What Cocaine Addiction Does to a Person

Almost everyone is familiar with cocaine. It may seem like cocaine is available everywhere you look, but it is important to know how cocaine can affect your life. If you or someone you love is struggling with cocaine use, we would like to help. How You Use Cocaine Determines How It Damages Your Body There are different ways to use cocaine, and those different ways impact your body differently. Cocaine is most commonly found in a powdered form which is snorted through the nose. Crack cocaine is...

Isolation and Cocaine Abuse

Cocaine is often viewed as a social drug used to get high with friends and continue partying for long hours. However cocaine abuse often leads to isolation. Though one is social and the other chemical, isolation and cocaine have synergistic effects in which each makes the other worse. Each condition can lead to the other, and people driven to cocaine abuse by isolation are just as common as those driven to isolation through cocaine. The following are ways in which isolation can lead to cocaine...

How to Overcome Cocaine Cravings

Cocaine, obtained from the leaves of the coca plant, is a highly addictive stimulant drug. Cocaine can be smoked, snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Cocaine increases a user’s energy and mental alertness but is a dangerous substance that may lead to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, heart attack or stroke. Among recovering cocaine addicts, common causes of relapse are drug cravings. Cocaine withdrawal leads to powerful psychological cravings. Physical withdrawal causes a...

How Culture Influences Cocaine Abuse

Cocaine is a stimulant that provides a person with a false sense of empowerment and energy. Unfortunately each time a person consumes cocaine they are putting their life on the line, because no one can tell which dose could be the last. Since your body can become tolerant to a certain amount of cocaine, users often increase their dosage in an attempt to regain the intense feelings they originally experienced. This brings users closer to an overdose and increases the negative effects of the...

What Happens When Cocaine Addicts Don’t Get Treatment?

Cocaine is a stimulant drug that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. Cocaine abuse quickly grows into a debilitating addiction that only becomes more serious over time. Cocaine addiction, if left untreated, has powerful negative effects on the human body. Cocaine users face any or all of the following medical risks: Heart disease Respiratory failure Strokes Seizures Fatality Constricted blood vessels Hypertension Nasal cavity damage Sudden rapid weight loss Significantly shorter...

How Dangerous Is Cocaine Abuse?

Derived from the leaves of the coca bush found in the highlands of South America, cocaine is a potent central nervous system stimulant that gives the user a feeling of heightened awareness, invulnerability, confidence and energy, but it speeds heart and respiratory rates to potentially deadly levels. Users experience powerful psychological addictions quickly, as the drug hyper-stimulates the “reward center” of the brain. Though users will not suffer physical withdrawal symptoms such as...

Secret Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine can initially seem to provide pleasure and relief but quickly becomes dangerous. Cocaine abuse is a  problem that affects people of all ages. A 2008 study by the National Institute for Drug Abuse found that 4.4% of 12th graders had abused cocaine. In the same year, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, there were more than 118,000 hospital emergency room visits related to drug use by adults over age 50, and cocaine was the most common drug involved. Signs of Cocaine...

How to Approach a Cocaine Addict

In 2008, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 5.3 million Americans age 12 or older had used cocaine in some form, and 1.1 million had used crack at least once in the previous year. Aside from being extremely addictive, cocaine is also illegal and associated with criminal activity. If someone close to you is addicted to cocaine, it is important that you act. It can be hard to know what to do, what to say and how to say it. The following information can help you approach a...

4 Causes of Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine is an extremely addictive narcotic that stimulates the nervous system. Cocaine gives users increased energy and an immediate euphoria. Cocaine is an illegal substance but is still widely abused. It was most popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but while use of cocaine has decreased slightly in recent years, it is still a significant problem. Possible Causes of Cocaine Addiction What causes individuals to become addicted to a drug? Drug addictions are more complex than they appear to be on...

How Cocaine Abuse Affects Families

Cocaine abuse destroys people’s lives. It affects not only the lives of users but also inflicts much emotional and psychological pain on friends and family members. What Families Can’t Do: End Cocaine Abuse for a Loved One The family members of a cocaine user suffer emotionally as they watch someone they love sink further and further into abuse and addiction. Often loved ones will feel conflicted with how to best help the addict. Worry for the safety of the addict may drive loved ones to...

Cocaine Addiction in the Workplace

Addiction in the workplace is a problem that many have witnessed if not experienced. Addiction does not discriminate based on salary. Addiction can strike the cashier or the CEO. While the specific effects of addiction vary based on individual backgrounds, circumstances and living conditions, any addiction will impact a person’s life in and outside of work. Cocaine is a potent central nervous system stimulant that blocks the reabsorption of the chemical dopamine. This results in a continuous...

The Progression of Cocaine Addiction

Smoking or injecting cocaine results in an instantaneous high. Olfactory tissues increase the likelihood of rapid intoxication, making snorting another desirable method. No matter the method of use, cocaine enters the bloodstream rapidly. When the cocaine reaches the brain it may cause an increased sense of energy or alertness, an extremely elevated mood or a feeling of authority. Less desirable highs can cause irritability, paranoia, restlessness and anxiety. The following are some statistics...

Cocaine Addiction and Mental Health Issues

Cocaine is one of the most powerful substances abused today. Its intense mental and physical effects can make it difficult to properly diagnosis a person who may have a co-occurring mental health issue. Co-occurring cocaine addiction and mental health issues are common, and both are considered diseases and will need focused attention and treatment. Cocaine may cause mental health issues or may exacerbate existing conditions, but, either way, integrated treatment will be necessary for a full...

Cocaine Relapse

Cocaine relapse can happen at different points in the recovery process for individuals. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that perpetuates a strong physical craving for more. Living in fear of relapse does not have to be a way of life for those breaking the cycle of addiction. Being able to recognize the variety of trigger points and avoiding them will help individuals steer clear of using again. However, without the proper and thorough completion of an effective cocaine rehab treatment,...

Cocaine Addiction Advice

Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that drastically alters a user’s mental state as well as physiologically affects a user’s brain. Cocaine is so addictive that, when tested on animals in lab experiments, rats and monkeys have chosen cocaine over food to the point of starvation, or pressed a feeder bar over 12,000 times for one more hit. Recognizing signs and symptoms of addiction coupled with seeking the correct form of treatment can help free an addict from such a destructive drug. (see...