Cocaine Addiction Forms and Risks

If you even suspect a loved one of cocaine addiction, it is better to take action and find out you were mistaken than not take action and find out they are addicted. The consequences can be very serious.

So, how do you tell if a loved one is in the throes of cocaine addiction? There are many different ways of taking cocaine so the obvious symptoms differ. It can be snorted, ingested, smoked or injected.

Snorting cocaine (also known as freebasing), for example, can lead to the loss of the sense of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness and a chronically running nose. A sure sign is someone who is constantly sniffing. Snorting is a highly dangerous way of using it as the cocaine reaches the brain within seconds, resulting in an intense high but the euphoria quickly disappears, making the addict increase his use.

Smoking cocaine is probably the worst cocaine addiction there is and is considered to be the most addictive. Signs of use, however, are not that evident other than increased jumpiness, irritability or even paranoia.

Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene due to reduced blood flow. This is more difficult to tell but if a loved one suddenly starts having bowel movement problems, abdominal pain and nausea, consider cocaine addiction as a possibility.

Those who inject cocaine can experience severe allergic reactions and, as with all drug users who inject themselves, they are at risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne diseases. This is easier to detect than those ingesting it as there will probably be visible needle marks.

Cocaine addiction leads to disturbances in the heart rhythm and can lead to heart attacks, chest pains and respiratory failure, strokes, seizures, headaches and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Cocaine, having a tendency to decrease appetite, chronic users can become malnourished, which compounds the problem.

Binging on cocaine can lead to increased irritability, restlessness and paranoia. Paranoia is a sure sign that the user is smoking or snorting. Cocaine addiction can even lead to full-blown paranoid psychosis. Whatever you do, don't let be put on anti-psychotics because you will be switching them from a cocaine addiction to an anti-psychotic addiction plus the possibility of reversion to the cocaine as well.

Dealing with cocaine addiction is rather simple if you know what to do about it. The first thing is to get them onto a program that does not give them further drugs and can help them through withdrawal in the most effective and comfortable way using the correct vitamins and minerals that their already depleted body needs. There is a very specific method for handling cocaine addiction withdrawal that does not make them feel awful.

Once they are through the withdrawal, a good program would consist of getting the drug residuals out of their body in the safest and most effective way.

While they still have the drug residues in the body, they cannot think clearly and have low energy levels, making it impossible to grasp and understand the data they will need in the education part of the program.

Only after they have gotten rid of the drug residues in their body on the detoxification step of the program are they ready to continue with the rest of the cocaine addiction rehabilitation program.

The key things to look for in any cocaine addiction rehabilitation program is 1) comfortable, non-drug withdrawal, 2) a full detoxification program that rids their body of all the drug and toxic residues and 3) an educational aspect with the person being able to establish for himself why he became addicted in the first place and then working on the solution he has figured out from the education steps.

Cocaine Addiction, how can you spot it?

How can you tell if your loved one is subjected to cocaine addiction? Is it just teenage behavior or school pressure that is making them act "strange"? It can be confusing to watch someone and be uncertain about their behavior.

There are certain physical manifestations one can look for when someone is involved with cocaine addiction but what of the behavior manifestations? One thing to realize is that anyone using drugs - even medical ones - is that the majority of them have a mental affect as well. Basically, the drugs throw you out of present time into something else that your mind gets stuck on.

A person who is suffering from cocaine addiction can appear to be in the same room as you are, doing the same things as you are but he's only partially there. There's often a sort of glazed look about their eyes and they can appear to be a bit like a robot.

He's there physically but he isn't tracking with what's going on. He does not "get" what you're saying and when you tell him to take out the garbage, he may pick up the broom and start sweeping. If you scold him he thinks you're crazy because he's supposed to sweep. It all looks odd. It is odd to you. He's just not tracking. It appears that he hears what you're saying but when you look he's doing something completely different.

If there's some kind of team effort going on and everyone else is working on a project together, he gets in the way and does very odd things. You ask him to pass the hammer and he comes back with a spoon, or something equally inappropriate.

It's not that he doesn't know what's going on around him. It's just that he believes that everyone else is stupid or unreasonable and don't know what they're doing. Because they're not doing what he can "see" is supposed to be going on, everyone else is crazy. And, to be sure, you could easily start to believe that you're losing it.

The end result is that anything you give someone who is under cocaine addiction to do has to be corrected by others and this can consume an awful lot of time. Imagine how that would affect a company and its production.

If you're still trying to determine if your loved one is addicted to cocaine or not, these are additional things to look out for in their behavior. If you already know they're addicted, then action is required immediately. The cost in despair and relationships - never mind the financial - can be very expensive if cocaine addiction is not dealt with speedily.

Fortunately, there is a solution and cocaine addiction can be fully overcome. The only criteria are that a program that gets excellent results is found. How do you find one like that when there are so many of them? You ask questions.

The first question should be, "What are your results?" Ask for references and speak to others who have done their program. Find out if their methods are authoritarian, if they use any form of drug to get people off drugs, do they go through a full detoxification program. With cocaine addiction, the body stores particles of cocaine in the fatty tissue, along with other toxins. If these residues are not removed and the fatty tissue cleaned up, the person can revert to cocaine addiction in a week, a month, even years and years later.

The final question to ask is what they do to get your loved rehabilitated. This is apart from the physical rehabilitation and is a very key part of any program. He has to get full understanding of his own problem and why he became addicted in order to effect recovery and this needs to be done without anyone else interjecting their opinions.

He is the only one that knows after all. His rehabilitation and full recovery of his willpower is so dependent on this point that anything else will just continue to keep him in a position where he is subjected to the will of others and you want him to be able to say "NO!"

Cocaine Abuse: What Can Be Done?

Cocaine abuse has become the most abused major stimulant in the USA and statistics show that emergency room visits for it are increasing. Cocaine abuse has been around for as long as anyone can remember.

Derived from the "innocent" cocoa plant, it is considered the "champagne" of drugs, one of its street names. There is an array of street names describing the different uses.

There are various ways that an addict will use this drug, amongst them being snorting, smoking one of the derivatives known as crack or rock. Historically, cocaine was known as the rich man's drug. This is changing rapidly as teenagers have found a new sensation in mixing it with marijuana.

The highly addictive nature of cocaine makes it an extremely dangerous drug and many a user will tell you that they're not addicted. This is so far from the truth to be ridiculous. If cocaine abuse isn't a problem to the addict, how come they are still using it?

No-one would willingly remain addicted. The penalties are extreme. Deprive someone who is abusing cocaine of his "fix" for long enough and you will get all kinds of mental phenomena occurring as their "need" increases.

It leads to a life of misery as cocaine abuse will lead to crime, first within the immediate family circle, then to friends and then out into society, the consequences of which can result in being incarcerated without any real hope of a full cocaine abuse treatment program as they become subjected to the "court system".

As with any drug abuse situation, cocaine abuse is no different. There is a minefield of information on the 'net, with many diverse solutions. Just trying to unscramble the true facts from misinformation can create such indecision in one trying to get help for cocaine abuse that new problems arise. How do you decide what will work and what won't? How do you know what is fact and what is fiction?

Although cocaine abuse is considered to be a "mental" addiction and not a  physical one, the fact remains those residuals of cocaine or crack lodge in the fatty tissue of the body. If these are not dealt with, the person can experience cravings weeks, days, months or even decades later and revert to cocaine abuse or some other replacement abuse because they basically get "reminded" of the earlier "pleasures".

Once the physical aspects have been dealt with and are no longer having an affect on them, the next thing would be to help them get to the bottom of the reason they did it in the first place. Whatever those reasons are, they are known only to him and him alone. No-one can assume to know for anyone else what their problems are, no matter how much we observe them. You cannot see inside the person and it is very harmful to tell them what is wrong and what to think.

The only real road to full rehabilitation is for them to find their own reason and, once known, they can then be helped to resolve it and work on their recovery. They have to do it themselves and with the right tools and the properly trained folks ready and willing to do it, you will have your loved one back in the family fold, not as a liability to society but as a contributing member shouldering his share.