Heroin users typically use small quantities of new material to determine potency and reduce the risk of overdose. Common IV doses generally fall between 5 and 10 mg smoked heroin doses may range from 15 to 25 mg. Another major problem is that strong physical addiction and unreliable access to the drug can result in withdrawal symptoms, including shaking, an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, physical discomfort or pain, inability to sleep, use of other sedatives and depressants to reduce the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, diarrhea, cold flashes, and a strong desire to find and take any opiate of any quality. Dose depends greatly on the purity of the heroin and level of tolerance. Other health problems associated with recurring use of heroin are: insomnia, depression, weight gain, and general health decline with worsening diet. Intra-Venous (IV) drug use can lead to exposure to viral hepatitis and other serious, life-threatening diseases, injection site infections, collapsed and scarred/hardened veins, damage to heart, and related issues. Those addicted to heroin will often have lasting health complications not from the direct pharmacological effects of the drug itself, but from injuries, diseases, and traumas that occured as a result of intoxication and willingness to engage in risky behavior while high, to achieve the heroin high, or to acquire the substance. The most commonly described long term problems associated with heroin are addiction, physical dependence, and compulsive behaviors related to addiction.

Major problems associated with repeated recreational use of heroin include loss of interest in other activities (a type of anhedonia), increase in amount of pain medications (especially opiates) needed for medical purposes, and side problems from over use of central nervous system depressants.

I doser heroin