What you should expect and what to do:

The first 3 days are hell. From the beginning you’ll start to panic and your mind will start telling you and instructing you on how to get your next fix. This is where you tell yourself to "shut up!… I can do this!" And keep repeating to yourself OUT LOUD, "I can do this!" Then move on and fight! You’re already crazy for doing dope in the first place so don’t be afraid to talk to yourself, encourage yourself and fight against yourself.

During these next few days you should go outside and run, not jog but run. You’ll notice that while your running you’ll hardly feel any symptoms. The chills will go away while your running. But you can’t run forever so you’ll want to take short brakes. If you go out running at 2:am in the morning make sure you take your I.D. with you because if someone sees you running in the middle of the night then they’re bound to call the cops on you.

You’ll also want to take as many hot baths/showers as you can.

The best thing to do is fill up your tub with hot, hot water and stay there until it warms down and then fill it up again. You may want to stay in the tub the whole day or the first 3 days. Your fingers will become prune so you may want to keep them raises above the water.

Wear warm clothing when you’re out and about and even in your home. You’ll be sweating a lot but don’t worry about it. It’s good to sweat all those toxins out of your body. Try to get a small portable heater and stay close to it to warm you up.

By day 5 you’ll start to notice the withdrawal symptoms coming down just a bit. By day 7 you will start feeling strong and restless but you will still feel withdrawal symptoms. Again it depends on how much heroin you are consuming daily. People who shoot up a few bags per day have a much harder time than people who snort heroin or smoke it.

Cold chills, shivering, shaking and tremors;

You’re going to feel horrific cold chills. Most people agree that this is the worse part. It's like the worse fever in the world multiplied 100 fold. You’ll even get goose bumps. The chills will be very strong at the beginning but after a few days they'll start to decrease and even go away but only for a short time and then they'll come back again. It will be off and on during the day. By day 4 you’ll still get the chills but they will be less painful and you’ll have more time of relief in between the chills. It could be 1 chilling episode every 10 minutes or every 30 minutes but they will get shorter and will go away as time goes on.

To fight the chills:

-Spend the first 3-4 days in a tub filled with HOT HOT water for as long as you possibly can. You can actually get through the worse part of the withdrawals by staying in your tub filled with hot water all day and all night long… of course, you’ll need to get out every once in a while but then get back in and stay there. Keep your fingers and maybe toes raised above the water to avoid wrinkled prune skin.. You can even bring your TV into your bathroom and stay there for a while and relax…

-Go outside and do some running.
-Wear warm clothing to sweat out all of the toxins.
-Sit next to a portable heater.
-Eat packages of hot chicken soup.
-Drink Tylenol tea for fevers/flu or any flu/fever tea.
-Take hot showers through out the day.
-A hot bath is very effective for heroin withdrawal symptoms.

Bone pain and muscle cramps: You’ll experience severe pain in your bones, especially in your legs. This is the second worse part of withdrawals. Try not to punch your legs with your fist, instead massage them heavily. You can apply some Bengay and take strong muscle relaxers. Take ibuprofen and/or Moltrin at the highest miligram. These bone pains and muscle cramps will go away in time. Possibly 7 days or less.

To fight the bone pain and muscle aches:
-Massage you legs heavily.
-Apply Bengay or some other muscle soreness cream with heat.
-Take muscle relaxers.
-Take Ibuprofen or Motrin at the highest mg.

Runny nose, watering eyes and excessive yawning: There’s not much you can do here other than take some Nyquil and keep some tissues with you to blow your nose and wipe away the tears from your eyes.

To fight runny nose and watering eyes:

-Take extra strength Nyquil.
-Blow your nose with tissue frequently.
-Drink the Tylenol tea for fevers.

Loss of appetite: You won’t feel like eating anything and that’s ok for he first couple of days but try to at least eat some of those chicken soup packages they sell in the super markets. They’re cheap, easy and quick to make and they taste pretty good as well. If you can, drink lots of Gatorade and water. You’ll need to put something in your system in order to sustain yourself.

To fight loss of appetite:
-Eat, or at least try to eat.
-Eat packages of hot chicken soup.
-Eat bananas for potassium.
-Eat bran crackers.
-Eat hot solid foods. (you need solids in your system to help avoid diarrhea)

Insomnia and sleeplessness: Most likely you won’t get any sleep for the first 4 days. You’ll be lucky to get 1 hour per night. For this problem, you can take extra strength Nyquil, and melatonin which works as a natural sleeping aid. Along with melatonin, you can also take Valeria herbal capsules during the day and night to help calm your nerves.

Bring the T.V to your bedroom if you haven’t sold it already. Watching funny movies or sitcoms like Friends and Two and a Half Men can help you get thru the night. Time goes by faster when you're watching T.V. Or just lie on your bed thinking of what your life is going to be like after being free from heroin addiction.

 To fight insomnia and sleeplessness:
-Take Melatonin.
-Take Valeria capsules.
-Drink extra strength Nyquil night time medicine.
-Keep telling yourself that this will all be over soon.

Nausea and vomiting: You may not experience nausea and vomiting as this occasionally happens with heavy heroin users and addicts. If you start to feel nauseous then take 2 Alka Seltzers to help you out. Or go to your local pharmacy and buy some over the counter anti-vomiting/anti nausea medicine. But again, it’s all part of the withdrawal process.

To fight nausea and vomiting:
-Take 2 Alka Seltzers.
-Eat crackers and bread.
-Visit pharmacy to purchase anti-nausea/anti-vomiting medicine.

Diarrhea and stomach cramps: This may or may not happen to you. Drink plenty of liquids and try to at least eat crackers, bread with peanut butter or fruit for solid foods.

To fight diarrhea and stomach cramps:
-Drink Pepto-Bismol.
-Take anti- diarrhea pills. (go to your local pharmacy and buy some over the counter anti-diarrhea pills.
-Take Moltrin at the highest mg.

Depression: Of course you’re going to feel depressed going thru these symptoms knowing that with just one shot of dope it will all just go away. But don’t fall for it. One more shot of heroin will only continue to ruin your life forever. Try to watch some funny movies or sitcoms on TV. But whatever you do, don’t let yourself get depressed, instead, get happy, get excited. Be happy in knowing that finally you’re going to kick this nasty heroin habit, and when it’s all over with you will be a new person just released from the heroin prison system.

To fight depression:
-Take St Johns Wart
-DHEA is also administered in detox centers to decrease depression
-Watch funny TV.
-Think positive.
-Always think on the end results; what your life will be like when you’re finally off of heroin.
-Keep telling yourself, “I can do this!” Stay positive.

*Music is a major key and can be one of the most greatest tools at your disposal to help you get through withdrawal period. Try to listen to clean, decent, positive music all day long. (no rap, no hip hop, no house, no techno, no metal, no rock etc..)

Bad music will bring negative influence while good music put forth by the right people will bring positive influence, lift you up and help you greatly in so many ways, while going through withdrawals and even more so afterwards.

*I strongly recommend you visiting the following websites to learn more about the best types of music to listen to: www.rockabilly.us www.5060s.com *

You can also see some video clips on YouTube by click here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=RockabillyUS&view=videos

Before you quit, you should try to obtain the following products if you have the money to do so.

-Buy many packages of chicken noodle soup.
-Buy a new or used small portable heater to sit and sleep next to.
-Buy some Ibuprofen at the strongest mg along with any kind of muscle relaxers.
-Buy some Herbal Valeria capsules to relax you.
-Buy melatonin to help you get at least a few hours of sleep.

Vitamins to help with heroin withdrawal symptoms:

-L-Tyrosine (500 mg caps) can be purchased at any health food store.
-Vitamin B6 capsules.
-Tribulus enhances testosterone levels naturally
-Cayenne pepper capsules -AKA Heat Capsules.
-Wide-spectrum mineral supplement containing Zinc, Phosphorus, Copper, Magnesium and Potassium.

Keep a calendar on the wall and mark off the days as they go by i.e. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 “ “ “ etc..

So how do you quit heroin cold turkey?

You just do it! You make the decision to quit, plan your days carefully and then do it. This will most likely be the biggest battle you’ll ever face in your life. But the life long rewards are far greater than the temporary suffering you will face while going through the withdrawal symptoms.

It took me 6 months to feel my normal body again. I haven't touched heroin in over 15 years and I will never touch that or any type of drug ever again.

You can do it! Now go do it!

Jorge Fernandez,
HowtoQuitHeroin.com

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