Cocaine is a drug obtained from the leaves of the coca bush, native to South America. Consumption is addictive and also illegal.
Cocaine is a stimulant drug, which means that it provides energy and increases alertness. This drug acts on the neural connections in the brain, providing a state of euphoria, energy. Being a highly addictive substance, cocaine addiction sets in quickly, after being tried several times. Cocaine addiction is both physical and mental.
Cocaine can be consumed in several ways: by inhalation through the nose (snoring), by injection into a vein, but also by the genital or oral route. Cocaine can also be smoked, in its processed form called crack. The harmful effects are the same, regardless of the method of consumption.
Cocaine is just one of the most expensive medicines, as well as drug addiction can be exceptionally expensive. Often, cocaine is mixed with various powders to make the trafficker earn more. These powders include baking soda, flour, starch, sugar, detergents, talcum powder or amphetamines.
What are the effects of cocaine addiction?
After entering the body, cocaine releases a large dose of dopamine into the brain, providing a euphoric state. However, the state of euphoria does not persist long, so the consumer feels the need for another dose, often higher than the first.
Cocaine prevents dopamine and other similar neurotransmitters, including serotonin, from going to other nerve cells, which means they build up in the brain and the sensation of pleasure intensifies. This drug reduces the need for sleep and food.
Frequent cocaine use creates a tolerance to this drug, which means that the dose should be increased, and as the amount consumed increases the risk of mental manifestations such as paranoia, panic, hallucinations, anxiety, depression, aggression, abnormal behavior.
Among the physical side effects of cocaine are weight loss, tachycardia, nausea, abdominal pain, headache, arrhythmias, heart attack, stroke.
Cocaine increases the risk of respiratory illness, hepatitis or intestinal complications.
How to recognize a person who has used cocaine
The main signs that betray cocaine use are:
- Agitation
- Enthusiasm
- disinhibition
- hyperactivity
- Cold-like symptoms, especially rhinorrhea
- Muscle spasms
- Changing the state of concentration
Cocaine addiction on the body
This drug affects the neural connections in the brain. Repeated consumption affects the areas of the brain associated with pleasure, memory and the ability to make decisions. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult for the consumer to give up.
People addicted to alcohol or other drugs, people with a family history of use, and those with mental illness are at boosted risk of developing a drug addiction.
Cocaine-dependent treatment
Cocaine addiction is a complex disorder, with physical, mental, social and family implications. There are a number of methods that can help the addict treat himself.
Admission to a rehab clinic in Islamabad is an effective method of treatment. The patient may need a few months of treatment and supervision or maybe even a whole year, but at discharge, he will be healed. Such clinics use both drug treatment and psychological counseling, as well as support groups, vocational guidance sessions or other types of therapy such as music therapy.
Behavioral therapies are also needed to treat cocaine addiction, targeting the psychological causes that led to the first phase of use. Cognitive-behavioral therapy will shape the thinking of the drug addict so that he or she no longer feels the need for stimulants.
Medicine treatment made use of to treat cocaine dependency can treat associated troubles, such as clinical depression. There are no medications to deal with cocaine addiction.
Sports, acupuncture, hypnosis and any other alternative method that the patient believes in can help him solve his drug problems.
Cocaine withdrawal – how it manifests itself
Here’s how cocaine withdrawal works:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Extreme fatigue
- Concentration problems
- Overwhelming feeling of hunger
- nightmares
- Drug craving
- Muscle aches, joint pain, chills
How cocaine overdose is manifested
Because the body feels the need for an increased dose, the consumer is at risk of overdose. This is often fatal, causing a heart attack or stroke.
Here are the first signs of an overdose:
- Heavy sweating, tachycardia
- Breathing problems
- Chest pain
- Nausea, vomiting
- Confusion
- Trembling
- Anxiety, panic, paranoia
- hallucinations
- Raving
