Tag Archives: Cocain abuse

Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

Cocaine triple consequences

Cocaine triple consequences

Cocaine triple consequences are evident and users of this subsidence are in danger of even losing their own life

Cocaine triple consequences: The killer powder  

Cocaine is a killer powder and it doesn’t matter how you brand it. All the streets nouns like a blow, snow, coke, C, flake, crack or cocoa3 will not change the cocaine triple consequences in human health. Before cocaine is made admissible it is just a white powder which can be snorted, injected or smoked. How it enters the body doesn’t in anyway reduce the effect in the user’s body. Many people have the wrong impression that when injected the effect is higher than when it is smoked or snorted. The truth is that injection increases the speed of effects and not the effect. Meaning that even when smoked or snorted the effect may be felt in a slow pace but it will still get to its maximum and so we must discourage and fight professionally its use by all means.

To help in doing this, doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President, and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, is in the first lane of finding the solution to all cocaine addiction victims. Doctor Akoury and her team of able experts are focused, experienced and committed to the delivery of total addiction recovery for their patients. Many people who have passed through AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are a great testimony to this new found way of defeating cocaine powder triple addiction. If you or somebody you is struggling with cocaine addiction. You can be the great change they need to live a normal life. All you need to do is to schedule an appointment with doctor Akoury today and together with her able team of experts, register you into the facility for the commencement of your healing through the delivery of real-time professional treatment.

Cocaine triple consequences: Effects of cocaine

It must be noted that the effects of cocaine (cocaine powder triple addiction) are real no matter the mode of administration. It speeds up your whole body and may also make the users feel happier, energetic and excited. These feelings often lure people into using cocaine thinking that it is a solution to their stressful surrounding. Doctor Akoury says that this is a concoction because before you know it the moods will change. The changes will be exactly the opposite of what you felt fun over. At the point of change, the user will lose that energy, excitement, joy confidence and comfort. Users at this point often do much-wearied things and the movement the intensity of cocaine wears off, the opposite feelings intensify. What then follows is craving for more cocaine to feel “better” again.

The dangers of cocaine powder ripple addiction have no respect for anything. It does not identify with any mode of administration because all the risks involved remain the same. Users of cocaine are at risk of contracting HIV due to sharing of the injection needle or having unsafe sex.

They are also at an increased risk of suffering serious health complications like heart attack and stroke. It must also be noted that cocaine is even more dangerous when administered along with other substances, says doctor Akoury.

Cocaine triple consequences: Why you must get treatment

Doctor Akoury reiterates that losing control over cocaine is very easy and that is why it is very addictive. The danger is once you’re addicted treatment is still possible, however, you will be in danger of relapse every now and then. You will always crave for the drug not just moments after treatment but sometimes ever for several years. Our motivation is seeing you get well from our treatment. We want to help you get well. Call us today on telephone number 843 213 1480 and we will help you regain your life back.

Cocaine triple consequences: The killer powder  

 

 

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Endangering unborn life with drug addiction

Endangering unborn life

Endangering unborn life with drug addiction begins with a simple peer influence to use drugs

Endangering unborn life with drug addiction: Different drugs with different effects

Besides the various questions that often cross many people’s minds, there are certain known facts about the effects of illegal drugs that are specifically endangering unborn life. Some of such facts may include the following:

Cannabis (marijuana)Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug. Taking cannabis during pregnancy might make your baby unsettled and more easily startled after he is born. In the longer term, it could cause behavior and learning problems for your baby as he grows older. Remember that smoking cannabis also exposes your baby to the risks related to smoking. If you smoke, you are more likely to go into premature labour. There’s also a higher chance that your baby will be born with a low birth weight and other complications, and it increases the risk of cot death.

Speed (amphetamines) and crystal meth (methamphetamine) – For the benefit of your unborn child, it would be very proper for you to stop taking speed or crystal meth before you get pregnant or during and after pregnancy. If you have been using these drugs, you can still quit even when you are pregnant, but to be safe and this is very important, you should stop taking these drugs with medical help in a drug treatment program. This is so because stopping suddenly could be harmful for you and to your baby as well and could even cause miscarriage. Remember that taking speed or crystal meth can make the following more likely:

  • A complication where the placenta can’t carry enough oxygen and nutrients to your baby, called placental insufficiency
  • The placenta separating from your uterus (placental abruption)

These drugs can affect your baby’s growth in the uterus, making her smaller than expected for your stage of pregnancy and increasing the chance of premature birth.

EcstasyDoctor Akoury says that there’s a lot of concern about the long-term side-effects of taking ecstasy. Nonetheless more needs to be done to ascertain any effect it may have on your pregnancy or your baby. At the moment, there is very little evidence that this can cause any significant effect to either the mother or the baby. But all the same ecstasy may have an effect on your baby’s motor development (co-ordination and movement). But then again there is limited evidence that it could cause birth defects and a lot more research needs to be done to establish that.

Cocaine and crack cocaineTaking cocaine or crack during pregnancy may increase your risk of having a miscarriage and of placental abruption later in pregnancy. Using cocaine while you are pregnant can slow down your baby’s growth in the uterus. It may also increase the risk of your baby having problems with learning and behavior when he is older.

Heroin and strong painkillersHeroin has serious risks for your baby. The same kind of problems can happen if you are regularly using related painkillers (opioids) like morphine or Tramadol during pregnancy. You may not realize that you can become addicted to strong painkillers. But if you use heroin or other opioids, it is vital to get treatment as soon as it is practically possible. Trying to quit on your own could be dangerous for you and your baby. It could cause a miscarriage or premature birth, or your baby could be stillborn. The safest way to quit is with medical help, as part of a drug treatment program. And remember that during pregnancy, heroin and other opioids can slow down your baby’s growth and have an effect on how her brain grows. These drugs can also make it harder for your baby to breathe just after she is born.

Endangering unborn life with drug addiction: Different drugs with different effects

 

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Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking: Why you must consider quitting

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking and this is not working for the beauty of your skin at all.

For quite sometimes now we have been addressing the issues surrounding substance abuse. We have dealt with various effects of drugs and so far we are not seeing anything good about drugs. And what is worrying is that even though this piece of information is now consumable by many people, drug related conditions are still on the rise. One of the most disturbing conditions is the way cocaine is rearranging peoples’ faces and transforming their lives negatively. Even though this is very evident and the victims themselves can see for themselves the damage caused by cocaine addiction on the mirror, they are still very much hooked into their addiction. This is what we have been addressing and for the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on beauty and how cocaine and stimulant induced skin picking. Before we settle into the discussion, I want to share with you an experience one of the patients went through and this is also a representation of what many addicts are also going through.

For the purposes of confidentiality I will refer to the patient as GK. After abusing cocaine for some time, one day he stood before his mirror and he dint like what he saw. What was before him was an increasingly common and distressing indicator of excessive cocaine and stimulant use. Skin picking was the problem. He spent several hours before the mirror squeezing and tweezing as the smallest of spots becomes a painful wound. Hair pulled out, bugs under the skin, insects or mites in his clothes and house. We are going to rely on GK experience to shed some light on this extremely upsetting, hidden behavior, examining the chemistry behind it, why it happens and the role cocaine and other stimulants have to play. This is a discussion you don’t want to miss but in the meantime you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. She will be of greater help to you in all matters relating to addiction and beauty. And now back to the discussion of Cocaine and stimulant induced skin picking…

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking: Skin Picking
Skin picking due to excessive crack cocaine use has become more common as more people use crack disorderly and because of this there is sudden increase in negative health issues linked to this habit. Professionally in the medical understanding skin picking is seen as a compulsive foraging response (CICF – ‘cocaine induced compulsive foraging’) but the compulsion to skin pick has also been called psychogenic excoriation, delusional parasitosis, self-inflicted dermatoses, dermatillomania, formication, or hypoesthesia; which is quite surprising considering that there has been so little research on the subject.

The features of skin picking may include excessive scratching, picking, gouging, lancing, digging and squeezing of normal or slightly marred skin. Even though the whole body can be involved, commonly the most picked areas include; fingernails, face, lips, scalp, arms and legs. This is made possible because drugs like cocaine, methylephenidate, phenelzine amphetamine and anticholinergic drugs often produce increased nerve activity tactile sensations like burning, tingling and crawling (worms under the skin) that can lead to skin picking. So while it is clearly a chemical reaction to the drugs you’re taking, it can be closely linked with psychological issues such as extreme anxiety or childhood trauma. So why do some people skin pick excessively, where others don’t?
Studies suggest that it’s a coping mechanism for dealing with emotional pain. Physical pain distracts the individual and can help to alleviate feelings of guilt through self-punishment. Many S-P’s (skin pickers) report increased levels of tension prior to skin picking and a sense of relief or satisfaction following the picking. Some experience an altered state of consciousness whilst picking resembling a dissocialized state. However, lack of pain during picking episodes may also be related to opioid dysregulation. We can see elevated levels of B-endorphin in S-Ps, because pain, in this case through self-injurious behavior, leads to the release of B-endorphins, which in turn leads to the release of tension.

Victims of childhood abuse often have elevated levels of B-endorphins too, in their CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) in the brain, because of repeated exposure to pain, or from being prohibited to reacting to the infliction of pain. Women with a history of childhood abuse also exhibit increased pituitary adrenaline and automatic heart rate responses to stress. So in many cases, skin picking is a chemical reaction that has been built up from past trauma, where a person’s elevated b-endorphins or ACTH response is reacting with the drug they’re taking: crack cocaine.

Cocaine increases the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the automatic nervous system associated with pleasure which is important for reinforcement of behaviour.However, for reasons we don’t have the space to go into, too much use of cocaine can lead to a lack of dopamine in your system, which in turn leads to mood and anxiety disorders.

S-Ps often suffers from one or more of the following conditions:

  • Major depression
  • Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
  • Dysthymia (depression tendencies)
  • Panic attacks
  • Agoraphobia
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Eating disorders
  • Trichotillomania (hair /eyelash/body hair pulling)
  • Kleptomania (compulsive stealing of objects) and
  • Body dysmorphic disorder (hated self-image).

Beside the mention conditions, some studies have also established that more than half of the individuals with serious skin picking conditions also reported a history of body rocking, thumb sucking, knuckle cracking, cheek chewing and head banging. Along-side with all these, skin picking also causes a lot of anguish. Like for instance, the victim can feel embarrassed and this may lead to shame and even impaired social functioning and in some cases people withdraw altogether from social activities and confine themselves to their home. Some people also experience medical complications as a result of skin picking, like ulcers, infections, permanent discoloration and scarring. Remember that too much scratching leads to open wounds and sores and when this is combined with injecting, infection can travel from the skin to the blood, causing serious illnesses such as septicemia or endocarditis.

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking: Cocaine Induced Psychosis & ‘Foraging’

Chronic cocaine or crack use can result in cocaine induced paranoia (CIP) and coke-induced compulsive foraging (CICF) type behaviors. ‘Compulsive foraging’ covers a cluster of cocaine induced behaviors of which skin picking is just one. Another ‘foraging disorder’ is when coke users hunt for hours for specs of cocaine around a place where it was once used (also called ‘surfing’). Food deprivation or hunger increases the probability of foraging responses and because it’s an appetite suppressant, coke can make users vulnerable to malnutrition thus continuing foraging behavior. Skin picking is a foraging response.

Cocaine and Stimulant Induced Skin Picking: Why you must consider quitting

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The inversion of Cocaine in your brain

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: Effects of Cocaine in the Nerve system

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain. Cocaine has an extremely rapid euphoric effect on the user, especially when smoked or snorted.

Cocaine is very addictive and a psychoactive drug affecting the central nervous system primarily. Originally it is prepared from the leaf of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which grows mainly in Peru and Bolivia. The simplicity of its usage has made the inversion of cocaine in your brain more chronic and threatening. As a matter of facts this drug is self-administered in several ways explains doctor Dalal Akoury. The most common method of cocaine abuse is snorting in its powder form into the nasal sinuses, either alone or with the accompaniment of heroin (speedball). This drug is easily available in the streets as a hydrochloride salt which is a fine, white crystalline powder known in several street manes as coke, C, snow, flake, or blow. Besides snorting, the drug can also be administered through smoking which for many is effective in producing quick result as crack cocaine.

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, cocaine produces a wide range of physiological effects in humans, including the stimulation of a plethora of emotional experiences. When people take in cocaine, they become euphoric, over exited, highly active and more talkative than normal. When they use this drug, they experience the feelings of extreme power and alertness. This initial high is followed by sessions of severe anxiety, paranoia, and depression, which often lead to addiction. Those who become addicted to the drug often turn the habit into an obsession, so that they devote more, and more of their time and money to acquiring and using the drug explains doctor Akoury. Therefore what are some of the notable symptoms of addiction for users?

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: Symptoms of addiction

People who abuse these drugs regularly often exhibit psychotic behavior such as:

  • Hallucinations
  • Delusions of persecution
  • Mood disturbances
  • Repetitive behaviors

All these closely resemble the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Trained mental health professionals have difficulties in telling a schizophrenic and cocaine addict apart unless they know the patient’s background. Although the psychological and behavioral effects of cocaine use in humans have been well documented, the current knowledge of the neurological basis for the abuse of cocaine in humans is still limited. The majority of knowledge we possess about the mechanisms of the effects of cocaine comes from animal studies performed over the last 20 years. These studies have clearly demonstrated the crucial role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in initiating many of the effects of cocaine use.

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: Effects on the brain

Cocaine is an indirect dopamine agonist. Once in the brain, it works in large part by occupying, or blocking, dopamine transporter sites in the terminal buttons of neurons in the brain. This prevents the reuptake of dopamine by the neurons that release it, allowing higher concentrations of dopamine to remain in the synapse for an extended period of time. This abnormally long presence, and high concentration, of dopamine in the synapse is believed to cause the high associated with cocaine use. Dopamine has been implicated in several important functions, including movement, attention, learning, and the reinforcing effects of drug use. Therefore, its extended presence in high concentrations will be effective in the particular parts of the brain that control these functions, such as the basal ganglia and the limbic system.

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: Cocaine and the dopamine transporter

Studies have confirmed that the reinforcing effects of cocaine involve dopamine transporter molecules. In a dopamine study, a group of scientists produced a targeted mutation of the gene responsible for production of the dopamine transporter protein in mice. In their findings, it was established that several compensatory mechanisms in an animal’s brain help it to adapt to the chronically higher level of dopamine resulting from their mutation induced reuptake inability. One of these mechanisms is a large decrease in post-synaptic dopamine receptors, rendering dopamine less effective. Another strategy is a corresponding decrease in the concentration of tyrosine hydroxylase (enzyme responsible for the synthesis of dopamine), decreasing the availability of dopamine. So, when cocaine was administered to these animals, it had no effect on the animal’s behavior since dopamine reuptake no longer occurred due to lack of functional dopamine transporters. This therefore is a demonstration that the dopamine transporter is essential for cocaine to be able to produce its effects.

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: A quick fix

Cocaine has an extremely rapid euphoric effect on the user, especially in the case of the smoking method of use, because the drug directly enters the pulmonary blood stream when smoked. Cocaine has a relatively short half-life in the plasma and in the brain. When administered intravenously (IV) to humans, the half-life is in the range of 16 to 87 minutes. This short half-life accounts for the rapid euphoric effects of the drug. Typically, when the drug is administered intravenously, it produces a fast “hit-and-run” effect on the potentiation of the extracellular levels of dopamine. Nonetheless when rats are given a continuous flow of dopamine intravenously, they experience a peak in dopamine levels in just 10 minutes followed by a return to regular levels after 20 to 30 minutes. Because the initial high experienced by cocaine abusers lasts for only a short time, the initial stimulatory actions of cocaine can be attributed to the elevation of synaptic dopamine levels.

Finally the use of drugs not necessarily cocaine is not your portion. Nothing actually comes good out of the use or abuse of drugs in whichever way you look at it. Being safe and free from drugs is the best thing you can do for yourself especially if you are already deeply addicted to it. There is help around you and doctor Dalal Akoury made one of the best decisions to give her professional contribution in helping the struggling societies with addiction. She decided to create a medical center whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. You can also be part of this by scheduling for an appointment with her today and your life will be completely transformed for greater productivity ahead of you. Remember that doctor Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms and this will be very good for you too.

The inversion of Cocaine in your brain: Effects of Cocaine in the Nerve system

 

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Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon: Important Facts about Cocaine

Cocaine Abuse is an endless Phenomenon

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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