Facts About Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine is currently the most abused stimulant in the United States. The use of cocaine is certainly not new in this country. The drug was wildly popular in the 1970s and 80s among partygoers, but its prominence as a recreational drug has risen sharply in the past few years, thrusting it once again into the spotlight.

How Addictive Is It?

Even though some people believe that cocaine really isn’t addictive because use of the drug doesn’t cause withdrawal symptoms, the fact of the matter is that cocaine contains extremely powerful psychological addictive properties. Why else would so many people start using the drug and find themselves unable to stop when they feel like it?

Cocaine addiction can develop in a person after just one use. There is no definitive time table to indicate exactly how many doses or uses a person has to experience before succumbing to addiction. Some people are able to use cocaine casually over an extended period of time without becoming addicted. They are even able to stop using the drug without suffering any immediate ill-effects.

For others, however, one single use of cocaine can propel them into a vicious cycle of dependency that compels them to continue using the drug whether or not they really want to. Once that cycle has developed, most people tend to start using cocaine in conjunction with sedatives such as heroin, valium or alcohol.

What Causes Cocaine Addiction?

Researchers have long believed that addictive patterns develop in people who are predisposed to addiction because of their genetic background and environment. For example, people who come from family environments that are considered to be high risk are more likely to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. While this does not necessarily mean that all people with a certain genetic background or environment will become addicts, it is certainly information that people need to be aware of from a very young age.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has identified a certain process in the brain that may help shed additional light on the exact cause of cocaine addiction. According to scientists, repeated exposure to cocaine results in a change in genes that prompts altered levels of a certain brain protein to develop. The brain protein regulates the activities of dopamine, a naturally occurring brain chemical that regulates emotion and movement.

Dopamine is also associated with the pleasurable rush that cocaine users experience when using the drug, so it is believed that this connection may very well hold the key to explaining cocaine addiction.

Effects of Cocaine on the Body

Cocaine ultimately affects every part of the human body. Some of the most noticeable and profound effects, however, are on the central nervous system and the brain. Some common symptoms of cocaine addiction include the following:

• Increased energy
  Decreased appetite
  Euphoria
  Excitement
  Feelings of increased physical and mental strength
  Excessive good mood
  Vertigo
  Headache
  Sweating
  Muscle spasms
  Mania
  Psychosis

Cocaine also affects the ears, nose and throat in a variety of unpleasant ways. Because most users choose to snort or sniff cocaine through the nose, nasal and sinus conditions are usually present in regular users, as are the following:

• Nasal irritation
  Frequent nosebleeds
  Nasal stuffiness
  Sinusitis
  Hoarseness
  Nasal crusting

These symptoms are most always found in people who use cocaine, and in some cases, these seemingly minor conditions can develop into very serious medical problems. Because of the decreased blood supply to the septum of the nose, cocaine users can develop a hole in this area that causes a nose “whistle” with each breath.

In addition, cocaine addicts tend to overuse over-the-counter nasal decongestant sprays in an attempt to relieve their chronically stuffy noses. This leads to a host of additional problems. For one thing, nasal decongestant sprays are highly addictive on their own. For another, these sprays narrow or even close blood vessels, which contributes to drying and crusting problems.

The cardiovascular system is also greatly affected by cocaine. Cocaine users frequently experience rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, the narrowing of blood vessels and chest pains (angina). In fact, heart attacks are the most commonly reported medical problem that is directly associated with cocaine use.

Cardiac-related deaths that are a direct result of cocaine use have occurred in people as young as 19, so there is no particular age group that is safe from experiencing the dangerous effects of this drug.

While cocaine is highly addictive, cocaine treatment programs can help users break their addiction before their health problems become too severe. Using individual therapy, group therapy and other types of treatments, along with a medically supervised cocaine detox, cocaine treatment programs are effective at helping users both stop their drug use and address any underlying issues that may have prompted it in the first place.