Cocaine Addiction Effects
Cocaine addiction effects can be both physically and mentally devastating, not to mention the social effects that any addiction can cause. Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs, and individuals quickly become entrapped in an addiction to the drug, sometimes after just one use. The drug is so addictive because it causes a rapid and intense high that is virtually unrivalled. Cocaine is a stimulant, so it gives users an extremely euphoric feeling along with a sense of energy and stamina. So cocaine users experience many ill effects because the drug makes them feel as though they don't have to eat or sleep, while also causing many internal effects in their bodies which can literally kill them.
Individuals who are addicted to cocaine will have to continuously use the drug, because once the intense high from cocaine wears off users experience the total opposite of their high. A comedown from cocaine can be particularly bothersome to users who have just experienced one of the most intense, yet brief, highs possible. Individuals coming down from cocaine will experience depression, mood swings, will generally be on edge, and will crave the drug intensely. All of these effects will persist until the individual takes more cocaine, and until then users may feel angry, show hostility to others, and feel anxious about seeking out and using more cocaine. Until the individual uses more cocaine to extinguish these effects, they may feel depressed and anxious to the point that they are suicidal, or even homicidal in some cases. It is even possible for cocaine users to display and experience such effects while under the influence of cocaine, and it is typical for cocaine addicted individuals to develop paranoia, anxiety, etc. as a result of the drug's effects on the chemistry in the brain.
Because cocaine is a stimulant, one of the very obvious cocaine addiction effects is individuals who are physically downtrodden and malnourished. Stimulants such as cocaine work as appetite suppressants, and give users energy and stamina. This is used to a cocaine addicted individual's advantage, and they will go for as long as possible without food or sleep to sustain their habit and cocaine high. So it will become very obvious very quickly to friends and loved ones when someone may have a cocaine addiction or an addiction to any other drug, as they will lose a considerable amount of weight and generally look unhealthy from lack of person care and sleep. Simple things like eating, sleeping, and even showering become unimportant when someone is addicted to cocaine, and their habit becomes their main drive and focus.
A very imminent danger that cocaine users put themselves at risk of is health effects that are a result of the stimulant effects of the drug. Cocaine users are at an extremely high risk of increased heart rate, blood pressure and other heart related issues, which could result in a heart attack, stroke, seizures, respiratory failure and other problems which of course can be life threatening. Sudden death because of such issues is one of cocaine addiction's effects which most cocaine addicts succumb to, and is the cause of most cocaine overdoses. These effects are not only acute, and damage created by cocaine use in the blood vessels in the heart and the brain can be permanent, even if the individual doesn't experience a fatal overdose.
Other cocaine addiction effects which are directly health related are associated with smoking the drug, as many users of the crack cocaine form of the drug are at risk of. Individuals who smoke crack cocaine are of risk of lung damage, kidney damage, and severe tooth decay. Crack mouth is a popular term for individuals who smoke the drug and as a result experience a complete decay of their front teeth if not their entire mouth.
There are a number of health risks associated with cocaine injection if this is the chosen route of administration. Individuals who inject any drug don't typically stop to consider where the needle they are using has been, so many IDU's contract communicable diseases for which there is no cure. So sadly, one of cocaine addiction's effects is contraction of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis. If a cocaine user does contract such a disease, it is very unlikely that they will even attempt to confirm whether or not they have contracted it, and if they do it is even more unlikely that they will seek any medical attention to get on the proper medications to stop its progression. Again, a cocaine addicted individual's focus is to use cocaine, and anything that gets in the way of that is just a distraction to their habit.
HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases are also common cocaine addiction effects because cocaine use lowers one's sexual inhibitions. Sexual inhibitions of cocaine users are lowered to the point that they will often engage in unprotected sexual activity with multiple partners, and this unfortunately has resulted in many cocaine users contracting life-threatening diseases and sexually transmitted diseases for which there is no cure. Unfortunately, there is often no telling who or who doesn't have such a disease until it is too late and you have already contracted it, because again there is very little focus on one's health or the health and wellbeing of others when a person is addicted to cocaine.
Because cocaine is so addictive, it is very unlikely that someone who is addicted to the drug will be able to stop using it on their own. Drug rehab is really their only hope, and it is important to get someone who is addicted to cocaine into rehab as soon as possible to avoid all of the cocaine addiction effects mentioned above. Because most of cocaine addiction effects can be life threatening, each moment is precious and the sooner a cocaine addicted individual makes it to rehab the more likely it is that they will be able to make a full recovery and go on to lead a normal and healthy life.