What Does Heroin Feel Like?

How Does a Heroin High Feel Like?

Heroin is commonly used for its rewarding effects, which can initially be intense and include reduced anxiety, depression, and pain. Heroin can be very effective at self-medication for physical or mental issues and serve as an emotional escape. Unfortunately, this comes with a price, as it also produces a false sense of safety and well-being, regardless of the risks faced in the environment or to one’s body.

All these effects result from how heroin acts with the brain and central nervous system (CNS), as it attaches to opioid receptors, which release chemicals that cause the desired changes in feelings and sensations. However, heroin’s intense effects become more difficult to achieve when used regularly, a condition also known as tolerance. (2) When this occurs, the user will require increasing amounts of the drug to experience the same high they were formerly able to achieve at lower doses.

Euphoria, Pleasure, & Well-Being

Many illicit drugs are used because they induce intense happiness, pleasure, and well-being. Also referred to as euphoria, these feelings are significantly greater than what people can experience in their everyday lives. Various factors, including the release of certain neurochemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin, can cause euphoria. (3) Heroin and other opioids are particularly effective at eliciting these effects. Unfortunately, over time, this causes dependence, which results in a person’s inability to quit using without experiencing severe withdrawal effects and cravings.

Pain Reduction

In addition to causing euphoria, opioids reduce pain perception by blocking the transmission of pain signals in the brain and spinal cord. When opioids attach to brain receptors, they interfere with the processing of pain signals and lessen the intensity of perceived pain. This can provide significant relief for people experiencing chronic or severe pain. However, this reduction in pain comes with the same risks as any other associated with long-term heroin use, such as tolerance, physical dependence, overdose, and other adverse health effects.

How Long Do the Effects of a High Last?

Heroin can produce a high that typically lasts several hours. However, the high’s duration and intensity are impacted by factors, such as the amount used, the method of administration, and the individual’s tolerance level and metabolism. Intravenous injection, the most popular method of administration, results in a high that onsets within just a few seconds, with intense effects peaking shortly thereafter. This is also the most dangerous method due to the increased risk of overdose, bacterial infections, endocarditis, and viral diseases such as HIV/AIDS. (4)

Other methods of use, such as smoking or snorting, take longer to manifest (5-15 minutes). Peak effects are also described as being intense but usually less so than injection. Feelings produced by any method of use are similar, including relaxation, warmth, euphoria, and drowsiness.