The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers

May 5, 2015

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Taking Cocaine head on

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers may include group therapy and counseling

Of the societal challenges we are faced with drug addiction is becoming one of the most disturbing one. When one member of the family is struggling with substance abuse, the whole family is concern and a lot of emotional and even physical frustrations are felt. What is worrying is the rate at which the population abusing drugs is increasing. There are several factors that can explain this but the sing denominator is that the increase is getting out of hand if something is not done to correct this. Looking at the impact of substance abuse in our neighborhoods doctor Dalal Akoury made a decision to form a health center whose objective would be to offer solutions to people abusing drugs. At this facility (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) doctor Akoury together with her team of experts are offering the best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers among other drug related cases. Therefore if you are struggling with drugs of whichever kind, then you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury today for treatment. In the meantime, let us consider some of the treatment options we have.

Information available indicates that just a few years ago in 2007, cocaine alone accounted for about 13 percent of all admissions to drug abuse treatment programs. The report also revealed that majority of these people sought treatment were mainly cocaine addicts and were also struggling with other drugs other than cocaine meaning that they were poly drug abusers. Doctor explains that the prevalence of cocaine has necessitated renewed efforts to develop treatment programs for cocaine across the globe. And just like with other drugs, cocaine is one of the complex diseases that involve biological changes in the brain as well as myriad social, familial, and other environmental problems. Therefore, a good treatment of cocaine addiction must be comprehensive, and strategies need to assess the neurobiological, social, and medical aspects of the patient’s drug abuse. Moreover, patients who have a variety of addictions often have other co-occurring mental disorders that require additional behavioral or pharmacological interventions.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Cocaine Detoxification

For us to have better modes of treatment of cocaine addiction, we must first appreciate and acknowledge that we have a problem that needs to be fixed. No treatment can be successful if the patient is still in denial. It is a fact that patients addicted to cocaine or even other drugs will have a lot of toxic deposit in their systems. These toxics are the biggest problem that detoxification will be addressing in this article. Therefore medical detoxification is a process that systematically and safely withdraws people from addictive drugs. This is usually done under the care of trained physician. Drinking alcohol or using drugs can cause physical dependence over time and stopping them can result in withdrawal symptoms in people with this dependence. The detoxification process is designed to treat the immediate bodily effects of stopping drug use and to remove toxins left in the body as a result of the chemicals found in drugs or alcohol.

Even though as things stand now there is no proven pharmacologic therapy for cocaine addiction, so many kinds of medications have been used in the past in the detoxification of cocaine. It is however worth noting that withdrawal from chronic cocaine use may also result in anxiety, depression and intense cravings for the drugs you are trying to eliminate from your systems. Several types of medications address these issues in different ways. Like for instance:

Antidepressant drugs such as desipramine or a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine have been used to reduce cocaine withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
Benzodiazepines, tranquilizers such as Diazepam, have been used to reverse anxiety induced by cocaine withdrawal.
Amantadine, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease, may be an effective treatment for cocaine-dependent patients with severe cocaine withdrawal symptoms and may reduce cocaine craving.
Bromocriptine, a drug that works on the brain’s dopamine system, has been used to decrease the craving for cocaine during detoxification and to reduce mood disturbance.
Propanolol, a beta-blocker drug used to treat high blood pressure, may be useful for severe cocaine withdrawal symptoms, as it slows down the effects of adrenaline, thereby calming the body’s “fight or flight” response to stressful situations.
This type of drug has been used to treat general anxiety and anxiety associated with alcohol withdrawal.
Propranolol’s lessening of symptoms such as palpitations and sweating has helped reduce cocaine craving. Its use, however, is not risk free in patients who have taken cocaine and can be associated with decreased blood flow to the heart and other changes that predispose patients to arrhythmia and a severe increase in blood pressure that can lead to a stroke.
Delayed toxic effects are possible. Any use of beta-blockers in this setting requires careful monitoring and caution.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Behavioral Interventions

Many behavioral treatments for cocaine addiction have proven to be effective in both residential and outpatient settings. Indeed, behavioral therapies are often the only available and effective treatments for many drug problems, including stimulant addictions. However, the integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatments may ultimately prove to be the most effective approach. Presently, there are no proven medications to treat cocaine addiction. Nonetheless a lot of efforts are being made by NIDA to identify and test new medications.

One form of behavioral therapy that is showing positive results in cocaine-addicted populations is contingency management, or motivational incentives (MI). MI may be particularly useful for helping patients achieve initial abstinence from cocaine and for helping patients stay in treatment. Programs use a voucher or prize-based system that rewards patients who abstain from cocaine and other drug use. On the basis of drug-free urine tests, the patients earn points, or chips, which can be exchanged for items that encourage healthy living, such as a gym membership, movie tickets, or dinner at a local restaurant. This approach has recently been shown to be practical and effective in community treatment programs.

Finally it is important that patients receive only services that match all of their treatment needs. For example, if a patient is unemployed, it may be helpful to provide vocational rehabilitation or career counseling along with addiction treatment. If a patient has marital problems, it may be important to offer couples counseling. These and more are some of the services we offer at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. When you schedule for that appointment with doctor Akoury, up on carrying out an evaluation on you, she will put you on a tailored treatment program that will directly meet your addiction needs.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Taking Cocaine head on

The long and short term effects of cocaine

May 4, 2015

The long and short term effects of cocaine: The chronic nature of Cancer

The long and short term effects of cocaine are all manageable is only preventive measures can be taken

There is no doubt that cocaine is very addictive substance. Its power of addictiveness makes it to be very unpredictable and thus users may not be able to tell or control the extent to which they will continue to want or use the drug. Doctor Akoury says that with these characteristics, if one is to become addicted, the risk for relapse will be very high even after long periods of abstinence. Some studies have established that during periods of abstinence, the memory of the cocaine experience or exposure to cues associated with drug use can trigger tremendous craving and relapse to drug use. It is this craving element that will necessitate the long and short term effects of cocaine which is going to form the basis of this discussion.

Cocaine causes a short-lived, intense high that is immediately followed by the opposite intense depression, edginess and a craving for more of the drug. Users of cocaine often don’t eat or sleep properly. They can experience greatly increased heart rate, muscle spasms and convulsions. The drug can make them feel paranoid, angry, hostile and anxious even when they are just sober and not high. Doctor Akoury says that irrespective of the quantity of drugs used or frequency with which it is used, cocaine increases the vulnerability of addicts into contracting chronic diseases like heart attack, stroke, seizure or respiratory (breathing) failure. These conditions can be life threatening and any of them can result in sudden death.

The long and short term effects of cocaine: What are the long term effects of cocaine?

The phrase “dope fiend” was originally coined many years ago to describe the negative side effects of constant cocaine use. As tolerance to the drug increases, it becomes necessary to take greater and greater quantities to get the same high. Prolonged daily use causes sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person can become psychotic and begin to experience hallucinations. And because cocaine interferes with the way the brain processes chemicals, users will in many instances need more and more of the drug just to feel “normal.” People who become addicted to cocaine and even addicts of other drugs may lose interest in other areas of life. Doctor Akoury says that coming down from the drug causes severe depression that an addict will do all that it takes to get the supply even if it would mean that he has to commit murder. In the event that the individual fails to get the drug (cocaine) he or she will suffer even greater depression that can be so much intense that can push them beyond the limit and even turn suicidal. That is the power of cocaine and the reason why we all need to know the long and short term effects of cocaine. This way we will be able to take timely precaution and remedy the situation before it stretches beyond the redeemable levels. Now let us consider some of the long term effect which is associated with cocaine abuse.

The long and short term effects of cocaine: Long term effects

When people abuse cocaine over a period of time, a lot of things can happen in the lives of such individuals. Some of those health implications may include the following:

Permanent damage to blood vessels of the heart and the brain
High blood pressure that will occasionally leads to other chronic health conditions including heart attacks, strokes and even death
The damage of vital organs like the liver, kidney and the lungs
Damages of the nose tissues especially when sneezing
Respiratory failure if smoked
Infectious diseases and abscesses if injected
Malnutrition, weight loss
Severe tooth decay
Auditory and tactile hallucinations
Sexual problems, reproductive damage and infertility which will affect both men and women in the same way
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)

The point we have highlighted may not be conclusive as far as the long term effects is concern. It would be better if you are up to date will all health information surrounding this substance abuse. Such information in their conclusiveness is available at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. This is a facility with was founded by doctor Dalal Akoury primarily to offer her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to everyone including other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. It may not matter what kind of addiction you are struggling with, there is hope for you with the experts at this facility. All you need to do is to seek for help by scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury any your condition will be professionally addressed timely leaving you to enjoy life to the fullest. In spite of the long term effects of cocaine abuse, there are also other factors which may not necessarily be of long term but of short term. They may include the following:

The long and short term effects of cocaine: Short term effects

Loss of appetite causing the addict not to feed properly
Intense drug craving
Bizarre, erratic, sometimes violent behavior
Convulsions, seizures and sudden death from high doses (even one time)
Tactile hallucination that creates the illusion of bugs burrowing under the skin
Increased heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature
Contracted blood vessels
Dilated pupils
Disturbed sleep patterns
Nausea
Hyper-stimulation
Intense euphoria
Depression
Panic and psychosis
Increased rate of breathing
Hallucinations, hyper-excitability, irritability
Anxiety and paranoia

Finally it is not just enough to know the long and short term effects of cocaine but it is equally very important that you learn from the past people who had gone through the same experience. And I want to conclude this discussion with a testimony from one former addict who is now sober and he says “don’t touch cocaine. I had to spend four years behind bars just because of this drug (cocaine). And when I got out he continues, life was so hard and unbearable. I started taking the drug again. In this drug business, I have known 10 girls who were full of life but who became prostitutes because of cocaine. It’s much more extreme and degrading than we believe. At the time we don’t realize to what degree it destroys us he concludes.” Choose life and seek for help doctor Akoury will be waiting for your call.

The long and short term effects of cocaine: The chronic nature of Cancer

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine

March 13, 2015

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine: The consequences of Cocaine Abuse

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine. Having this drug around you all the time can be one of the reasons why you cant quite

We all know that drug abuse is not healthy for any one’s life. Any drug abused has with it great consequences. It may not matter the intensity of the drug used, the common denominator is that there are real consequences. Again it may not matter the different methods of their usage or why they are used because it does not change the consequences. A lot has been said about drug abuse and ideally good coverage has been done to create awareness of the seriousness of these drugs. Cocaine is one of the many abused drugs today and it has caught our attention. And for that reason having talked to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury, we want to interrogate some of the methods and reasons why people abuse cocaine and drugs generally. In the meantime, as we get into the discussion, if you are struggling with drug addiction (not just cocaine) help is very close near you if only you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury for professional direction today. Now back to the discussion, we are going to be looking at cocaine abuse in relation to the US even though this is not just a problem affecting the US alone but it is a global problem.

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine: Methods of abuse

This drug cocaine often come in the powdered hydrochloride salt form and it can be used in various ways including injection, mixed with liquor, swallowed, or applied to oral, vaginal, or even rectal mucous membranes. It is commonly snorted or sniffing as many would prefer. When snorted, the usual procedure is placing a thin line of coke say of about 0.3 cm wide by 2.5 cm long, on an uneven surface. The finely divided powder is then snorted (inhaled quickly) into a nostril through a cylindrical plastic tube or glass straw or a rolled currency bill. The procedure is then repeated within a few minutes using the other nostril. And besides these tools of snorting if you allow me, there are also other special spoons and paraphernalia available for snorting cocaine.

It must be noted that cocaine use is generally not taken orally by mouth for recreational purposes. Because the drug is illegal, people have done much wired things when smuggling the drug for sale. As a result of these toxic reactions, including death, have occurred in some people who swallowed the drug to avoid police detection or border authorities. It may sound funny but this is how far people can go to ensure that the drug is available for market. Therefore this means of transport or packaging in a smuggling attempt is known as body packing. This crystalline white powder (cocaine) can also dissolve easily in water and used intravenously (“slammed”). Under this form, it has a high melting point and therefore cannot be smoked. Nonetheless this is the most widely used form of the drug.

Freebasing involves the conversion of cocaine hydrochloride into cocaine sulfate that is “free” of the additives and nearly 100% pure. It does not dissolve in water easily and has a low melting point and therefore smoking it would be the better option for usage. Those using this runs the risk of being burned by the conversion process because of a highly volatile solvent, such as ether, is being used.

Crack is extracted from powder cocaine using baking soda and heat which is relatively safe method compared with the ether technique. The waxy base becomes rocks of cocaine, ready to be sold in vials. This rock cocaine is also easy to smoke, the most common form of use in the streets. Cocaine sulfate is also available as coca paste known as basuco, bazooka, piticin, pistol, pitillos, or tocos and is widely smoked in South America. Users of this drug prefers it because it is resistant to destruction by heat meaning that it can be either be smoked in cigarettes, including marijuana cigarettes, or in coke pipes. Remember that smoking the freebase produces a more powerful effect and quite swiftly, however it must be noted that it can also be more dangerous primarily because what is called the safe dose can easily be exceeded.

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine: Why is cocaine very addictive?

It has been established by different researcher that when cocaine is involved, all laboratory animals can become compulsive cocaine consumers. Animals will work more persistently at pressing a bar for cocaine than for any drug, including opiates. In one of the studies an addicted monkey pressed the bar nearly 12,800 times just to get a single dose of cocaine. This therefore communicates that if the animal survives, then it will definitely make a return to the task of obtaining more cocaine. Experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center agree that just like the animals reaction so is the human response being similar to that of the laboratory animal. The cocaine dependent human beings will prefer it to all other activities and will use the drug until the user or the supply is exhausted. The consequence of this is that such people will show behavior entirely different from their previous lifestyle.

Cocaine-driven humans will compel themselves to perform unusual acts compared with their former standards of conduct. This is a very sad example but all the same it can happen. A cocaine user may sell his/her child just to get more cocaine. There are many stories of professionals, such as lawyers, physicians, bankers, and athletes, with daily habits costing hundreds to thousands of dollars, with binges in the range of thousands of dollars. Cocaine doesn’t have any respect for your status or office it can destroy you resulting in loss of job and profession, loss of family, friends and housing, bankruptcy, committing crimes, and death.

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine: Effects

The method of use dictates the onset of activity and duration of its effects as follows:

If snorted for example, the effects will peak within 30 minutes with its duration of effect lasting one to three hours.
If swallowed with alcohol, effects peak in 30 minutes and last about three hours.
If used intravenously or inhaled/smoked, the effects peak in seconds to two minutes but last only 15-30 minutes.
The breakdown products of the drug will be excreted and can be detected in the urine for 24-72 hours and for chronic users, it can be detected for up to two weeks.

Finally this drug is not any you can play around with. You and I we have a duty to save the situation where we can. Therefore let us pool together and do the noble thing by calling the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for professional solutions today without any further delays.

Methods and Reasons Why People Abuse Cocaine: The consequences of Cocaine Abuse

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon

March 13, 2015

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon: Important Facts about Cocaine

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon and it use is causing more harm to life. Snorting cocaine is one of the most commonly used method

It is true that cocaine is currently one of the most abused major stimulant drugs not just in America but across the globe. Surprisingly it has recently become the drug most frequently involved in emergency department visits. Cocaine may not be newly abused drug but all the same it is often considered the “caviar” of recreational drugs. Nonetheless this difference is reflected in its descriptions. The cocaine abuse is an endless phenomenon and has been given called the champagne of drugs, gold dust, Cadillac of drugs, status stimulant, yuppie drug, and others. Besides those nouns it also has other street names which are used depending on its appearance or method of use. Such street names may include flake, snow, toot, blow, nose candy, her, she, lady flake, liquid lady “a mixture of cocaine and alcohol”, speedball [cocaine and heroin], crack, rock. In all these names cocaine is commonly known as coke. The name is actually not very important for us says doctor Akoury. Our interest is not in the name because the name alone doesn’t affect life. Whether you nick name it what the impact on its usage is the same and that is our point of concern. That is why we have the choice topic of cocaine abuse is an endless phenomenon.

Even though this is a global problem, we want to zero it down to US for the purpose of this article. The available statistics regarding the use of cocaine in the US is worrying. It is estimated that by 2012 children as young as 12 years representing the younger lot and moving to adulthood had used cocaine. That translates to about 1.7 minion people. And in that same time it is estimated that up to 1.1 million people had suffered from cocaine abuse or dependence. The other important facts about cocaine use include the drop in cocaine use is that men tend to be the biggest users of the drug more often than women. And in fact adults of between 18-25 years of age are by far the highest rate of cocaine use.

Even as we venture into this discussion of cocaine abuse is an endless phenomenon, myths about the drug will always be there and one common myth is that cocaine is not addictive because it lacks the physical withdrawal symptoms seen in alcohol or heroin addiction. In paper that may sound factual, however cocaine does have influential psychological addictive properties. This has been demonstrated by more than one user in the past and in quotes, “if it is not addictive, then why can’t I stop?” That is actually the common statement given by all users of cocaine further confirming the addictive power in this drug. Like for instance, currently the tendency in drug abuse in the United States is currently numerous or poly-drug abuse, and cocaine is not immune either. It is often used with alcohol, sedatives such as diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), or heroin, as an upper/downer combination. Normally in instances like this the other drug is used to moderate the side effects of the primary addiction.

If I may ask why do we say that cocaine abuse an endless phenomenon? The answer to that is in the pattern in which this drug is being used. It appears that at every stage of life there is a group of users who graduate to the next stages and the vicious cycle continues. For example, while college students tend to abuse alcohol more than teens the same age who do not go on to college, non-college students seem to abuse cocaine, as well as marijuana and tobacco, more than their peers who attend college. A common poly-drug abuse problem, seen especially in adolescents, is cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana. If nothing is done then this generation of cocaine, alcohol and marijuana will graduate to collage with this baggage on their shoulders then to adulthood and finally old age. In dealing with this problem, it is important that we appreciate that drug-use disorders spare no one and it cuts across all societies. It has no respect for gender, age, profession, race, religion, or physical attributes.

Cocaine Abuse an endless Phenomenon: History

The ultimate objective of this article is to understand the effects of cocaine abuse and dopamine deficiency syndrome. But before we get there, let us get an overview of the history of this drug. Cocaine is a naturally occurring alkaloid usually extracted from the leaves of the coca shrub, which was originally found in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. With its appreciation as a lucrative cash crop, it is now cultivated in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the West Indies, Ecuador, and Java. Coca leaves were mixed with lime and chewed by the Peruvian Indians as early as the sixth century to allay the effects of cold, hunger, and fatigue. It is still used as such as a gift from the Sun God. In this sense, coca is an important sociocultural tradition for Peruvian and Bolivian Indians and should not be confused with the cocaine snorting, smoking, and injecting of the Western abuser. Coca was later introduced to Europe, where the alkaloid cocaine was isolated. Its medicinal effects on depression, alcohol and morphine addiction, fatigue, and as a local anesthetic were discovered. However, these discoveries were not without cost to those who experimented with it. The result was addiction and dependency on the drug.

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon: A brain tonic

Interestingly around 1886, an elixir containing cocaine from the coca leaf and caffeine from the African kola nut was introduced in Atlanta. It was traded as a brain tonic recommended as a medication for headaches, alcoholism, morphine addiction, abdominal pain, and menstrual cramps. This elixir, appropriately named Coca-Cola, rapidly became one of the most popular elixirs in the country. However because of the adverse effects of cocaine, appreciated even then, the Coca-Cola Company decided to use a de cocainized coca leaves in 1903. At this time cocaine was under strict control in the United States in 1914 with the Harrison Narcotic Act. It was finally listed as a narcotic and dangerous. Though its use is dangerous, it is not a narcotic, but its use is subject to the same penalties as those for opium, morphine, and heroin.

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon: Limited medical use

Cocaine has little medical use. Because of its anesthetic effect, it was used for eye surgery. But because of its profound ability to vasoconstriction blood vessels (that is, make veins and arteries narrow, thus stopping bleeding), it can lead to scarring and delayed healing of the cornea. Medications that are chemically similar to cocaine are available for use in the nose for surgery, stopping nosebleeds, and as a local anesthetic for cuts in children. We are going to continue with is discussion looking at how and why people abuse cocaine both in the past and present but in the meantime if you have any concern about cocaine abuse, you can schedule for an appointment with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center and doctor Dalal Akoury will be of great help to you.

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon: Important Facts about Cocaine

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