Effects of Crack Cocaine

July 14, 2014

Effects of Crack Cocaine-Drug Addiction

Crack cocaine addiction, it does not matter how you take it the bottom line is that it is death in waiting. Good news is that you can stop it.

It is everybody’s wish to be healthy and remain so in their whole life time. This desire is always under attack from all directions by all manner of things. Drug addiction is one of the most dreaded conditions that reverse the live healthy wish. In an attempt to trying to unlocking the this we have chosen to use this link to post informatory addiction articles to educate the public of the dangers involve in life if one associate with drugs. There are so many drugs being abused today however for the purpose of our discussion we will zero into cocaine and revel how it affect the addicted individuals and the general public. Our discussion will be in broken in two segments that is:

i. Short term effects

ii. Long term effects

Short term effects of crack cocaine

Crack cocaine will temporarily lift your spirit as an addict but this feeling when the concentration dies off in your blood stream the addict experiences extreme depression and craves for more of the substance.
Individuals addicted to crack cocaine normally skip meals and often don’t have enough sleep.
They also experience high heart rate, muscle spasms, convulsion etc.
This dug can make users feel obsessed, irritated, unfriendly and nervous even when they are not high.
The risks of experiencing heart attack, suffer stroke, seizure or respiratory failure are systematic with crack cocaine users irrespective of quantity used. These can be very fatal killing the individual.
Smoking crack further presents a series of health risks. Crack is often mixed with other substances that create toxic fumes when burned. As crack smoke does not remain potent for long, crack pipes are generally very short. This often causes cracked and blistered lips, known as “crack lip,” from users having a very hot pipe pressed against their lips.

Long term effects of crack cocaine

Besides the common dangers related to cocaine use, addicts are likely to suffer respiratory complications, alongside coughing, shortness of breath bleeding and lung damage.

Long-term effects from use of crack cocaine include:

It causes severe damage to the heart, liver and kidneys. Users are more likely to have infectious diseases.
Continued daily use causes sleep deprivation and loss of appetite, resulting in malnutrition.
Smoking crack cocaine also can cause aggressive and paranoid behavior.
Since crack cocaine also interferes with the way the brain processes chemicals, one needs large quantities of the drug just to feel “normal.”
Those who become addicted to crack cocaine lose interest in other areas of life.
Crack cocaine causes depression and when this becomes intensified, the addict can do anything to get the supply. They can be very extreme even to the point of committing murder. If for whatever reason the supply is not fourth coming, depression can drive the addict to the wall of suicide.

Physical and Mental effects- Short term

Because it is smoked, the short term effects of crack cocaine are more immediate and more intense than that of powdered cocaine as discussed below:

Loss of appetite
Increased heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature
Contracted blood vessels
Increased rate of breathing
Dilated pupils
Disturbed sleep patterns
Nausea
Hyperstimulation
Bizarre, erratic, sometimes violent behavior
Hallucinations, hyperexcitability, irritability
Tactile hallucination that creates the illusion of bugs burrowing under the skin
Intense euphoria
Anxiety and paranoia
Depression
Intense drug craving
Panic and psychosis
Convulsions, seizures and sudden death from high doses (even one time)

Physical and mental effects-Long term effects

Permanent damage to blood vessels of ear and brain, high blood pressure, leading to heart attacks, strokes and death
Liver, kidney and lung damage
Severe chest pains
Respiratory failure
Infectious diseases and abscesses if injected
Malnutrition, weight loss
Severe tooth decay
Auditory and tactile hallucinations
Sexual problems, reproductive damage and infertility (for both men and women)
Disorientation, apathy, confused exhaustion
Irritability and mood disturbances
Increased frequency of risky behavior
Delirium or psychosis
Severe depression
Tolerance and addiction (even after just one use)

Effects on the young Children

It is so painful that very innocent babies in their mother’s wombs become victims of cocaine. When pregnant women uses cocaine in whichever form the mother and the unborn child will all be in danger. This may increase the risk of losing the pregnancy especially in the early stages of the pregnancy. The consequences of cocaine use by pregnant women may result in the unborn baby suffers stroke, heart attack or have permanent brain damage.

Drug dealers/supplies

Research has established that most young people in drugs today got into it because of pressure from their friends. They wanted to belong, feeling cool and famous. These pressures from friends are known by the supplies and they will use this as your weak point to lure you into drugs because they are only motivated by their need of making money. You must be careful with the drug dealers because all they care about is money, money and more money. They care less if the drugs ruin your life as long as they get money.

The truth you need to know

To help you be safe you must get to know the facts at fingertip so that you do not fall prey to these heartless drug dealers.

You must distance yourself from drugs by all means.
Drugs are basically poisons. The quantity taken determines the damage caused.
A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up).
A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down).
An even larger amount poisons and can kill.

This is true of all drugs. Only the quantity needed to achieve the effect differs nonetheless many drugs have other liabilities like: they affect the mind directly distorting the user’s perception of what is happening around them and as a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.

Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.

Finally all the medicines we use are drugs whose objective is to correct something about the way your body is working with a view of trying to making it work better. These drugs are sometimes necessary but all the same they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs. Therefore you must ensure that you are always seeking guidance from the experts to avoid doing wrong things. At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care you will get all the information and guidance you need and you will also be attended to by a team of experts who will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Effects of Crack Cocaine-Drug Addiction

INTERNET ADDICTION AND ITS TREATMENT

July 14, 2014

Tackling Internet Addiction

Internet addiction is an impulse control disorder that does not usually require use of intoxicating drugs. It’s also very similar to drug addiction and even gambling. These addicts of the net may at times build up emotional affection to friends they meet online. Some of these friends that they have never met physically before in their lives. Some will even create activities online to keep them going back to the net. These platforms like social networking websites, chat rooms are just some of the aspects that these internet addicts use.

Blogging has also been known to keep internet lovers for many, many hours on screen while searching for internet topics and even end up trying to imagine themselves in the topic of discussion. What is blogging? It’s a web blog where a person can post their comments or ideas while keeping ordinary journal of events.

Just like other addictions, internet addicts usually have the desire of connecting to the real people or at least who they think are real through the net. They find it as an alternative to connecting to people who they would have not achieved by and large. This addiction is growing so much and very fast rate among the youth. The fact that gadgets like mobile phones are easily attainable has also widely contributed. There is also very little restrictions as to who and what age one should handle a phone. The world has gone very digital that a day without internet can be a very long day for these addicts.

internet addiction

Effects of internet addiction

Just like any other addictions, internet addiction will most of the time end in academic, , personal, financial, occupational and even family problems that are more often characterized by other addictions. Most real life affairs like marriage, friendship and even social life are always affected because of too much use of the internet because these addicts spend too much of their time in seclusion. They don’t spend enough time with the real people around them. They become so anti social that people will start finding them awkward because of the time they spend on the internet.

Have you even seen the people who surf the net and when they see someone approaching they hide whatever it is they were doing in the net? Well these are just some of the characteristics of internet addiction. They always don’t like people knowing that they spend too much of their time on the net. These kind of actions will also lead to the detriment of a quality relationship that was once very stable.

Some will even go as far as creating multiple online identities or profiles where they will pretend to be someone other people and even engage people in conversation using all those identities. They even go as far believing that all those identities are real. People who are susceptible to this kind of addictions are mostly people with very low self esteem of themselves. The ones who feel unwanted and inadequate in the society or among their peers

Addiction is addiction and people facing internet addiction are bound to face severe withdrawal symptoms that will include mood swings, fear, anxiety, loneliness, sadness, anger and even depression. Others will even be bored and have stomach upsets. Too much dependency on the net will also make someone develop medical problems that will most of the time include backaches, dry eyes and carpal tunnel syndrome. Some are even known to have eating irregularities, difficulty in sleeping and even poor personal hygiene.

Signs and symptoms of internet addiction

When one stays on the net for more hours than he had expected and is still not satisfied. When your thoughts are constantly on what you had encountered or watched on the net earlier even when you are not online and is anxious about the next episode or series or program. When you find yourself gradually remaining alone without friends, job or even an important relationship that there once was then know that you are headed to the problem of getting addicted to the net. Some even go as far as lying to close friends, bosses, family members and even therapists that they don’t have such problems in an attempt to hide the extent of the addiction.

Help and treatment of internet addiction

Agreeing and accepting that one has a problem with internet is the first step to getting help. There are usually trained addiction therapist who will more often execute assessment to find out the level of addiction and give an appropriate care. Counseling and abstinence can help resolve internet addiction. One needs to get help as soon as possible as this addiction has led to serious problems such as infant deaths or malnutrition due to neglect by their parents or caretakers who spend more time on net instead of tending to them due to internet addiction.

Tackling Internet Addiction

Understanding Drug Addiction

July 14, 2014

Drug addiction treatment

Drug addiction is normally a very complex illness which is sometimes accompanied by intense craving which may be uncontrollable to the addict even when there is a direct danger posed by the substance.

Drug Addiction

The key principles to effective drug treatment

There are principles which have been proven to work effectively in ensuring that the patient regains normal life. These principles are:-

The first principle is to realize that addiction is by itself a complex which alters the normal functioning of brain but it is curable.
Secondly, it is important to understand there is never single treatment which is appropriate to everyone, and hence treatment of each individual should be examined and given independent treatment.
Counseling is very important, especially when treating individual or group from drug addiction.
Each individual’s treatment should be regularly assessed to know the patient’s progress and correct adjustments to the treatment made. This ensures suitability of medication to every patient.
Scientifically it has been proven that many drug addicts also have other mental disorders. Thus, the appropriate treatment should seek to address not only the addiction but also the mental problems.
Another important principal in drug treatment is that, the treatment doesn’t have to be voluntary to be effective. The patient doesn’t have to be left to make decisions on whether, when and how he/she should be treated. Since in many occasions drug addiction comes with mental disorders, it is vital not to leave decision making in the hands of the patient.
The patient’s drug taking during treatment should be monitored, since lapses do occur especially when the patient cannot withstand the craving of the drugs during withdrawal.
Another principle is that, treatment should be readily available and in the reach of the patient when need be. The patient will be faced with challenges such as craving and necessity of medication adjustments. Therefore, it is very important that medication can be accessed when need be.
Also another important principle is that, any effective drug treatment should address multiple individual’s needs and not just addiction. The medication should not only revolve around treatment of addiction itself, without looking to address the needs of the individual.
Treatment period- remaining in treatment for adequately appropriate time is vital. The patient should be maintained under medication until it is ascertained that he/she has fully recovered. Stoppage of medication before the patient fully recovers may result to resistance to future medication after relapse and obviously the craving symptoms may follow the patient leading the patient back to the consumption of the addicting substance.
Importantly also, the treatment should assess the patient’s presence of other diseases like arthritis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C and other infectious diseases. This will help in putting the patient under good conditions which will prevent the risk of contracting or even spreading an infectious disease.

Drug Addiction

Proven effective treatment approaches

For effective treatment, combination of both medication and therapy has worked well before. The process of treatment regularly begins with detoxification which aims at reducing or eliminating the effect of drug substance in the body. It is then followed by treatment and lapse prevention. The treatment process should be well monitored to ease the withdrawal symptoms and prevent lapse.

Medication

In any drug recovery program, medication is very important. It will help in different aspects of treatment process.

Medication importance on withdrawal – withdrawal under normal circumstances is accompanied by variety of symptoms which seek to return the patient to the consumption of addictive substance. These symptoms especially craving in some circumstances it may seem to be out of patient’s capacity to resist, especially when it is a drug related addiction. Medication in this case becomes important as it will try to suppress the withdrawal symptoms during detoxification. It is important to note that however, medically assisted detoxification in itself it is not a treatment but just the first step in the treatment process. The patient must complete the treatment process otherwise he/she will be similar to those never treated.

Medication vitality in Treatment – treatment is an important aspect in drug addiction recovery. It can be used to re-establish normal brain functioning and to prevent relapse and to minimize cravings. This agent of drug recovery requires intensive examination of the patient, to establish the type of addictive drug substance the patent is addicted of, and hence streamline appropriate treatment procedure. It has been found out that, many of the drug addicts consume more than one drug and hence their addiction may sometimes not be as a result of just one drug. Treatment of this kind of addiction must seek to address each of these addictions based on the underlying cause. Treatment of these individual drugs addiction will look at the class of the substance, whether it is an Opioid, tobacco or alcohol etc. this will form a good foundation for treatment to be built on. For more details, call or visit AWAREmed and get a professional advice.

Drug addiction treatment

Understanding Behavioral Disorders

July 13, 2014

What’s behavioral Disorder

Many people have tried to define behavioral disorder differently. One thing has though come out to be common is that behavioral disorder refers to behaviors that a person may depict, that are not consistent with socially accepted behaviors in the society. These behaviors are in most cases acquired in the childhood age. This is the reason parents are normally told to take their kids for medical assessments and treatment regularly. In some cases, these behaviors are also common in adults. In adults, in most cases these disorders originate from childhood whereby the victim was not treated of them at childhood. The effect of these disorders is negative effect on person’s ability to hold a good relationship with other people.

Types of Behavioral disorders

Behavioral disorders can be categorized as discussed below:-

Emotional behavioral disorder

This kind of disorder is known to affect the person’s ability to be happy, to control their emotion and pay attention in school.

Symptoms

Some of the symptoms of an emotional behavioral disorder may include:-

Even under normal circumstances, the person becomes emotional and under takes inappropriate actions.
The interpersonal relationship of the victim is faced with difficulties and the person doesn’t relate well with the persons around.
The person generally feels unhappy and may be faced with depression.
In case the person is a learner, he/she may have difficulties in learning which may be caused by another health factor.

Opposition defiant disorder

This is a common disorder especially in children which is characterized by hostility, irritability and uncooperative attitude. Children with opposition defiant disorder may become spiteful and arrogant to their seniors.

Anxiety disorder

Anxiety is a normal thing in human life, and every human being must feel anxiety at a given point in life. But just as the saying goes, “too much of everything is poisonous,” when the anxiety becomes too much it may reach a point where it interferes with our normal lives. This definitely becomes a negative effect. Anxiety may pose a serious mental problem in the form of; post-traumatic disorder, panic disorder obsessive compulsive disorder or even generalized anxiety disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

This is another behavioral disorder, which is attributed with fear and irrational thoughts that triggers obsession, which in turn may cause compulsion. This is a disorder that needs immediate response to rescue the victim since it can cause harm to one’s live by lowering quality of their life. Please call or visit us at AWAREmed for assistance.

What causes these behavioral disorders?

The causes of behavioral disorders are numerous. Some scientists have argued that, the abnormal behavior normally attributed to these disorders can be traced back to either biological, family or school related factors.

Some of these biological causes can be: – physical illness, malnutrition, damage in brain and some hereditary factors.

On the other hand, there are some factors that are related to the individual’s home life which may play part in his/her behavioral disorders. These may include: – emotional upsets in the family e.g. Divorce of one’s mother, intimidation from parents, one’s poor attitude towards something and unhealthy discipline styles on the child.

Behavioral disorder

Symptoms of behavioral disorders

Behavioral disorders can depict themselves in two main ways: – as either Emotional symptoms or physical symptoms. In this case, we will look at them generally but you will be able to identify which lies in which category.

The person gets annoyed easily and he/she becomes nervous
The person has difficulty in dealing with frustrations. The person cannot withstand frustrating situations without giving up or getting annoyed.
The person looks gloomy or angry. This will in most cases lead to the person isolating him/herself from the other people.
The person will generally feel guilty and likes to relieve oneself by putting blame on other people.
A behavioral victim is a person who likes arguing and outburst in nature.
A behavioral disorder victim may sometimes suffer from substance abuse problem which may show some physical symptoms like burnt fingerprints, shaking of hands and bloodshot eyes.

How is behavioral disorder treated?

Researches have been done in the recent past, to identify what the actual cause of the disorders is. Unfortunately, none of them has identified the cause of it. This makes the treatment of the disorder difficult but fortunately we can effectively manage its symptoms. One of the methods which have proven to work for the management of this disorder is the therapeutic treatment.

Cognitive behavioral therapy treatment

This is the therapy previously known as the talk therapy. These therapies are normally administered for a long time by a specialist or professional. They seek to help the patient overcome the effects of negative feeling through creation of heightened awareness of internal states and more thorough understanding of the relevant issues. It focuses on training the patients on strategies of coping with the destructive impulses and actions. It also teaches strategies of coping with social and emotional gear that comes with being so allied.

What’s behavioral Disorder

Helping your friends who use drugs

July 12, 2014

Helping your friends who use drugs-Being your friend keeper

We can all be drug free if we choose to help one another fight their addictions

Have you ever asked yourself what the kind of society we will have if drugs are not a bused and no one is addicted to drugs? Try visualizing that in your mind and imagine seeing yourself being the reason behind that atmosphere where drugs and addiction is never heard of, this is the society we are advocating for and you can be very instrumental in making it happen. We have been posting very informative articles on this link relating to addiction among other life changing topic and just recently we posted one detailing the consequences of drugs abuse and drug addiction which I will encourage you to look at even as you continue learning more about your role in helping those of your friends who may be struggling with drug addiction.

The problem of addiction in our societies today must not be left for the medical doctors and health professionals only to tackle. This problem must be fought from all directions, since it can affect anyone without discriminating on who to affect so everybody should be involved and you are part of that group of everybody. The question you are likely to ask is “how or what can I do to help?” in this article we will be discussing some of the things you can and should do to contribute in the fight against drug addiction and the following are just some of the things you can do:

Treatment
You owe your fiend the duty of care in all dimensions and especially that friend using drugs. People using drugs often find it difficult to consent seeking treatment, if your friend is one you can take the advantage of being their friend to prevail upon them to accept treatment because this will help them stop abusing the substances they abuse. There are many ways of administering treatment which may include talk therapy, medicine or even both. Receiving treatment will help them resist the urges or desire to use drugs again and also helps them be in control of their lives. The objective of treatment is to have the addict recover from their addiction and start living life without drugs. Your condition does not matter treatment is there for everyone whether you are a new drug user, heavy user or an addict you can be treated and get better. Take that bold step and be a hero by convincing you friend to seek help (treatment) and that will be a positive contribution on your part.

Understand the dangers
It is important to note that you can only help someone if you know and understand the dangers of the problem at hand. We have in our previous article discussed some of the consequences of addiction you can make reference to. On your part you must have clear understanding of how destructive drugs can be to you physically, psychologically, emotionally and economically. Having the clear knowledge will help you avoid drugs and be sober even as you look forward to helping those in drugs already.

Helping yourself and someone you love

Remember drugs addiction can affect anyone and you are not excluded and so let us start with you before you can go helping somebody. If you have ever tried using drugs before and felt bad about it, it is important that you share this with someone trusted immediately preferably your parents. This must not wait any longer because it may graduate to other serious problems your parents or any trusted adult will know what to do and they will ensure that you helped before things go from bad to worse.

However if it is your friend or any of your family members who has or is beginning to start using drugs or is associating with bad company, you must not keep quiet because you can help in the following ways:

Talk to an adult -bring this to the attention of somebody senior it could be your teachers, school counselors or social workers these people will have ideas that can help you talk to your friend about their drug use. Seek for useful information and ideas to help them if you do not want to name anyone. They are specially trained to deal with teens and drug use.
Take a risk -sometimes it may be necessary that you take some manageable risk because talking to your friend about his drug use may not be an easy thing to do, as this can make him angry. Nonetheless try and spending some quiet time with him (not in quiet, hide outs that will put you in trouble), and let remind him of the dangers and potential problems he is getting into. Ensure that you speak to him only when he is sober but if he is angry, you may have to stay away from his company. But continue to care for him and share ideas with him.
Remind them that help is available -Sometimes people want confidential help, because they do not want anyone to know about their situation. This is OK. Try and research and find them a counseling service around. You can always ask adults (teachers or parents) about places for teen counseling, and give your friend the information to seek the confidential help.
Be careful yourself -You can also be tempted into drugs one day. Knowing the facts like what you are doing now is a great way to stay away and say NO! Be careful and keep distance with bad company. Do not even entertain them. If your good friends have fallen to drugs, be careful they do not drag you into it and to be safe drop them from your list of friends fourth with.

Finally having been a good a ambassador of fighting drug addiction by helping others through vital information it is important that your friends get to know that when addiction hits hard treatment from addiction professionals will be very helpful and Dr. Dalal Akoury who founded AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is an expert in addiction and together with her team of experts will help you get well in real time while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Helping your friends who use drugs-Being your friend keeper

Category Archives: addiction