Crack Cocaine Addiction Detox Withdrawal and Treatment
Crack cocaine is very similar to cocaine
but is processed with baking soda or ammonia and water and
formed into rocks or chunks of cocaine. Crack is usually cheaper
to buy than cocaine and is most often smoked from a pipe.
Crack produces a type of high when smoked that feels like
euphoria to the user. Because the high achieved from crack
does not last very long, drug users chase the crack high wasting
money and their lives away trying to feel that euphoria again.
Following the high felt off crack users come down hard, what
is commonly known as "crashing" and feel many negative
side effects as a result. Crack cocaine effects include depression,
mood swings, paranoia, and anxiety. People who use crack cocaine
on a regular basis often find that they have adapted to this
paranoid, mentally raw way of life. Heavy or habitual users
will also develop an intense craving for the drug that is
never satisfied. Like with any other drug, crack cocaine users
become dependent on the drug and are unable to function without
it.
Drug users often steal, cheat and lie in
order to maintain their high. People who were once normal,
functioning members of society find that they can no
longer hold a job or participate in any normal life activities.
In addition, crack cocaine users are subject to compulsive
and obsessive behaviors and find
that they cannot control some of their paranoid thoughts.
Instead of having an involved life with many different activities
and people, crack cocaine users are only interested in one
thing: finding their next high. Long-term crack cocaine effects
include sensory related hallucinations, predominately tactile,
as well as depression, delirium and problems with bodily functions.
The brain's pleasure receptors are also damaged by crack use.
Crack can cause heart attacks as well as fatal respiratory
problems.
Once a person has become dependent on crack
cocaine it is very difficult to get out of the addictive cycle.
Many people try to stop using this drug on their own
and realize that it is almost impossible. People who use crack
habitually and then stop often undergo crack cocaine withdrawal,
with symptoms including intense cravings, irritability, hunger,
anxiety and paranoia. These feelings are often too painful
for the crack user to endure and he/she just returns to using
as a result. One of the most effective solutions to crack
cocaine addiction is treatment. Undergoing treatment can give
addicts the tools needed to live a drug-free life. Through
the use of a medical detox and addiction specialists, many
crack cocaine addicts are able to stay clean and in recovery
for long periods of time.
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