Tag Archives: Cocaine and stimulants

Cocain use

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences

September 7, 2016
Crack cocaine abuse

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences can be controlled by taking preventive measures

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences: Modes of administration

The history of cocaine is well known and how it affects the good health of our societies. Crack cocaine as it is commonly known is a very powerful addictive stimulant drug that when allowed to settle in anyone’s life, the consequences can be very devastating and frustrating. Whichever way you look at it, crack cocaine is poisonous to your health. According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury MD, the illusion that cocaine is beneficial remains just an illusion. The naked truth is that no single advantage can be attached to this drug says doctor Akoury. As a matter of fact crack cocaine abuse is a serious threats to humanity.

The powdered hydrochloride salt form of cocaine can be snorted or injected as a solution of water. And when we talk of crack cocaine, it means that, this cocaine base has not been neutralized by an acid to transform it into a hydrochloride salt. When that is done, this form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal which can be heated to produce vapors, a product which can be smoked. The term “crack” therefore refers to the crackling sound produced by the rock when it is heated.

How is cocaine abused?

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, crack cocaine abuse is in most cases considered in relation to the mode of its administration. There are three main routes that are commonly used for the administration of crack cocaine:

Snorting – this is the process of inhaling cocaine powder through the nose, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues.

Injection – in this case cocaine in mixed with water and the solution is then injected into the body using the needle to release the drug directly into the blood streams.

Smoking – this involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs, where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection.

Even as we progress into the discussion, it is important to note that, the mode of administering the substance doesn’t in any way reduce the danger. The consequences remain the same with the risk of addiction and infection by other serious chronic health complications like contracting STI’s. Besides that, the following are some of the experiences that users of crack cocaine will face:

  • The intensity and duration of cocaine’s effects, which include increased energy, reduced fatigue, and mental alertness, depend on the route of drug administration.
  • The faster cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, the more intense the high.
  • Injecting or smoking cocaine produces a quicker, stronger high than snorting.
  • On the other hand, faster absorption usually means shorter duration of action.
  • The high from snorting cocaine may last 15 to 30 minutes, but the high from smoking may last only 5 to 10 minutes.

Finally and in order to sustain the high, a cocaine abuser has to administer the drug repeatedly. That is to say, crack cocaine is often abused in binges taken repeatedly within a relatively short period of time, at increasingly high doses. This is very dangerous and the sooner you enroll for a recovery program the better. You can always call doctor Dalal Akoury for more professional advice and treatment on this journey of recovery.

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences: Modes of administration

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stem cells

Stimulant induced skin picking

September 7, 2016
Stimulant induced skin picking

Stimulant induced skin picking can be controlled effectively at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center

Stimulant induced skin picking: Cocaine abuse

Stimulant induced skin picking due to excessive and abuse of crack cocaine has become more common as more people use crack disorderly. This has necessitated the sudden increase in negative health issues linked to this habit. Professionally in the medical understanding stimulant induced 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.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Characteristics of skin picking

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.

Stimulant induced skin picking: 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.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Crack cocaine

Doctor Dalal Akoury who is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center registers that cocaine increases the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the automatic nervous system associated with pleasure which is important for reinforcement of behavior. 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:

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

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. And that should be an incentive for you to schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury for a more professional medical approach.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Cocaine abuse

 

 

 

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Strong central nervous system stimulant

September 7, 2016
Strong central nervous system

Strong central nervous system stimulant that can destroy the brain system and the well-being of the body

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Crack cocaine

Without missing the words, cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that raises the levels of dopamine. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center explains that this is a brain chemical which is associated with pleasure and movement, in the brain’s reward circuit. And since dopamine facilitates communication in some brain cell commonly known as neurons, which are released by neurons to respond to signals like the smell or taste of good food and then it is recycled back into the cell that releases it which in return will shut off the signal between neurons.

Cocaine acts by preventing the dopamine from being recycled, causing excessive amounts of dopamine to build up, amplifying the message, and ultimately disrupting normal communication. It is this excess of dopamine that is responsible for cocaine’s euphoric effects. With repeated use, cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain’s reward system and in other brain systems as well, which may eventually lead to addiction.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Health consequences

There is no doubt that cocaine abuse impact on health negatively in very many ways. Doctor Akoury explains that among many other consequences, the following are outstanding:

Being a strong central nervous system stimulant, it can also cause headaches and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Alongside that, it is worth noting that since cocaine tends to decrease appetite, chronic users can become malnourished as well.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Effects associated with mode of administration

Even though the dangers remain the same, it will interest you to note that these modes of administration of cocaine (smoking, snorting, injestion and injection) can produce different adverse effects including the following:

  • Regularly snorting cocaine, can lead to loss of the sense of smell, nose bleeding, problems with swallowing, hoarseness and a chronically runny nose.
  • Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene as a result of reduced blood flow.
  • Injecting cocaine can bring about severe allergic reactions and increased risk for contracting HIV and other blood-borne diseases.
  • Binge patterns of use may lead to irritability, restlessness, anxiety, and paranoia.
  • Cocaine abusers can suffer a temporary state of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which they lose touch with reality and experience auditory hallucinations.

In conclusion doctor Akoury is making emphasis that it doesn’t matter how it is administered or the frequency of cocaine use, in all these users can experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which may cause sudden death. Remember that most cocaine-related deaths are often as result of cardiac arrest or seizure followed by respiratory arrest. All these can be brought to manageable levels if we all pool together and begin doing the right things. You may not know conclusively what to do and that is why doctor Akoury founded this health facility to help you stay healthy. You can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury and together with her team of experts they will professionally offer lasting solution to your individual conditions.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Crack cocaine

 

 

 

 

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brain

Treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse

November 25, 2015

Treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse: Is healing of addicted brain possible?

Treating brain impairment

Drug addiction is very dangerous to human health and therefore treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse is very essential in the recovery process.

The human brain is the engine of life and any infringement to its proper functionality is not only a problem to the brain but to the whole body. The brain can be affected in several ways but one emerging common fact that cause damage to the brain is the use of drugs. There are so many drugs in the market both the legal and illegal once capable of causing damage to our social well-being by infringing on the brain and for the purpose of this article; we want to narrow our discussion on one substance that is among many substances raising havoc to the brains operations. Therefore cocaine is going to be our key focus even as we explore on treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse or addiction. This is a very interesting topic you do not want to miss and therefore if you are joining us for the first time, we want to encourage you to stay with us on the link and get the best you need to know about the impact of cocaine in your health and how best you can be on top of it for the betterment of your life and that of your loved ones. And now to set the ball rolling, we want to engage the services of experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center which is a health facility founded by doctor Dalal Akoury MD and also the President of the establishment. It will also interest you to note that doctor Akoury is a veteran addiction expert who has offered addiction treatment very passionately to millions of people across the globe for several decades now making her to be one of the most experienced and qualified to handle your condition. You can therefore seek for her professional advice by scheduling for an appointment with her today by calling her on telephone number 843 213 1480 and she will be able to address all your concerns in confidence and with high standard of professionalism.

Treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse: The lifestyle of a cocaine user

Ideally cocaine users are living a very disturbing life owing to the complications that come with the usage of this substance. These are people who need our help and that is one of the reasons why doctor Akoury founded this establishment (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center). It is however regrettable that for cocaine users, every high is a little less great. Thus they continue to go back for another high even as they try to match their last high. Professionally doctor Akoury registers that the most horribly tragic thing about this habit is that even though they repeatedly use more units every time, they will never reach those highs again and frustratingly every next high results in lower highs and higher lows. Because of this reasons, there has been a great deal of discussion about healing the addicted brain and whether or not true healing of an addicted brain is possible.

Brain scans have indicated that in the short term, the revival of dopamine transporter (DAT) binding is not very healthy. One month of discontinuance still shows a stark drop in DAT binding. However, in their example, 14 months of abstinence shows an almost full return of dopamine transporter binding. When cocaine is first used, the dopamine levels in the brain are found to skyrocket by two or three times. However, once this short high of approximately 12 hours wears off, then dopamine levels are depressed to lower than normal levels. This actually explains the reason as to why users (drug addicts) are often yarning for that next high to get their dopamine levels back above normal. Even though this is a push and pull event, the truth is that the end result is just never quite as high as the previous one.

Treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse: The role of serotonin in solving the problem of addicted brain

Looking at the topic of discussion before us, it is equally important to note that serotonin is another neurotransmitter that plays a significant role in the addicted brains inclination towards the continued cocaine use. It therefore means that Serotonin is involved in a variety of physiological states impacting on sexual behavior and even being culpable for things or conditions such as depression. Doctor Akoury registers that when drugs are abused in whichever way, the impact of that action is that the levels of serotonin will be elevated. It therefore means that each time when the drug users make an attempt to stop their serotonin levels are depressed. And besides that there has been a lot of pharmacological use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) to raise a depressed individual’s serotonin levels without the use of the drugs that first elevated their high, like cocaine. Even though that has been helpful for many people in the past and even currently, many users are still out in the exploration field wanting to try and get their addicted brain fully healed.

Finally these research findings that it is really the behavioral effects of the addicted brain that never fully return to normal, in some cases. While the brains serotonin can be regulated through the use of SSRIs, and DAT binding returns to quasi-normal levels after prolonged discontinuance, there is always the X factor of whether or not these users will return to their prior behaviors. This is very important in securing a permanent solution to the problem and therefore, if you are not so sure of your position or that of your loved ones, you can schedule for an appointment with the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury today for further direction. Up on receipt of your appointment, doctor Akoury will professionally take you through all the process you need to know in order to be on the right path when it comes to curing the addicted brain from the effects of cocaine abuse.

Treating brain impairment caused by cocaine abuse: Is healing of addicted brain possible?

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Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies

October 5, 2015

Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies: A cognitive behavioral approach of treating addiction

Drug cravings negativity

Doctor Akoury says that knowing drug cravings negativity and coping strategies without really seeking for help will not be beneficial to you. Once this is known, it must be accompanied with action immediately for good health to reign

We have in the resent past been discussing serious topics touching on the cognitive behavioral approach of treating addiction and in particular cocaine addiction and techniques of coping with craving. We are not about to give it up because we understand the seriousness of the problem in our societies and even closer to our individual families. This is a war we are determined to win by all means and for that reason, we want to further into the discussion by looking at the drug cravings negativity and coping strategies we can adopt to defeat this scourge. Doctor Dalal Akoury an addiction expert of several decades has been sharing with us very healthy information about a cognitive behavioral approach of treating addiction as being one of the best strategies in finding lasting solution to cocaine addiction. She is going to progress from where we left in the previous article for us to have a better understanding of what is before us. She says that in coping with craving for cocaine or any other substance, there are a variety of strategies for doing so and some of those strategies may includes the following.

  • Distraction
  • Talking about craving
  • Going with the craving
  • Recalling the negative consequences of cocaine abuse
  • Using self-talk

We appreciate that different professionals may have different view about this like for instance some therapists may wish to point out that these strategies may not stop craving completely, however at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury, we believe that with practice, recovering addicts will reduce the frequency and intensity of craving and make it less disturbing and frustrating when it occurs. It is therefore very prudent that we take keen interest in adopting mechanisms that will enable us to cope successfully with craving for cocaine and other drugs.

Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies: Entertainment and distractions

When under the influence of drugs, all that you will be thinking about is drugs because that is what keeps you going, without it, you will actually fall sick. In that case it is only fair that you get distracted so that your mind can be engaged into other things. Professionally doctor Akoury can now confirms that this has been tested and found to very helpful. It is therefore very necessary that you prepare a list of reliable distracting activities and with the help of your doctor in anticipation of future craving. Such activities might include taking a walk, playing basketball, and doing relaxation exercises. Preparation of such a list may reduce the likelihood that patients will use substances, particularly alcohol and marijuana, in ill-fated attempts to deal with craving. Leaving the situation and going somewhere safe is one of the most effective ways of dealing with craving when it occurs.

Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies: Sharing freely about craving

Talking about drug addiction is not a taboo as some people make it to look like. Doctor Akoury says that when patients have supportive, abstinent friends and family members, talking freely about craving when it occurs, it gives the recovering addicts the confidence to move forward. Sharing is a very effective strategy and can help reduce the feelings of anxiety and vulnerability that often accompany it. Besides that it can also help patients identify specific cues. It’s true that sure family members may become distressed when they hear their loved ones (patients) sharing about craving because of the fear that this might ultimately lead to use of drugs, it is therefore very important that therapists and other lined professionals to spend some time in identifying which patients would feel comfortable to talk with freely about craving, how that person would react, and whether it makes sense to ask that person in advance for support.

Socially isolated patients, or those who have few non-using friends, will find it difficult to nominate a supportive other who can assist with craving, thoughts about cocaine, and other problems. This should alert therapists to the need to consider addressing social isolation during treatment. For example, therapists and patients can brainstorm ways of meeting new, non-using others, reconnecting with friends and family members, and so on. To help patients “own” these strategies and be more likely to initiate positive social contact, therapists might suggest applying the problem solving strategies which we have already dwelt on in our previous postings.

Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies: Going with the craving

Doctor Akoury says that the idea going with the craving technique is to let it (craving) occur, peak, and pass and that is to say experiencing them without either fighting or giving into them. Giving patients the imagery of a wave or walking over a hill may help convey this concept that is, gaining control by avoiding resistance.

Experts through several studies have identified the steps involved which should ordinarily be practiced within sessions or at home before craving occurs. Besides that patients should also be told that the purpose is not to make the cravings disappear, but to experience them in a different way that makes them feel less anxiety provoking and dangerous and thus easier to ride out. The steps are summarized below.

Pay attention to the craving – This usually involves, first, finding someplace safe to let oneself experience craving (e.g., a comfortable and quiet place at home). Next, relax and focus on the experience of craving itself – where it occurs in the body or mind and how intense it is.

Focus on the area where the craving occurs – This involves paying attention to all the somatic and effective signals and trying to put them into words. What is the feeling like? Where is it? How strong is it? Does it move or change? Where else does it occur? After concentrating in this way, many patients find the craving goes away entirely. In fact, the patient may find it useful to rate the intensity of craving before and after the exercise to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.

Finally understanding the drug cravings negativity and coping strategies alone will not be helpful if you do not take the next step of seeking for help. Yes you now have the information, but if you don’t apply that information, it will not be helpful. That is the reason why doctor Dalal Akoury founded AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for every individual who is struggling with any form of addiction to seek for help. You can reach out for her on telephone number 843 213 1480 so that you can have a one on one with her and you will have all your addiction related concerns addressed professionally.

Drug cravings negativity and coping strategies: A cognitive behavioral approach of treating addiction

 

 

 

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