Side Effects of Cocaine

Over six million people in the United States choose to purchase and
use the illegal drug cocaine. The drug can be sniffed, snorted,
injected or smoked, but no matter how it is taken, either in powder
form or crack cocaine in a pipe, cocaine is popular because it
produces an intense euphoric feeling. They feel energized, but little
do users know how powerfully addictive this drug is, nor do they
understand or even comprehend its negative side effects.

Side Effects of Cocaine -- You Always Want More!

Cocaine is classified as a stimulant, and while there is no clear
evidence to suggest that using small amounts is necessarily harmful to
health, understand that human nature will play a significant role in
just how dangerous this drug can be. Because its effects are
pleasurable for the user, they want more. As they use more they
increase the risk for toxicity and that is where the health problems
begin.

Side Effects of Cocaine -- Major Health Problems

Heavy cocaine use can lead to extreme central nervous system
stimulation. This can lead to convulsions, which leads to respiratory
or cardiac arrest. Amphetamine overdose is similar to this. However,
with cocaine, it is far more difficult to determine exactly what a
lethal dose of the drug is, as there have been reports of people dying
as a result of their first use. Normally people build up to greater
and greater amounts of the drug to achieve their desired effect.

Moreover, there are some uncommon toxic effects to consider, such as
sudden cardiac failure. The drug can trigger ventricular fibrillation,
a wild and erratic heartbeat, because the vargus nerve, which controls
heartbeat, can't function properly. If the user injects the drug, they
may experience an allergic reaction, either to the cocaine itself or
some additive that has been used to cut the drug.

Snorting cocaine can cause irritation and cause a chronic runny nose.
But this mild side effect pales in comparison to what else can happen
with increased use. People can become increasingly more irritable,
restless and paranoid with sustained use. In some cases, full
paranoid-psychosis occurs, as the patient completely loses contact
with reality.

They also have auditory hallucinations. However, as the drug leaves
the system, most people will recover their faculties. The drug can
also contribute to violent behavior, as the user loses touch and
cannot make sense of his/her experience.

Chronic cocaine use can also damage the heart. What is particularly
troubling is the fact that frequent, albeit brief, disruption of the
heart function, caused by the effect of the drug, is what causes the
damage.

Side Effects of Cocaine -- It's HIGHLY Addictive

Still another side effect of cocaine is its highly-addictive nature.
Most drug treatment in the United States is for cocaine addiction. In
laboratory animals, if given unlimited access to cocaine, the animal
will use until it kills itself. In humans, like laboratory animals,
the craving for cocaine will cause them to perform laborious tasks in
order to gain access to the drug. The powerful reinforcement of the
drug makes people want more. Once a person takes it, chances are good
they will want it again and again.

Cocaine is not believed to cause extreme withdrawal symptoms, and
because of that, in the past scientists had believed that it was not a
dependence-producing drug. But, after sustained cocaine use,
withdrawal is more psychological, as users experience cravings,
irritability, anxiety, mood swings, increased appetite and fatigue.
However, these withdrawal symptoms are not necessarily evident in all
people. Some people may have no symptoms at all.

Side Effects of Cocaine -- Harmful During Pregnancy

Finally, women who are carrying babies are discouraged from using
cocaine, because of the risk for spontaneous abortion and a torn
placenta. More obvious are the other risks of side effects described
above.

Ned Wicker is the Addictions Recovery Chaplain at Waukesha Memorial
Hospital Lawrence Center He author's a website for addiction support:

Drug-Addiction-Support.org or Cocaine Drug Addiction

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2021072