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How To Get Heroin Out Your System: 2 Best Ways

The effects of heroin are generally short-lived, but in some cases, regular use of heroin can cause serious health problems. Here, we will learn how to get heroin out your system. Certain drug tests can determine the tenure of heroin 1in our bodies. They are not only helpful in figuring out the heroin in our bodies but are also responsible for finding out the way of consumption.

1. What Is Heroin

Heroin is an illegal opioid that is made from a substance known as morphine. Morphine 2is derived from various opium plants. After the extraction of the drug, it is sold on the market in various forms. People generally take heroin by injection, snorting, or smoking. It is usually used to attain a feeling of high that persists for a long period. It makes the person feel good and relaxed and takes away all the stress for a certain time.

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Photo by Reza Mehrad on Unsplash

An opioid use disorder (OUD3) or addiction takes place after prolonged drug use for a consistent period. It is accompanied by several other problems like failure to meet the role and responsibilities at work, school, or even home.

2. Duration Of Heroin Effects

The euphoric effects caused by heroin are one of the main reasons people use this drug. It gives people a feeling of high like no other. The results of heroin can differ from person to person and the body’s capacity. There are a lot of different factors that determine the impact of heroin on the body; we will discuss that later.

Some of the general effects of heroin on the human body are mentioned below.

  • Euphoria

  • Constricted Pupils

  • Drowsiness

  • Nausea

  • Dry Mouth

  • Respiratory Depression

  • Flushing Of Skin

  • Difficulty Breathing

There might be a lot of questions flashing in your head after seeing the effects f heroin. One of the very common questions people ask is how long will the effect of heroin last in the system. The answer to this question will be different for every individual.

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As mentioned earlier, the duration of stay and the course of a high caused by heroin can vary from person to person. Several factors determine the same.

There are a lot of ways by which you can insert heroin into your system. Injecting the drug into the system is preferred by many people who desire to get the feeling as soon as possible. Other ways of using this drug are snorting and smoking.

Many drug tests available on the market these days help determine the process of consumption and the period of the drug’s stay.

3. How Long Does Heroin Stay In Your System

The effects of heroin are known to last longer than other drugs, even cocaine and meth. If a person takes one dose of heroin, approximately 30 minutes is required to get half of the drug flushed out of her system. Some studies also state that the half-life of heroin can also be as short as two to six minutes.

When the human body receives heroin, it is metabolized or broken down into 6-acetyl morphine and morphine. These substances enter the brain and act on the various receptors associated with feelings like euphoria4, pain suppression, and other things.

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Photo by Luka Malic on Unsplash

After the body breaks down the drugs, the heroin metabolites produced by the body become detectable. These metabolites can now determine the presence of heroin in the body. Various drug screening tests are applied to determine the presence of the drug.

4. How To Get Heroin Out Your System

Heroin addiction is one of the most dangerous addictions in the world. In most cases, people who are addicted to heroin are exposed to a lot of health problems than other people. As easy as inserting the drug into the body, taking it out of the system can sometimes be tricky. Some common ways of getting heroin out of your system are urine, sweat, saliva, tears, and feces. One important thing to remember is that even if you take the drug out of your system, it can still be detected by various drug tests.  

It may sound rude, but if you think of getting rid of heroin from your system quickly, it will not happen that way. You will have to take help from a medical advisor to get better results.

Get in touch with a medical team that will be able to find the best way to take out the drug from your body because a technique that works for one person might not be effective for you. Behavioral therapy and meditation are common ways of getting the drug out of your system.

4.1. Behavioral Therapy

Getting involved in cognitive behavioral therapy will help you pay attention to what you think about if it helps you cope with the stress and various other triggers that generally force a person to get addicted to drugs. If you can control these feelings, it will be easier for you to get rid of the drug. You will be able to feel good and happy without heroin.

 Another type of treatment is contingency management, where heroin users are awarded money or other rewards when they can completely get the drug out of their system. They are also rewarded for staying away from the medicine long.

4.2. Meditation

Another good way to get the drug out of your system is meditation. It helps in dealing with the cravings of heroin and weans the body. There are certain medications like methadone 5and Buprenorphine 6which help in binding the brain cells, which are also known as opioid receptors. They are safer to use and are also long-lasting than heroin.

Naltrexone also blocks these receptors, so heroin opioids will not affect them. Since the users cannot attain the desired result, they tend to quit heroin eventually.

5. Drug Tests For Heroin Addiction

The presence of heroin can be detected in the body through various drug tests. Some common tests used to determine heroin in the body are saliva, hair follicle, blood, and urine tests. These tests are approved by the Food And Drugs (FDA) and are effective in determining heroin in the body even after prolonged use.

These tests are the most effective in testing heroin, but in some cases, the sensitivity of the tests varies from one person to the other. But the results of these tests are generally 955 correct always.

The duration of the drug’s stay in the body also depends on various factors. The detection times of the tests mentioned above are given in detail.

  • Urine tests – up to 3 days. The urine test is one of the most effective ways of screening heroin in the body. The duration of heroin stays in the body varies from person to person, but it is more effective than other tests like blood and saliva.

  • Blood tests – 12 hours from last use. The concentration of heroin does not stay for long in the blood. Therefore it is required to check the blood within 12 hours after the last heroin use. This makes this test less effective than the other tests mentioned on the list.

  • Saliva – up to 12 hours from last use. The thing is the same with saliva tests and blood tests. It is also not considered as effective as the other tests.

  • Hair Follicle – Heroin can be detected in the body after 3 months from the last heroin use. A hair follicle test is considered one the best drug tests for seeing heroin in the body.

The heroin concentration in the body is based on weight, body mass, personal metabolism, and other physical aspects. The amount of drug taken during the last use is also another factor that determines the heroin stay in the body. People who use more of the drug for a longer period have a high chance of getting detected for a long period.

Some food items, like poppy seeds, influence the test results. Apart from food items, some medicines impact the development of the test and can provide a false-negative report. Some of these medicines are quinolones, rifampin, and diphenhydramine. In some cases, people also obtain false negative information, which is rare.

6. Factors That Impact The Period Of Heroin

There are a lot of factors that determine how long heroin stays in the body. Detection times and the amount of time the drug lasts in the body differ for everyone. The factors that influence the drug’s duration in the body are mentioned below.

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  • Younger people generally have a higher metabolism. It implies that younger people can help move the drug through their bodies faster than people who are a bit older.

  • Body composition is another factor that determines the stay of the drug in the body. The body status or body composition plays a great role when it is addiction.

  • The quantity and quality of the drug used also determine how long heroin stays in the system. The more frequently the drug is used, the longer it stays in the system.

  • Body composition, height, and weight are other factors determining the stay period. From that, size and weight also play a role in determining the drug in the body through various blood and saliva tests.

  • The personal genetics of a person’s system is another important factor.

  • If a person is very well hydrated, there are chances that the drug will leave the body soon.

  • A person with higher metabolism will also make the drug leave the body quicker than someone with a slow metabolic rate.

  • The amount of heroin that enters the body is also responsible for the period of stay. 

  • Quality of the drug. If you are consuming a pure variant of the drug, there are chances that heroin will leave the body soon. It may even be possible that you can escape certain drug screening tests as well.

  • The type of detection method used. It is one of the common factors that determine the stay of the drug in the body. If you are using a drug test that can only record the data after three to five hours from the last dose, there is a high chance that you will be able to pass through the test that detects heroin. Some of these tests are blood, saliva, and urine tests.

    But if you use a hair follicle test to determine the presence of heroin in the body, you will get a positive report three to four months after the last dose.

7. Getting Help

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If you are someone who is a victim of heroin addiction and wants to leave using the drug, please read this paragraph.

You might start to face heroin withdrawal symptoms as soon as you leave using or reduce the use of the drug. In this case, it is important to get help from a clinical professional who will be able to guide you through this. They might suggest some heroin addiction treatment options that work best for you.

8. Conclusion

It is one of the most addictive drugs found in the world. According to a report, 13000 people died in 2020 from a heroin overdose. People addicted to heroin or any other drug generally develop a resistance to the drug. It is therefore required to use more amount of the drug to gain the desired result. This further leads to several health problems.

If you want to leave using the drug but cannot control your addiction, many treatment centers provide professional treatment facilities to help overcome this problem.

Suppose you do not want to visit a clinic or a rehabilitation. In that case, you can also contact a professional treatment provider and get all the benefits from the comfort of your home.

There are a lot of ways by which you can get the drug out of your system. Refer to the things mentioned above if you want to quit using the medicine and live a healthy life.

FAQs

1. How can I speed up the process of getting heroin out of my system?

A: There is no guaranteed way to speed up the elimination of heroin from your system. However, staying hydrated, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet may help support your body’s natural detoxification process. 

2. Can I flush heroin out of my system by drinking a lot of water?

A: Drinking excessive amounts of water to flush heroin out of your system may dilute your urine, but it won’t necessarily eliminate the drugs completely. Additionally, tampering with urine samples by dilution is often detectable and can lead to invalidation of drug tests.

3. Can I speed up the elimination of heroin from my hair follicles?

A: Unfortunately, there’s no reliable way to expedite the removal of drugs from hair follicles. As hair grows slowly, drugs can be detected in the hair for an extended period, making it one of the most extended detection windows for drug tests.

Read more

  1. Sporer, Karl A. “Acute heroin overdose.” Annals of internal medicine 130.7 (1999): 584-590. ↩︎
  2. Gates, Marshall, and Gilg Tschudi. “The synthesis of morphine.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 78.7 (1956): 1380-1393. ↩︎
  3. Johnson, Nils P., et al. “Prognostic value of fractional flow reserve: linking physiologic severity to clinical outcomes.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology 64.16 (2014): 1641-1654. ↩︎
  4. Beischel, Will J., Stéphanie EM Gauvin, and Sari M. van Anders. ““A little shiny gender breakthrough”: Community understandings of gender euphoria.” International Journal of Transgender Health 23.3 (2022): 274-294. ↩︎
  5. Ferrari, Anna, et al. “Methadone—metabolism, pharmacokinetics and interactions.” Pharmacological research 50.6 (2004): 551-559. ↩︎
  6. Johnson, Rolley E., Paul J. Fudala, and Richard Payne. “Buprenorphine: considerations for pain management.” Journal of pain and symptom management 29.3 (2005): 297-326. ↩︎

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Author

Annanya Chakraborty

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