Cocaine

Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine causes addiction by altering the chemical composition of the brain.
The drug stimulates the brain’s reward pathway, increasing a person’s
motivation to repeat the pleasure-inducing use of cocaine and ultimately
resulting in dependence and addiction.

 Commonly Used Names

Nowadays, cocaine is a worldwide, multibillion-dollar enterprise. Clients incorporate all ages, occupations and monetary dimensions, even schoolchildren as youthful as eight years of age. Cocaine use can lead to death from respiratory disappointment, stroke, cerebral discharge bleeding in the brain or heart assault. Offspring of cocaine-dependent moms appear on the scene as addicts themselves. Many patients suffer from congenital disabilities and many people face other problems. Despite its dangers, cocaine use continues to increase, likely because users find it difficult to escape from the first steps taken down the long dark road that leads to addiction.

Quick Facts: COCAINE

ABUSE POTENTIAL:

COCAINE

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

BENZOYLMETHYLECGONINE

DRUG CLASS:

STIMULANT

STREET NAMES::

COKE, BLOW, WHITE, YAYO, SNOW

SIDE EFFECTS:

APPETITE LOSS, WEIGHT LOSS, IMPOTENCE,
IRRITABILITY, HEADACHES, REPRODUCTIVE DAMAGE,
CONVULSIONS AND SEIZURES

HOW IT’S USED:

SNORTED, INJECTED, SMOKED

 How do people use cocaine?

Some people grunt cocaine powder through the nose, or they rub it into their gums. Others dissolve the powder and infuse it into the circulatory system. A few people introduce a blend of cocaine and heroin, called a speed ball. Another method is to smoke cocaine that has been processed to make a rock crystal also called “freebase cocaine”. The crystal is heated to produce vapors that behavior into the lungs. This form of cocaine is called crack which refers to the cracking sound of the rock as it’s heated. People also smoke crack by sprinkling it on marijuana or tobacco and smoking like a cigarette. People are keen to use cocaine often, take it in binges, i.e., taking drugs repeatedly within a short interval of time to which maintain their high.

10,930 PEOPLE

In 2013, 10,930 people
were arrested for drug
violations.

753 PEOPLE

753 people were admitted
for treatment of cocaine
addiction in Alabama

20 Percent

Drug Overdose death rates
In Alabama jumped 20%
From 2013 to 2014

HEY, NEED HELP WITH COCAINE ADDICTION?

Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face, but you don’t have to face it alone.

 How does cocaine work on the body?

how long does meth stay in your system

The drug sends high levels of dopamine, a natural chemical messenger within the parts of your body, within the elements of your mind that control pleasure. This build-up causes intense feelings of energy and alertness called high.

 How does cocaine use lead to addiction?

Similarly, as with different medications, rehashed utilization of cocaine can cause long haul changes in the mind’s reward circuit and other brain systems, which may lead to addiction. The reward circuit, in the long run, adjusts to the extra dopamine caused by the medication, becoming relentlessly less sensitive. Accordingly, people take more grounded and increasingly visit dosages to feel a similar high they did at first and to acquire help from withdrawal.

 

Physical signs of a cocaine overdose:

 

Increased sweating, body temperature, or heart rate

Nausea or vomiting

Confusion, seizure, tremors.

 

Short-term effects of cocaine:

 

Mental alertness

Hypersensitivity to sight, sound, and touch

Irritability

Paranoia-extreme and irrational distrust of others.

 

Long-term effects:

 

Snorting: Loss of the sense of smell, nose bleeding, constantly runny nose, and other problems with swallowing.

Smoking: a Cough, asthma, respiratory distress, and a higher risk of infections like pneumonia.

If you are consuming the drug by mouth, severe bowel decay from reduced blood flow.

Needle injection: high chances of HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne diseases, skin or tissue infections, as well as scarring or collapsed veins.

Accordingly, people take more grounded and increasingly visit dosages to feel a similar high they did at first and to acquire help from withdrawal. A lot of cocaine can prompt unusual, unpredictable and violent behavior.However, People involved with non-needle cocaine use place themselves at risk for HIV because cocaine impairs judgment, which can lead to risky sexual behavior with infected partners.

 

 

When does a cocaine overdose occur?

 

 

An overdose happens when an individual uses sufficient medication to create positive antagonistic impacts, dangerous side effects, or death. An overdose can be intentional or unintentional.Death from overdose can take place on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly after that. Some people use cocaine and also likes to drink alcohol at the same time, which is quite risky, and it can lead to overdose. Others mix coke with heroin is also another dangerous and deadly combination.Some of the most severe and frequent health consequences of overdose are heart attacks, irregular heart rhythm, seizures, and chances of the stroke too. Other symptoms of cocaine overdose are difficulty in breathing, high BP, elevated body temperature, hallucinations, and extreme agitation or anxiety.

 

 

How can cocaine overdose be treated?

 

 

No specific medication can reverse a cocaine overdose. Some treatment and rehab management involves support, care and depends on the symptoms present. For instance, because of a cocaine overdose, often leads to heart attack, or seizures, first responders and emergency room, doctors try to treat the patient by treating these conditions, with the intent of:Restoring blood flow to the heart (heart attack), Restoring oxygen-rich blood supply to the affected part of the brain stroke, Stopping the seizure.

 

Treatment for cocaine addiction: 

 

 

Cognitive behavioral therapy,Contingency administration or the motivational incentives, they provide rewards to patients who want to be drug-free, Therapeutic communities- drug-free residences; in which people start recovery from substance use disorders to help one another and experience their change in behaviors, Community-based recovery groups; 12-step programs.

 

Counselling is one of the most common treatment and a prior step for cocaine addiction. You may need to stay in a treatment center for rehabilitation. Sessions with a trained therapist can help you make changes in your behavior and thought processes. Medical detox centers can help your body adjust to treatment, but you’ll probably have to pay for them out of your pocket. Most insurers don’t cover hospitalization for withdrawal anymore. No medicines are approved to treat cocaine addiction. The researcher centers are testing some treatments which have been used to treat other disorders, as mentioned below: Disulfiram: Use to treat alcoholism, Modafinil: Use to treat narcolepsy- a disorder characterized by uncontrollable episodes of deep sleep,Lorcaserin: Use to treat obesity, Buprenorphine: Use to treat opioid addiction.

HEY, NEED HELP WITH COCAINE ADDICTION?

Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face, but you don’t have to face it alone.