heroin snorts, injects, or smokes it, the different substances interact within their body in unpredictable and dangerous ways. A similarly harmful situation can occur if the person is drinking, taking prescription medications, or taking other drugs while using heroin. 

Of all the substances heroin can be laced with, fentanyl is the most deadly and one of the most common. Many drug dealers add cheaply made illicit fentanyl into their heroin to cut down on costs, and an extremely small amount (as little as two milligrams) can prove deadly.3,6

Additionally, the way heroin is used can affect the risk of an overdose. If someone injects heroin, it reaches the brain more quickly than snorting or smoking it. The person’s brain is also experiencing the entire dose of the drug at once, rather than having it spread out. 

If you’re not sure what to look for, some of the most common heroin overdose symptoms include:1,3
Skin that is cold, bluish, or moist

• Blue lips or fingernails
• Falling unconscious
• Shallow or lack of breathing
• Weak heartbeat 
• Coma

If you think someone you know is experiencing a heroin overdose, call 911 and stay with them until the paramedics arrive. 

Heroin Addiction & Dependence 

Many people try heroin in a social setting, wanting to experience the euphoric “rush” they’ve heard others describe. Yet, heroin is so addictive that even a single use can push a person down the road of heroin abuse.

People who use opioids like heroin often develop a tolerance for the substance. This means that they’ll use the same amount, but experience fewer effects.7 Sometimes, people will then increase their dosage to feel the same level of impact. The person’s tolerance will continue to rise as the amount is increased, leading to a vicious cycle and the person taking dangerously high levels of a substance. 

After regular heroin usage, the body will develop a dependence on it. Someone who has built up this dependence can experience heroin withdrawal symptoms as quickly as four hours after not using.2 These withdrawal side effects can be very unpleasant, driving the person to use more heroin to mitigate the withdrawals.

Continued use of heroin can lead to physiological and physical changes to the brain, creating long-term imbalances.8 This leads chronic users of heroin to often develop a heroin addiction, also called an opioid use disorder. When someone is addicted to heroin, they have developed a physical dependence, and they are willing to accept the negative ramifications on their social, work, and home life by continuing to use. 

Signs of Heroin Addiction 

If you’re concerned that you or a loved one is developing an addiction to heroin, there are some physical and behavioral signs you can look for. These can include:2,3,9

• Wanting to quit or cut down but quickly relapsing 
• Long-term use of heroin
• A steady increase in the amount you use
• Spending a lot of time and resources to obtain heroin
• Experiencing cravings
• Not fulfilling responsibilities at home or work
• Mixing heroin with other drugs or alcohol when you know you shouldn’t
• Feeling sick if you don’t use heroin
• Shifting from snorting or smoking to injecting to experience “stronger” effects
• Attempting to hide “track marks” (injection points) by wearing long sleeves
• Losing weight from suppressed appetite from heroin usage
• Discovering that spoons are missing or appear burned
• Finding that shoelaces or belts are missing (which are used to tie off an extremity when injecting)

Heroin Withdrawal & Detox 

Before someone who is actively using heroin can begin treatment, they need to safely detox. To manage withdrawal symptoms and monitor health levels, it’s best to undergo a heroin detox at a specialized medical detox facility. Here, an experienced medical team will oversee your symptoms and help you be as comfortable as possible as you go through this difficult but vital step of your recovery process. 

Here are some common heroin withdrawal symptoms:2

• Flu-like symptoms
• Shaking
• Sweating
• Vomiting
• Muscle aches
• Chills
• Stomach pains
• Diarrhea 

To further manage your withdrawal symptoms, your treatment team may recommend that you follow a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) protocol. By following a doctor’s regimen and using prescription medication specifically chosen to help ease withdrawal symptoms, you’ll be able to move through the uncomfortable phase of addiction treatment more smoothly. From this place, you can shift your focus away from your withdrawals and toward the therapeutic techniques you’re learning at your treatment program. 

How is Heroin Addiction Treated?

If you’ve decided that you want to seek help for your addiction, or a friend or family member has agreed to heroin treatment, the first step is going through a medical detox. After the detox has been completed, the patient is able to continue their recovery progress by checking into a treatment program. 

A person struggling with heroin misuse has several options for treatment. The first is going to an inpatient program, where the patient would live on-site for 24 hours a day. If a person has family or work responsibilities and can’t live on-site at a treatment center, there are outpatient treatment options as well. Partial hospitalization programs (PHP) offer comprehensive treatment services for 20-30 hours a week, while intensive outpatient programs (IOP) offer more flexibility with patients attending nine to 20 hours of therapy and life skills classes per week. For patients who have already been through heroin rehab or people who need a lower level of care, a standard outpatient program (consisting of less than nine hours of treatment a week) can be the perfect option for transitioning back to everyday life. 

After the initial treatment is completed, patients may decide with their clinical team to step down to a lower level of care, or they may opt to fully move back into their daily life with the help of a robust aftercare program. 

No matter what kind of treatment program you choose, you’ll work with a dedicated team that will design a personalized treatment plan that will be the most effective for you. This recovery protocol will include a combination of therapies and dual diagnosis treatment for any co-occurring disorders like anxiety disorders, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To help relieve some of the cravings and lingering effects from your detox, you may also be given a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) plan. 

Heroin Addiction Treatment in Kansas City

When you decide to seek heroin addiction treatment, you deserve to work with a medical and clinical team that will support you through every phase of your journey, physically, emotionally, and mentally. 

At Empowered Recovery Center in Kansas City, our experienced specialists will curate your treatment plan to best fit your life, your experiences, and your goals for a new future. To see what that would look like for you, contact our admissions team by giving us a call or filling out a contact form. 

Our knowledgeable admissions team can answer any questions you have about our services and help you in determining which program, PHP, IOP, or standard outpatient, would be the best fit for you. Our team can also assist you with the other aspects of coming to our program. This can include verifying your insurance benefits, explaining our options for paying for rehab, and answering any other questions you may have. 

There’s no commitment or pressure when you call Empowered Recovery Center. We’re here to help you decide the best course of action for your life, so contact us to see what that looks like for you.

References 

1. Heroin. (n.d.). DEA. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from  https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/heroin
2. Police Publication. (n.d.). Street names for Heroin (No. 44). March 25, 2025, from https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0015/2409/Heroin.pdf
3. 20143 heroin. (n.d.). CAMH. March 25, 2025, from https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/heroin
4. What are the immediate (short-term) effects of heroin use? | National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2021, April 13). National Institute on Drug Abuse. March 25, 2025, from https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-immediate-short-term-effects-heroin-use
5. What are the medical complications of chronic heroin use? | National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2021, April 13). National Institute on Drug Abuse. March 25, 2025, from https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-medical-complications-chronic-heroin-use
6. Facts about Fentanyl. (n.d.). DEA. March 25, 2025, from  https://www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl
7. Commonly used terms. (2024, April 19). Overdose Prevention. March 25, 2025, from https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/glossary/index.html#cdc_generic_section_3-what-is-the-difference-between-tolerance-dependence-and-opioid-use-disorder
8. What are the long-term effects of heroin use? | National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2021, April 13). National Institute on Drug Abuse. March 26, 2025, from https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-long-term-effects-heroin-us
9. Warning signs. (n.d.). Office of Addiction Services and Supports. March 26, 2025, from https://oasas.ny.gov/warning-signs