Addiction Information & Education
Alcohol
According to leading scientific authorities, alcoholism is a chronic disease that can cause one’s body and mind to become dependent upon alcohol. Typically, an alcoholic finds himself obsessed with alcohol and unable to control how much he drinks, even though his drinking may be damaging his relationships, his health, and/or his finances. Without some form of alcohol detox and alcoholism treatment, the alcoholic rarely recovers.
It is absolutely possible to have a problem with alcohol without displaying all the characteristics of alcoholism. This stage of the addiction process is known as "alcohol abuse." The alcohol abuser engages in excessive drinking that may cause health or social problems, but he isn’t yet physically dependent upon alcohol and may not exhibit alcohol withdrawal. Still, a stay in an alcoholism treatment center may be necessary.
Although many people assume otherwise, alcoholism, while not curable, is indeed a treatable disease. Counseling, participation in alcohol recovery groups, and medications are among the many therapies that can help an alcoholic to recover from alcoholism.
Complications of Use & Abuse
The non-medical complications of alcoholism and alcohol abuse are grave, and in many cases, even more devastating than alcohol’s physical effects. As anyone who has struggled with the disease knows, the consequences to one’s emotional well-being can be just as destructive and difficult to manage. Luckily, a qualified treatment team knows just how to help clients cope with (if not reverse) the emotional consequences of alcoholism.
Emotional consequences of alcoholism can include:
- Strained relationships with family and friends
- Poor/decreased performance at work or school
- Loss of self-esteem and self-worth
- Inability to find enjoyment in once-pleasurable activities
- Lack of hope for the future
- Intense preoccupation with alcohol
- Loss of friends/change in friends
- Mild to severe depression
- Mood swings and intense irritability
Alcohol is a depressant, in that it works to depress your central nervous system. While some people may initially react to alcohol as they would to a stimulant, it is ultimately a sedative. With its power to sedate, alcohol lowers a drinker’s inhibitions and affects his/her thoughts, emotions and judgment. Too much alcohol can severely depress the vital centers of your brain; a heavy drinking binge may even sedate a drinker’s brain so heavily that he/she ends up in a life-threatening coma.
Other severe health effects may include:
- Liver problems – alcoholic hepatitis, liver failure, cirrhosis
- Gastrointestinal problems – gastritis, pancreatic disease, metabolic disorders
- Cardiovascular problems – high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, increased risk of heart failure and/or stroke
- Diabetes complications – hypoglycemia, altered insulin levels (increase risk of stroke, etc.)
- Sexual dysfunction – erectile problems, decreased response to sexual stimuli
- Menstruation problems – interrupted or absent periods in women
- Birth defects – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, developmental disorders, retardation
- Bone loss – inability to produce new bone, thinning bones, increased risk of fractures
- Neurological complications – disordered thinking, dementia, neuropathy, numbness in hands and feet
Luckily, there is help available to alcoholics who want and need it. By seeking out the services of a competent alcoholism treatment center, you can easily take the first step towards recovery for yourself or a loved one.
Cocaine
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that directly affects the brain. With cocaine being one of the world’s oldest known drugs, cocaine and crack addiction has a long history in the United States and has deep roots in the nation’s drug culture. Because it is such an intensely euphoric drug, it has strong addictive potential, especially when smoked. With the increase in purity, the advent of the free-base form of the cocaine ("crack"), and its easy availability on the street, cocaine continues to fill American jails and rehabs with severely addicted individuals.
Powdered cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack, on the other hand, is cocaine that has not yet been neutralized by an acid to make a hydrochloride salt. Easily purchased on the street, crack comes in a rock crystal form. Users heat the rock crystals and smoke its vapors. (The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated.) All science aside, crack cocaine is perhaps the most easily addictive and devastating form that cocaine can take. Institutions around the country, from jails to “luxury” drug treatment centers, are filled with crack addicts whose lives have been ravaged by this insidious drug.
Complications of Use & Abuse
The short-term physical effects of cocaine include constricted blood vessels; dilated pupils; and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. When taken in larger amounts, a user may exhibit bizarre, erratic, and even violent behavior. These users may experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, paranoia, or, with repeated doses, a toxic reaction closely resembling amphetamine poisoning. Some users of cocaine also report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. These feelings can increase when coming off of the drug, which is why, sadly, many users avoid seeking residential drug treatment.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug and, therefore, an individual may have difficulty predicting or controlling the extent to which he or she will continue to want or use the drug. Cocaine is generally thought to inhibit the reabsorption of dopamine by nerve cells in the brain. Dopamine is released as part of the brain’s reward system, and is either directly or indirectly involved in the addictive properties of every major drug of abuse. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. Death can also result from unsupervised or unsafe cocaine detoxification.
Cocaine produces a peculiar kind of drug dependency, as users rarely realize their increased tolerance of the drug’s effects. Thus, users typically increase their intake at alarming rates. A cocaine binge, during which the drug is taken in a short period of time at increasingly high doses, may result in a full-blown paranoid psychosis. In such a psychosis, the individual loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations. Cocaine withdrawal can be dangerous if undertaken unsupervised, and individuals should always undergo detox in a detox rehab.
Opioids
Opioids are pain-relieving, or analgesic, medications. Studies have shown that properly managed medical use (taken exactly as prescribed) of opioid analgesics is a safe and effective way to manage pain. Among the drugs that fall within this class are Vicodin, OxyContin, morphine, fentanyl, codeine, and related medications. Morphine and fentanyl are often used to alleviate severe pain, while codeine is used for milder pain. Other examples of opioids prescribed to relieve pain include Darvon, Dilaudid, Demerol, and Lomotil. In addition to being effective pain management tools, these medications are also easily abused and severely addictive. To wean off of them, prescription drug rehab is typically required.
Opioids act by attaching to opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. When these compounds attach to certain opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord, they can effectively change the way a person experiences pain. In addition, opioid medications affect regions of the brain that trigger pleasure, resulting in an initial euphoria or sense of well-being. Repeated abuse of opioids can lead to addiction—a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful consequences. Rapid opiate detox can be dangerous if undertaken without supervision, and should be administered by professionals.
Opioid addiction is perhaps one of the most insidious drug addictions, as addicts often hide behind the fact that their drug (or drugs) are “legal,” if not legally prescribed. Prescription drug abuse is at an all-time high, and opiate addiction treatment centers are currently flooded with opioid addicts.
Complications of Use & Abuse
Opioids can produce drowsiness, cause constipation, and, depending upon the amount taken, depress breathing. Taking a large single dose could cause severe respiratory depression or death.
These medications are only safe to use with other substances under a physician’s supervision. Typically, they should not be used with alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. Because these other substances slow breathing, their effects in combination with opioids could lead to life-threatening respiratory depression.
Patients who are prescribed opioids for a period of time may develop a physical and mental dependence on them. Repeated exposure to opioids causes the body to adapt, sometimes resulting in increased tolerance and in withdrawal symptoms upon abrupt cessation of drug use. Thus, individuals taking prescribed opioid medications should not only be given these medications under appropriate medical supervision, but they should also be medically supervised, preferably in a drug treatment center.
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is THC; when a user smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body.
Complications of Use & Abuse
Marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. Research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all of the time.
Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction, or compulsive drug seeking and using despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. Few people realize the potentially devastating effects of marijuana addiction and often dismiss it as less severe than other drug addictions, not meriting a stay in a residential drug treatment center. This couldn’t be further from the case.
Chronic marijuana use, especially in a very young person, may also be a marker of risk for mental illnesses. At the present time, the strongest evidence links marijuana use and schizophrenia and/or related disorders. High doses of marijuana can produce an acute psychotic reaction; in addition, use of the drug may trigger the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals. Thus, young people who use marijuana regularly should strongly consider detoxing off of the drug in a medically safe treatment drug program.
Heroin
Heroin is an opiate drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the opium poppy. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.” Heroin can be snorted, smoked, or injected, and heroin symptoms of addiction are nothing short of devastating.
Most heroin users need help to quit; detox clinics alone treat thousands of heroin addicts every year. Sadly, following detoxification, most users relapse. If a heroin addict truly wants help, however, resources are available. Studies show that, the longer a heroin addicts stays in residential heroin treatment, the less his/her chance of relapse becomes.
Complications of Use & Abuse
With regular heroin use, tolerance develops, in which the user’s physiological (and psychological) response to the drug decreases. Thus, more heroin is needed to achieve the same intensity of effect once achieved with less heroin. Users are at high risk for addiction; about 23% of individuals who use heroin just once become dependent on it. Heroin effects of abuse is associated with frequent fatal overdoses and serious health conditions -most notably occurring in users who inject the drug- including the contraction of infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, etc.).
Chronic heroin users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, and liver or kidney disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health of the abuser as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration. Perhaps obviously, chronic use of heroin also leads not only to psychological dependence upon the drug, but also a visceral physical dependence, or a state in which the body has adapted to the presence of the drug. If a dependent user reduces or stops use of the drug abruptly, he or she may experience severe symptoms of withdrawal, which is why many users fear detoxing off of the drug and choose not to seek heroin addiction treatment.
Withdrawal symptoms can persist in as little as an hour after a user’s last use and can include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes, and involuntary kicking movements (ie, “kicking the habit”). Sudden, unsupervised withdrawal by heavily dependent users who are in poor health can sometimes be fatal. In addition, cravings for the drug can persist years into abstinence, particularly upon exposure to triggers such as stress or people, places, and things associated with drug use. With active participation in an inpatient drug treatment program of recovery, however, heroin users can (and do) remain happily clean and sober for the rest of their lives.
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water and can be ingested orally, snorted, smoked, or injected. Meth addiction has officially been declared a national epidemic by the U.S. Drug Czar. Residential drug treatment centers nationwide and California-based treatment centers in particular (as California and the Midwest are among the hardest-hit regions in the U.S.) are currently being inundated with meth addicts desperate for freedom from this vicious, merciless addiction.
Complications of Use & Abuse
Chronic methamphetamine abuse significantly changes how the meth user’s brain functions. Recent studies in chronic methamphetamine abusers by a substance abuse clinic have revealed severe structural and functional changes in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory, which may account for many of the emotional and cognitive problems observed in chronic methamphetamine abusers.
Methamphetamine is perhaps the most immediately addictive drug available today. Taking even small amounts of meth can result in many of the same physical effects of other stimulants such as cocaine (including increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, etc.), but can be far more addictive. This is often why meth users in particular require drug abuse rehabilitation to beat their addiction.
Regardless of how it is taken, meth can alter judgment and lower inhibition. This often leads users to engage in unsafe behaviors, including risky sexual behavior that can put them at risk for contracting diseases. Among abusers who inject the drug, HIV and other infectious diseases can be spread through contaminated needles, syringes, and other injection equipment that is used by more than one person. Methamphetamine abuse may also worsen the progression of HIV in users who already have the virus.
Meth alters the molecular composition of the brain, but reversal of some of these changes can occur after sustained periods of abstinence (e.g., more than 1 year). Long-term meth use, of course, can produce countless negative health consequences, including extreme weight loss, severe dental problems (“meth mouth”), anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Chronic methamphetamine abusers can also display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects crawling under the skin). This is known as meth psychosis. If someone you love is exhibiting signs of meth psychosis, rush them to either a hospital or a long term drug rehab center immediately.
Ecstasy
MDMA is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that is chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. Known as “ecstasy” on the street, MDMA produces feelings of increased energy euphoria, emotional warmth, and mental distortions. Unfortunately, these effects, however desirable, can lead to devastating consequences. More and more, individuals are entering drug rehab centres as a result of ecstasy addiction.
Complications of Use & Abuse
Ecstasy, taken in pill form, can produce confusion, depression, sleep problems, and severe anxiety. These problems can occur soon after taking the drug or, sometimes, even days or weeks after taking it. In addition, chronic ecstasy users perform more poorly than nonusers on certain types of cognitive or memory tasks. Bottom line, ecstasy is not a safe drug for human consumption and can cause a drug dependency as severe as any. It can be dangerous to one’s overall health and, on some occasions, lethal. MDMA can have many of the same physical effects as other stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines, often because ecstasy pills are “cut” (or infused) with such substances. These effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure and other symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating.
In high doses, MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature, which can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature. Because the user is typically too high to notice his/her hyperthermia, it is typically ignored and can result in liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure – or even death. In addition, the combination of ecstasy with other stimulants may be inherently dangerous; even users that also combine ecstasy with marijuana and alcohol, may be putting themselves at even higher risk. Luckily, a drug abuse treatment center can treat the symptoms of ecstasy abuse before it is too late.
