• Champagne of drugs
• Caviar of drugs
• Status stimulant
• Cadillac of drugs

Cocaine is often associated with movie stars and famous musicians, and this association with glamour, influence and popularity draws in many young users. College is a time of new beginnings, as young adults try and discover who they are apart from their previous identities within their families and hometowns. Although this is a time of new opportunities and experiences, college is also a time of experimentation and may include drug abuse.

What Causes Cocaine Abuse among College Students?

Students face more pressure than ever before due to increases in academic demands between high school and college. Students may desire a release or a way to relieve stress, and they may find temporary relief through cocaine abuse. Another factor in college cocaine use is peer pressure. When a student wants to be involved with a certain group of peers, he or she may go to great lengths including cocaine abuse to find acceptance.

What Are the Effects of Cocaine?

When smoked or injected the effects of cocaine are almost instantaneous. Cocaine interferes with chemical messages in the brain and causes a chemical build-up that results in a high. Cocaine users may feel the following while under the influence:

• Powerful
• Important
• Energetic
• Alert
• Elevated

Long-term effects of cocaine are far more serious than these temporary feelings. Cocaine can result in the following:

• Paranoia
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Overdose

Cocaine Addiction Treatment

College students who are abusing cocaine can reach out for help at anytime. There is a network of addiction professionals and those in recovery who are eager and willing to help others overcome cocaine addiction. College students can end cocaine use with the aid of a drug rehab program. These programs can often be scheduled during summer or winter breaks, but taking a semester off to recover is not an unreasonable choice, especially when a life may depend on it. Cocaine addiction treatment involves medical treatment, counseling and various therapies. While attending treatment patients develop supportive relationships which help them maintain long-term addiction recovery.

Need Help Finding Treatment for Cocaine Abuse?

If you or someone you love is abusing cocaine, we can help. Call our toll-free helpline for instant support. Our trained counselors are standing by and waiting to hear from you. We can answer your questions about addiction and treatment, and we can verify insurance benefits for your rehab program of choice. We are available to talk 24 hours a day, so please call us anytime.

Cocaine is an illegal narcotic that is dangerous. The most alarming concern about cocaine use is that no one can tell what amount and what frequency of use could cause death.

Who Abuses Cocaine

Cocaine abuse impacts people of all ages. The following statistics reveal information about younger cocaine users:

• In 2008, the National Institute on Drug Abuses reported that 5.3 million Americans age 12 and older had abused cocaine. Of that group over 9% were teenagers as young as 8th grade.
• The rate of cocaine use by college students has increased from 2% to almost 5% over a 5 year period.
• 1 out of 4 Americans between the age of 26 and 34 have used cocaine at least once, which represents the highest percentage of cocaine use than any other age group.

3 Common Fears about Cocaine Recovery

Some factors regarding cocaine use and fear of recovery include the following:

• Fear of losing confidence after cocaine recovery. A surprising number of cocaine users started using the drug to build self-confidence. Shy, insecure people who use cocaine experienced the stimulating properties of the drug and felt more gregarious and outgoing. Thus, a cycle of addictive behavior began; starting with feelings of insecurity, taking cocaine and feeling confident, coming down from the cocaine high and feeling insecure again. Some people express the fact that they “like themselves better” when using cocaine.
• Fear of weight gain during or after cocaine recovery. Many cocaine users have used the drug to suppress their appetite and lose weight. Their new body image has had an impact on their self-esteem and they fear that without cocaine, they will lose these positive feelings about themselves.
• Fear of the unknown involved in cocaine recovery. Cocaine addicts may admit that they have a problem with cocaine, but they are unsure as to what steps to take to correct it. While abusing their mind, body, and spirit with cocaine is damaging, they are uncertain about how to seek help, what type of help they need, and whether they will be successful in recovery.

Helping Cocaine Addicts Address Their Fears

It is important for you to talk to the addict, especially if she is fearful about her cocaine abuse and uncertain about the benefits of rehab. Keeping in mind that the addict is fearful about the recovery process, it makes sense for you to gather as much information as you can about cocaine drug treatment options, different drug therapy strategies, and even a list of the benefits one can expect to receive when going through drug recovery.

By gathering this information, you will be prepared to answer questions that he may have, provide support in overcoming her fears, and give encouragement for her to make the decision to seek treatment. Whether you are a parent, teacher, counselor, minister or a friend, you want to approach the user in a calm and caring manner.

Get Help for Cocaine Abuse

Stop using cocaine before your use of it reaches dangerous levels. To be assured of confidentiality and to receive answers and information, call our toll-free helpline. We are available 24 hours a day. We want to help you find the right treatment program to handle cocaine abuse and we can provide you with options, information about insurance, and resources.

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 a mixture of cocaine and baking powder which creates a rock formation that is smoked. Cocaine can also be used by freebasing it, or mixing it with a strong alkali, before injecting or smoking the drug. When cocaine is snorted, it erodes the tissue in the nose and can lead to cancer. The damage cocaine causes to your nose is irreversible and will change your appearance forever. Crack cocaine is extremely damaging to the lungs. Freebasing can lead to the transmission of deadly diseases, circulatory problems and instant death. Mixing cocaine with alcohol or other drugs like ecstasy or LSD is hard on the heart and may lead to a heart attack. Both regular cocaine and crack cocaine are very addictive. There is no safe way to use cocaine.

Cocaine Will Damage Your Finances

Cocaine is one of the most expensive drugs available. A cocaine addiction can destroy your income and your ability to provide for yourself and your family. Cocaine is illegal in almost all parts of the world, and if you are caught with cocaine, you may face expensive legal fees, court fees and even jail time.

Cocaine Will Harm Your Children

If you are a potential mother, you should know that cocaine will enter your bloodstream and affect your baby. Your child can become dependent on cocaine in the womb. Cocaine can cause permanent developmental problems and mental retardation in unborn babies. Children who have parents who use cocaine are trapped in a devastating situation. Young children are often aware that something is wrong with their parent, but they are unable to change the situation. Cocaine can lead to child neglect, and a violent temper caused by cocaine use can lead to child abuse.

Cocaine Destroys Families

What does cocaine addiction do to the friends and family of the addicted person? How are your parents, your partner or your children affected? Are there any young people in your life who look up to you? Consider the impact of a cocaine addiction on the people who love you. If you do not seek help for yourself, seek help for those who care about you. Imagine the pride you will feel when you are clean and free from cocaine, and imagine sharing your success with the people you love.

Get Help for Cocaine Use Now

We offer a completely private 24 hour toll-free helpline to help you recover from cocaine addiction. Call us now to speak with an experienced recovery assistant about your treatment options, insurance coverage for rehab care, family counseling and more. All calls are confidential. Change what cocaine has done to you today; call now.

• Cocaine is used to self-medicate depression, anxiety and other mood disorders that originally led to a secluded lifestyle
• Cocaine provides feelings of grandeur that appeal to someone feeling inferior, flawed or overly self-conscious
• Isolation eliminates positive social networks where friends discourage drug use
• Cocaine is used to forget past traumas that encouraged isolation

The following are ways cocaine abuse leads to isolation:

• Cocaine users isolate themselves from those who want them to quit or who point out the negative aspects of cocaine use
• Cocaine use can lead to loss of employment and estrangement from loved ones
• Cocaine users become more interested in acquiring the drug than in social interaction
• Illicit drug use can result in arrest and court-ordered isolation behind bars
• Cocaine abuse affects finances thus limiting social activities
• Addiction causes physical deterioration and a less favorable appearance
• Cocaine users dislike traditional social settings, because they must refrain from use

Dangers of Cocaine and Isolation

A particular danger of co-occurring cocaine abuse and isolation is that isolation reduces a person’s willingness to ask for help. A secluded individual lacks a social network that would notice the changes, encourage treatment and provide support. In cases where isolation results from social anxiety, seeking help is especially difficult, because it forces people into the social situations that they find so uncomfortable. Isolation compounds the health problems caused by cocaine, just as the drug problem magnifies any social anxieties. Addressing both issues through integrated treatment is necessary for recovery.

Cocaine Addiction Recovery and Community

An important step to ending cocaine abuse or addiction is finding a positive recovery community or support group. These groups consist of counselors or other recovering users that will welcome any individual that is interested in getting better. Caring counselors can help with social anxiety, while a supportive community provides a whole new network of friends with similar values and goals. These networks provide real recovery that impacts all areas of your life.

Help Ending Cocaine Abuse and Isolation

We are here to help. Our staff understands cocaine abuse and isolation and can answer any questions with the utmost confidentiality and sensitivity. We are available 24 hours a day on our toll-free helpline, and we look forward to helping any way we can. End the cycle of cocaine addiction and isolation today; call now.

Why Can’t Someone Recover from Cocaine Addiction without Help?

One of the most vulnerable periods of a person’s recovery is shortly after a person has left a rehab treatment program. It is during this time that supportive relationships are most needed. Someone exiting cocaine addiction rehab may feel empowered by the treatment and begin to think that he or she can handle recovery and temptations alone. The person may start to think that he or she can handle cocaine use every now and then or believe he or she could use a different substance such as alcohol. This is when relapse becomes likely. No matter how great one’s rehab experience and training might have been, support is necessary to in remaining clean. A recovering cocaine user needs others to listen, encourage and hold him or her accountable. Isolation and recovery are never a successful combination, as together they will almost certainly lead a person back to drug use.

Who Can Someone in Cocaine Addiction Recovery Rely on for Support?

There are many people ready and waiting to help you recover from cocaine addiction. Be intentional in your relationships and be honest and open about your challenges. Accept help when it is offered. Family and friends want to see you succeed. You also need to be involved in a support group. While in a support group you can gain insight and encouragement from others who truly understand what you are going through. You can also find a sponsor to mentor you through the process of recovery. A mentor is someone who has been where you are and can teach you what to expect and how to overcome cocaine addiction cravings and temptations. Continue relationships with counselors and therapists who can help you overcome unhealthy thought processes and lifestyle patterns that may contribute to relapse. Any and all positive relationships can help you get and stay clean from cocaine. If a problem is discovered early, a total cocaine addiction relapse can often be prevented, before it becomes a larger problem. It is possible to lead a happy and healthy life after cocaine addiction, but it cannot be done alone. Reach out to those around you for support and allow them to help you reach your full potential.

Do You Need Cocaine Recovery Help?

Are you struggling to recover from cocaine addiction? Don’t try to make this difficult journey alone. Our trained counselors are available 24 hours a day to get you the help and support you need. Please call our toll-free helpline and learn about those who want to support your recovery. Get clean and stay clean from cocaine. Please call today.

Why Is Cocaine So Addictive?

After taking cocaine, a person will enter into a brief state of euphoria. Her senses will be elevated, her appetite-suppressed, and she will feel energized. However, the fun caused by cocaine is not worth the cost. Cocaine is so addictive that someone can become dependent after only one use.

Cocaine is a stimulant that floods the brain with a dopamine (the ‘pleasure’ chemical), creating the feeling of ecstasy. The mood is extremely short-lived – lasting a mere 15-20 minutes – before the user crashes back down to normality or even a state of slight depression. This cycle only motivates the individual to crave the drug more intensely in an attempt to regain the same level of pleasure.

What Cocaine Detoxification Does and Doesn’t Do

Make no mistake: detox is a much needed part of the recovery process. There are several different methods to rid the body of drugs. Yet because each person is different, there is no universal method of detox. However, the type that has proved most successful is a combination of tapered drug usage under medical assistance and group therapy/individual counseling sessions.

A big problem with stopping treatment after detox is that detox by itself does not prepare the user for life afterward. It is critical to recover because it smoothes the transition back into normality and works to build a defense against any relapses that may be initiated from withdrawal symptoms.

How to Stay Clean from Cocaine in the Long-Run

The length of time a patient spends in treatment is directly related to improvements in follow-up outcomes. This does not mean that a patient would be forced to stay in a rehab center for a long period of time. Instead, much of the treatment can be continued through outpatient procedures and continual contact with guidance counselors and specialists. Staying clean is all about changing your life and sticking with it, which is exactly why it is important to rely on treatment specialists until the recovery process is 100% complete.

Taking the Next Step toward Life-Long Sobriety

If you or someone you love is addicted to cocaine, we can help you get clean and stay that way. Please call our toll-free helpline today to receive more information about cocaine addiction treatment. We are available 24 hours a day to help you find the recovery solutions you need. Life is too short to waste on addiction. Call us today.

The Relationship between Cocaine Addiction and Mood Disorders

Cocaine addiction and mood disorders are related in the following ways:

• Animal research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows a correlation between high levels of stress-related anxiety and cocaine use. Rats that were placed under stress learned to give themselves cocaine at twice the rate of non-stressed animals. It is likely that the findings translate into the human population and that anxiety plays a role in cocaine abuse for many people.
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) reports that cocaine is used by those suffering from bipolar disorder in both phases of their condition. They note that it is used more often during manic phases than during depressive episodes. People suffering from mania often use the drug to further enhance their feelings of wellbeing.
• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists 10 cocaine-induced psychiatric disorders. These include cocaine-induced mood disorders and cocaine-induced anxiety disorders. Mood changes may be depressive, manic or mixed, and suicidal ideation may be present with both cocaine-induced mood and anxiety disorders.
• SAMHSA reports that the co-occurrence rate of substance abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder is high, and either condition can increase the risk of developing the other. Substance abuse treatment facilities have often failed to adequately screen and treat trauma disorders.
• SAMHSA notes that adults suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity are twice as likely to have a substance abuse disorder as those without the condition.

Integrated Treatment for Mood Disorders and Cocaine Addiction

In the past it was believed that when cocaine addiction and a mood disorder co-occurred, treating one part of the equation would automatically improve the other. Today it is understood that patients with a Dual Diagnosis of an addiction and a mood disorder need integrated treatment in which all identified physical and emotional health needs are treated concurrently, preferably in the same facility and in a coordinated manner. Addressing both sides of the equation greatly improves treatment outcomes. Treatment may include medications and will include counseling and education. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, motivational enhancement and relapse prevention are common components of treatment.

Get Help with Cocaine Addiction and Mood Disorders

If you are in need of integrated treatment for cocaine addiction and a mood disorder, we can help you find the treatment program that is right for you. Our toll-free helpline is staffed around the clock, and we can answer your questions, discuss your options and check your insurance coverage if desired. Call today, and let us help you take a step toward a new life.

Get Your Life Back from Cocaine Addiction

If you have successfully completed treatment for cocaine addiction, you know that the weeks following rehab can be harder than the actual rehab process. Recovering cocaine users will have to fight cravings and relearn how to live without cocaine.

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of cocaine addiction recovery is a focus on nutrition and fitness. A body that is strong and healthy will help the mind fight cravings and resist relapse. Setting goals for personal fitness and nutrition can also provide distraction and direction. Getting your life back from cocaine involves getting your body back as well.

Another way to fight cravings and rediscover life without cocaine is to surround yourself with a consistent network of support and accountability. This support network can consist of any individuals that support you and your new drug-free life and may include the following:

• Doctors
• Therapists
• Close friends
• Family members
• Peers in recovery

A consistent network of support and accountability combined with a focus on rediscovering a drug-free life can go a long way in fighting cravings and avoiding a relapse.

Need Help Finding Additional Resources for Rehabilitation?

If you or someone you care about has become addicted to cocaine and wants to rediscover life after addiction, we can help. We are available 24 hours a day to take your calls, answer your questions and provide you with quality options for rehab and recovery resources. The call is free, so please do not hesitate to call us today.

How Cocaine Affects Your Brain

Like many drugs, cocaine is an effective pain killer also promotes feelings of ease and euphoria. It also, over time, changes the way the chemicals in the brain function. As a result, the person who is addicted will experience the following side effects:

• Tolerance for the drug
• Impulsive cravings for the drug
• Inability to control these cravings
• Use of the drug despite clearly dangerous and harmful effects

Cocaine Addiction as a Disease

Cocaine addiction is defined as a disease. The following are characteristics of addiction:

• Despite good intentions, the addicted person cannot, through willpower, change her brain chemistry. As a result of long-term drug use, the brain chemistry changes as it adapts to the drugs. This adaptation cannot be changed; it does not simply disappear through an act of the will.
• Addiction as a disease therefore is best overcome through medical supervision. Because there are changes to the body, specifically to the brain, a treatment program that addresses these changes is far superior and more effective than merely quitting “cold turkey.”
• Addiction as a disease implies that research will lead to more effective treatments. Since the addiction is a chemical, physical issue, scientists can study these bodily changes and test various treatments.
• Addiction affects thinking and decision-making. The drugs that lead to serious addiction affect the brain in ways that hamper learning, interfere with memory, and distort rational and common-sense decision-making. Again, this happens in spite of native or natural intelligence and even strong intentions otherwise.

Factors that Affect Cocaine Addiction

The following are factors that affect cocaine addiction and recovery:

• Genetic inheritance: The biology of one’s genetic makeup has some effect on a predisposition to addiction
• Development: If there is exposure or use of the drug at early stages of development, there appears to be a greater likelihood of addiction in adulthood
• Situation: The environment can influence drug use through social pressure

The social and cultural pressures of life today can contribute to the spread of the disease of addiction. The stresses of life and the way that drugs are accepted as “solutions” of first resort to our problems creates an social environment that makes drug use—and misuse—more common.

Help Finding Cocaine Addiction Treatment

To learn more about how addiction can be a disease, and how this disease can be treated, call our toll-free helpline, which is open 24 hours a day. We can help you reclaim your life. It is never too late; call now.

Effects of Cocaine Addiction

Animal studies have shown the powerful nature of cocaine addiction. One study found animals were willing to press a bar over 10,000 times to receive a single dose, while another showed an animal’s willingness to suffer a fatal overdose rather than limit its intake. Likewise, human studies have shown physical changes in an addict’s brain structure that affect learning skills. Other physical effects can include the following:

• High blood pressure
• Increased heart rate
• Nausea
• Convulsions
• Insomnia
• Damage to the nose and lungs
• Heart attack
• Stroke

Cocaine can cause a sudden heart attack in a person who is otherwise not at risk. Taking cocaine and alcohol is especially dangerous, as it makes each substance more toxic and results in more drug-related deaths than any other dual drug combination. Among illicit drugs, cocaine is the most common drug present in emergency room visits.

Cocaine Addiction Treatment

Cocaine addiction withdrawal symptoms can include the following:

• Depression
• Fatigue
• Emotional outbursts
• Insomnia
• Intense anxiety

Medically supervised detox services can help minimize the discomfort of withdrawal. Moreover, proper treatment is important to achieve a lasting recovery. The following are some of the ways in which proper treatment can help:

• Minimize the unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal
• Check for any potential health risks or damage
• Break the grip of the psychological addiction
• Help repair any damage caused to personal relationships
• Prepare a person to handle friends who still use cocaine
• Find encouragement from others overcoming the same addiction
• Provide life tools to resist a relapse in the future

In addition to being a serious health hazard cocaine is also an expensive habit, and it can wreak havoc in one’s family, social circle and employment. However, with the right help there is always hope for recovery.

Ending Cocaine Addiction

If you or a loved one is struggling with cocaine addiction, we are here to help 24 hours a day. We are happy to answer any questions about addiction and recovery and can help you find the program that will meet your recovery needs. We can even check your health insurance plan to see if it covers cocaine addiction treatment. Call us today, and end cocaine addiction.