This can decrease the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain, a condition called hypoxia. When people overdose on heroin, their breathing often slows or stops. Heroin overdoses have increased in recent years. A heroin overdose occurs when a person uses enough of the drug to produce a life-threatening reaction or death.

Also, sharing drug injection equipment and having impaired judgment from drug use can increase the risk of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis (see 'Injection Drug Use, HIV, and Hepatitis'). Heroin often contains additives, such as sugar, starch, or powdered milk, that can clog blood vessels leading to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain, causing permanent damage. mental disorders such as depression and antisocial personality disorder.lung complications, including pneumonia.abscesses (swollen tissue filled with pus).infection of the heart lining and valves.damaged tissue inside the nose for people who sniff or snort it.collapsed veins for people who inject the drug.People who use heroin over the long term may develop: Read more about the connection between heroin and these diseases in our Heroin Research Report. HIV (and less often HCV) can also be contracted during unprotected sex, which drug use makes more likely. HCV is the most common bloodborne infection in the Unites States. These diseases are transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluids, which can occur when sharing needles or other injection drug use equipment.

People who inject drugs such as heroin are at high risk of contracting the HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) virus. going 'on the nod,' a back-and-forth state of being conscious and semiconscious.However, there are other common effects, including: People who use heroin report feeling a 'rush' (a surge of pleasure, or euphoria). Read more about this intertwined problem in our Prescription Opioids and Heroin Research Report.

This suggests that prescription opioid misuse is just one factor leading to heroin use. In a study of those entering treatment for opioid use disorder, approximately one-third reported heroin as the first opioid they used regularly to get high. 1-3 More recent data suggest that heroin is frequently the first opioid people use. Data from 2011 showed that an estimated 4 to 6 percent who misuse prescription opioids switch to heroin 1-3 and about 80 percent of people who used heroin first misused prescription opioids. Research suggests that misuse of these drugs may open the door to heroin use. Prescription opioid pain medicines such as Ox圜ontin ® and Vicodin ® have effects similar to heroin.

Bad heroines