Cocaine Addiction: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine. For over 20 years Dr. Umhau was a senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Adrienne Santos-Longhurst is a freelance writer and author who has written extensively on all things health and lifestyle for more than a decade.

Drugs & Supplements

Smoking allows extremely high doses of cocaine to reach the brain very quickly and brings an intense and immediate high. The injecting drug user is at risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV/AIDS as well as hepatitis C if needles fatal fix: how an opioid overdose shuts down your body or other injection equipment are shared. It causes a naturally occurring neurotransmitter called dopamine to increase its concentration in the brain. Cocaine causes your dopamine levels to rise causing the user to feel euphoric.

1. The sooner you seek help, the greater your chances for a long-term recovery.
2. The intranasal route determines a longer effect, ranging between 15 and 30 min [53].
3. Symptoms include a high heart rate and blood pressure, seizures, hallucinations, and trouble breathing.
4. Deaths related to cocaine use are often due to cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.
5. Acute kidney failure (rather than slowly deteriorating kidney function) is a life-threatening emergency that’s also common with cocaine overdose.
6. NIDA is a biomedical research organization and does not provide personalized medical advice, treatment, counseling, or legal consultation.

What is the outlook for cocaine addiction?

If that’s your situation, consider participating in a support group. Asking for help is a huge and important step toward recovering from cocaine use disorder. They may refer you to a substance abuse counselor or recommend community-based programs. When people take cocaine, their blood pressure goes up and their heart races.

Medical Professionals

Smoking or injecting cocaine is more intense but lasts for an even shorter period, about 5 to 10 minutes. Most cocaine users will dose frequently in order to maintain the desired effects. Tachycardia (rapid heart rate), arrhythmia (irregular heart rate or rhythm), and malignant hypertension (severely high blood pressure) can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or death. Acute kidney failure (rather than slowly deteriorating kidney function) is a life-threatening emergency that’s also common with cocaine overdose. The euphoric effects of cocaine use are accompanied by physical effects, including a rapid heart rate, sweating, and pupil dilation (widening of the pupils).

Is it safe to use with alcohol?

Consequences of misuse are extremely dangerous and range from memory loss to heart attacks, seizures, and overdose. While a medication that counters the powerful biological forces of addiction is essential, it will not be a “magic bullet.” People in recovery from addiction will always need support and rehabilitation to rebuild their lives. Presumably, effective psychosocial treatments for addiction work by causing changes in the brain, perhaps even some of the same changes that will be produced by effective medications. While very little information is currently available on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychosocial treatments, this is a topic of great interest. Cocaine produces dopamine buildup wherever the brain has dopamine transporters. Dopamine-responsive cells are highly concentrated in this system, which controls emotional responses and links them with memories.

This pattern represents the highs and lows linked to cocaine effects on the reward system in the brain. Additional behavioural indicators include a pronounced obsession with the acquiring of and use of cocaine, which may include, taking risks in order to obtain the drug, and a reduction in social and professional 6 ways to lower high blood pressure without using medication obligations. Combining cocaine with other drugs to increase its effects or lessen the withdrawal symptoms can also be a warning sign of growing tolerance and dependence. Of particular relevance, the co-consumption of cocaine and alcohol leads to the formation of CE, a transesterification product of both drugs.

In fact, cocaine dependency almost guarantees some form of acute cocaine withdrawal at the point that the user hasn’t used the drug for a while. Behavioural symptoms are perhaps the most conspicuous signs ecstasy addiction and abuse of cocaine addiction. Frequent cocaine users may have brief bursts of confidence and vigour, which are frequently followed by equally abrupt declines in mood and irritability as the effects wear off.

Once the high wears off, coke can leave you feeling depressed and extremely tired for several days. The short-lived high is also often followed by an intense desire to use more and difficulty sleeping. That also depends on how it’s consumed, along with other variables, like your dose and whether you’re taking other substances. Some people process cocaine into a rock and smoke it, which we’ll get to next. Following initial treatment, some people are transferred to a drug-free therapeutic community (TC) for six to 18 months to reinforce coping skills in a community atmosphere.

Cocaine is also injected in solution or smoked in a chemically treated form known as freebase; either of these methods produces a markedly more compulsive use of the drug. In the 1980s a new preparation of cocaine appeared, called crack; the smoking of crack produces an even more intense and even more short-lived euphoria that is extremely addicting. This form of cocaine consumption is also the one most detrimental to health. Another smokable and highly addictive form is cocaine paste, which is an intermediate stage in the processing of coca leaves into cocaine. Cocaine is one of the most consumed stimulants throughout the world, as official sources report. It is a naturally occurring sympathomimetic tropane alkaloid derived from the leaves of Erythroxylon coca, which has been used by South American locals for millennia.

Behavioral therapies are often the only available effective treatment for many drug use problems, including cocaine use. Long-term effects of cocaine use include addiction, irritability and mood disturbances, restlessness, paranoia, and auditory hallucinations. Other solutions to help overcome cocaine addiction include exercise, hypnosis, acupuncture, and herbs.