Chitta de-addiction treatment

What chitta actually is

Chitta means white in Punjabi, and on the street it covers a range of white powders. Most of what circulates in this belt is heroin cut with other things, and in recent years a lot of it has been mixed with pharmaceutical opioids or worse. Nobody buying it knows what is in it, and the strength changes from one packet to the next.

It is taken by smoking on foil, by snorting, or by injection. Injection is where the real damage begins, because that is where the shared needles, the abscesses and the infections start.

What a family notices first

The money goes first. Small amounts at the beginning, then anything that is not locked up. Phones, jewellery, the tractor battery.

Then the sleeping pattern turns upside down. He is awake at night and sleeping through the day. He stops eating properly and loses weight quickly.

He becomes secretive about his phone and his friends, and he gets angry at questions he used to answer easily. Marks on the arms, burnt foil, or a constantly running nose are later signs.

Why stopping at home almost never works

Chitta withdrawal starts within eight to twelve hours of the last dose. Bone and muscle pain, cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, cold sweats, and a level of restlessness that people describe as unbearable. It peaks around the second or third day.

Opioid withdrawal is rarely fatal by itself, but it is severe enough that almost nobody gets through it alone at home. The person will say anything to get one more dose, and the family gives in because they cannot watch it. That is not weakness, it is what the drug does.

There is also a real danger after a gap. Tolerance drops fast, so somebody who relapses after two weeks clean and takes his old amount can overdose. A large number of deaths happen exactly this way.

How it is treated here

Medical detox under supervision for the first week or two, with medicine to control the withdrawal rather than leaving him to suffer through it. Staff are awake at night, because the nights are the worst part.

Our consultant psychiatrist examines every patient. With chitta there is very often depression or anxiety underneath, and if that is not treated the person goes home clean and comes back to the same mind.

After detox comes the longer part, about four months in total. Counselling every day, group sessions, family counselling, and a fixed daily routine with yoga, gym and sports. Relapse prevention before he goes home, and the family is told exactly what to watch for.

Before you call

It helps if you know roughly how long it has been going on, how much he is taking, whether he has been admitted anywhere before, and whether there have been fits or blackouts. Bring any medicines and reports with you. None of it is essential. Ring us either way.

Nothing you tell us goes anywhere else. No name and no photograph leaves this centre without written permission from the family.

Where this information comes from

This page is written at the centre and checked by our consultant psychiatrist before it goes up. Where we describe how a drug behaves or how withdrawal works, we follow published guidance from bodies such as the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS, and the World Health Organization. You can read our editorial policy.