What are the physical effects of cocaine addiction?
• Changes in blood pressure, heart rates, and breathing rates • Nausea • Vomiting • Anxiety • Convulsions • Insomnia • Loss of appetite leading to malnutrition and weight loss • Cold sweats • Swelling and bleeding of mucous membranes • Restlessness and anxiety • Damage to nasal cavities • Damage to lungs • Possible heart attacks, strokes, or convulsionsHEALTH EFFECTS Even though the public is often regaled with highly publicized accounts of deaths from cocaine, many still mistakenly believe the drug, especially when sniffed, to be nonaddictive and not as harmful as other illicit drugs. Cocaine’s immediate physical effects include raised breathing rate, raised blood pressure and body temperature, and dilated pupils. By causing the coronary arteries to constrict, blood pressure rises and the blood supply to the heart diminishes. This can cause heart attacks or convulsions within an hour after use. Chronic users and those with hypertension, epilepsy, and cardiovascular disease are at part
With the accumulating medical evidence of cocaine’s deleterious effects and the introduction and widespread use of cocaine, the public and government have become alarmed again about its growing use. To many, especially health care and social workers who deal with cocaine users and have witnessed the personal and societal devastation it produces, cocaine addiction is by far the most serious drug problem. Cocaine use increases the risk of sudden heart attack and may also trigger stroke, even in users who otherwise are not at high risk for these sometimes fatal cardiovascular events. The risk is related to narrowing of blood vessels and increases in blood pressure and heart rate. Recently, NIDA-supported researchers at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Centre at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, have identified changes in blood components that may also play a role in cocaine-related heart attack and stroke.
With the accumulating medical evidence of cocaine’s deleterious effects and the introduction and widespread use of cocaine, the public and government have become alarmed again about its growing use. To many Americans, especially health care and social workers who deal with cocaine users and have witnessed the personal and societal devastation it produces, cocaine addiction is by far the most serious drug problem in the United States. Cocaine use increases the risk of sudden heart attack and may also trigger stroke, even in users who otherwise are not at high risk for these sometimes fatal cardiovascular events. The risk is related to narrowing of blood vessels and increases in blood pressure and heart rate. Recently, NIDA-supported researchers at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, have identified changes in blood components that may also play a role in cocaine-related heart attack and stroke.
• Changes in blood pressure, heart rates, and breathing rates • Nausea • Vomiting • Anxiety • Convulsions • Insomnia • Loss of appetite leading to malnutrition and weight loss • Cold sweats • Swelling and bleeding of mucous membranes • Restlessness and anxiety • Damage to nasal cavities • Damage to lungs • Possible heart attacks, strokes, or convulsions HEALTH EFFECTS Even though the public is often regaled with highly publicized accounts of deaths from cocaine, many still mistakenly believe the drug, especially when sniffed, to be nonaddictive and not as harmful as other illicit drugs. Cocaine’s immediate physical effects include raised breathing rate, raised blood pressure and body temperature, and dilated pupils. By causing the coronary arteries to constrict, blood pressure rises and the blood supply to the heart diminishes. This can cause heart attacks or convulsions within an hour after use. Chronic users and those with hypertension, epilepsy, and cardiovascular disease are at par
