Cocaine Abuse and Addiction

As we continue to write about the addiction crisis in this country, we have to discuss the cocaine use.

Illegal and highly addictive, cocaine is a drug that is made from the coca plant. It is also known by the following street names:

• C
• Crack
• Charlie
• Coke
• Candy
• Blow
• Bump
• Flake
• Rock
• Toot
• Snow

The drug comes in different forms, most commonly as a fine white powder. Crack cocaine is cocaine in the form of solid crystal rock.

Credit: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/hearth-liver-medic-hearth-stroke-1674896/

Most users snort cocaine in its white powder form. Others dissolve the drug in water, then use a needle to inject it into their bodies. People sometimes rub the powdered form of cocaine on their gums. Other cocaine users heat the solid rock of crack cocaine and inhale the smoke it produces into their lungs.

Doctors sometimes use cocaine as a local anesthetic. The name for this anesthetic is cocaine hydrochloride topical solution. Medical professionals apply this form of cocaine to different parts of the body, such as the throat, mouth, or nose to cause numbness. This numbness allows people to perform surgery or other medical procedures without causing pain.

What Are Some Signs of Cocaine Addiction?

• Addiction is characterized by:
• Abandoning life priorities
• Damaging relationships
• Encountering legal difficulties
• Experiencing problems discontinuing drug use despite consequences

Cocaine Withdrawal Symptoms

Unfortunately, quitting cocaine can cause a host of symptoms. That is why it is important to receive help during the detoxification (detox) and withdrawal process. Such symptoms may include:

• Restlessness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Exhaustion
• Slowed thinking
• Increased appetite
• Inability to experience pleasure
• Slowed activity
• Anxiety or depression
• Inability to feel sexual arousal
• Vivid dreams or nightmares
• Increased cravings for the drug
• Physical symptoms including nerve pain, tremors, chills, and muscle aches
• Suicidal actions or thoughts

Withdrawal Timeline

Severe [cocaine withdrawal symptoms[(http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/content/drugtreat-pubs-modpsy-toc~drugtreat-pubs-modpsy-3~drugtreat-pubs-modpsy-3-7~drugtreat-pubs-modpsy-3-7-cws) usually resolve between seven to ten days. But, the cravings for the drug may persist for a long time and develop suddenly, even after years of sobriety.

Cocaine has a fairly short half-life. People who are dependent on the drug may experience withdrawal symptoms just ninety minutes after their last dose. Various factors influence the withdrawal timeline of cocaine. They include:

Dosage Used
People who have used large amounts of drugs such as cocaine may experience severe withdrawal symptoms compared to those who abused lower doses.

Period of Use
Individuals who abuse cocaine over shorter periods may experience withdrawal symptoms for a short duration. On the other hand, people who have abused cocaine for several years may suffer from withdrawal symptoms that linger for longer periods.

Co-occurring Mental Health or Medical Issues
When people use drugs such as cocaine while suffering from mental-health disorders such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), or from medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, they may complicate their cocaine withdrawal symptoms.

Environment
If people use cocaine to cope with stressful situations, stress might cause them to want to use again. As such, environmental factors that may create strain, such as work problems, relationship issues, and other factors, may lead to intense cocaine cravings, further complicating the withdrawal process.

What are the Short-Term Effects of Cocaine?

Abusing cocaine may produce an intense, short-lived high. Following this intense, initial high, people may crave more of the drug and feel edgy and acutely depressed. People who use cocaine often do not sleep or eat properly. They may experience convulsions, muscle spasms, and increased heart rates. The drug may make someone feel anxious, angry, hostile, and paranoid even when they are not high.

Regardless of how frequently or how often people use cocaine, the drug increases the risks of respiratory failure, seizures, strokes, or heart attacks, all of which are potentially fatal.

Other effects may include:

• Nausea
• Dilated pupils
• Contraction of blood vessels
• Intense euphoria
• Hyperstimulation
• Extreme sensitivity to sight, touch, and sound

What Are the Long-Term Effects of Cocaine?

As people build a tolerance to cocaine, they feel the urge to take greater quantities to achieve the same high. Prolonged use of the drug may cause hallucinations and psychosis.

Other long-term effects may include:

• High blood pressure
• Bowel decay when swallowed
• Respiratory failure when smoked
• Lung, kidney, brain, and heart damage
• Damage of nose tissues when sniffed
• Irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain and heart
• Abscesses and infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV when injected
• Tooth decay
• Weight loss and malnutrition
• Tolerance and addiction (even if used only once)
• Runny nose, nosebleeds, trouble swallowing, and loss of smell when snorted

What Are the Effects of Combining Cocaine with Alcohol?

An extremely addictive drug, cocaine stimulates the central nervous system (CNS). On the other hand, alcohol is a CNS depressant. Some people mix cocaine and alcohol to counteract the side-effects of the two substances. Others use cocaine with alcohol to prolong the high and heighten the feeling of euphoria produced by the cocaine.

Whatever the reason for using cocaine with alcohol, the effects are hazardous. When the substances combine, they form a chemical known as cocaethylene. This chemical can cause liver disease and heart damage.

Cocaethylene can cause serious problems, including:

• Intracranial damage
• Cardiac arrhythmia
• Heart attack
• Death of brain tissue and blood vessels, which can cause aneurysms, strokes, or brain damage

Treatment for Cocaine Addiction

Addiction to cocaine or other drugs produces biological changes in a person’s brain and a myriad of psychological and social effects. Thus, cocaine addiction treatment is complex and should address various problems. Treatment plans should assess the pharmacological, psychobiological, and social aspects of drug abuse and addiction.

Withdrawal and cravings may be intense, but they can be treated with the right support and care. You can choose to receive treatment in an inpatient or outpatient program.

In residential or inpatient care, clients live in supervised settings. Clients stay inside facilities while undergoing treatment. Usually, the setting includes a staff of mental health and medical professionals. Detoxification (detox) may be necessary to remove toxic substances from clients' bodies and reduce the withdrawal symptoms in a supervised and safe environment.

Residential treatment centers typically have a home-like environment and clients focus solely on their recovery. Treatment approaches may include medical treatment, individual counseling, group therapy, and other types of treatment approaches.

In outpatient programs, clients live at home and continue with their daily routines while going for treatment as scheduled.

Behavioral Intervention

Behavioral treatment plans, both inpatient and outpatient, have been found to be quite effective in treating people who are addicted to cocaine. Recovery starts with a learning process that involves cutting ties with fellow cocaine users, ending harmful behaviors, and identifying triggers that cause people to abuse cocaine.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic approach to treat drug and alcohol abuse. This treatment method helps people abstain from abusing cocaine by helping them identify, avoid, and cope:

• People identify the situations where they are likely to abuse drugs
• People avoid those situations
• People learn coping methods and mechanisms to help them keep off drugs

Therapists encourage their clients to identify people, places, and circumstances that may trigger drug abuse. They work together to restructure the clients' lifestyles so they can avoid drugs and find healthy ways to cope with problems.

Counseling

Some of the most challenging aspects of recovery and treatment for cocaine addiction are the intense shame and guilt felt by many people suffering from addiction. They may experience guilt and shame because their drug use and other behaviors may conflict with their morals and values.

Engaging in affairs, stealing, lying, spending money on drugs, damaging relationships, getting in trouble with the law, and behaving violently may occur because of drug abuse. If people have done those things, they may find it hard to cope. The guilt from these acts may push people to continue abusing drugs. They may get high as a way to forget their shame and guilt. This high is only temporary, though, so they may use again and again in a destructive cycle.

Dealing with such issues is a painful process that takes time. Qualified counselors strive to create trusting relationships to create comfortable environments that encourage people to share. Honesty is crucial to help people face and resolve cocaine addiction and other issues in effective ways.

Charles Watson
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