Call
8 0 0 - 3 3 8 - 1 2 3 6
Cocaine Addiction
Treatment
Perhaps you, or someone
you know, has tried to break an addiction to cocaine and failed
to do so. Despite the best of intentions, well meaning people and
programs may not have helped, and will-power may not have been enough
to break the addiction. Do not despair. Drug addiction is a physical
disease, not a mental or moral problem, and it is medically treatable.
Solutions For Recovery's
unique, medical alternative, Cocaine Addiction treatment program,
developed and supervised by physicians specializing in addiction
medicine, helps cocaine addicted patients lose their craving for
cocaine. We believe our researched medical approach gives the addicted
patient a firm foundation for achieving comfortable sobriety and
helps restore their sense of self-esteem and feeling of dignity
in an unparalleled atmosphere of understanding, professionalism
and respect.
What does
Cocaine do?
Stimulants mimic the
action of chemicals your brain produces to send messages of pleasure
to your brain's reward center. Like adrenaline, cocaine increases
your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. Cocaine also
constricts blood vessels, dilates pupils, releases sugar and fat
into your blood stream, and energizes the brain to increased alertness.
Stimulants like cocaine increase feelings of anger or fear, or agitation
(fight or flight) and feelings of well-being, riding high, exhilaration
or euphoria. When the stimulation goes too high, it produces feelings
of panic, paranoia, hallucinations and rage which can progress to
potentially fatal seizures and stroke. Ultimately, the brain becomes
depressed by the local anesthetic effects, and coma and death can
occur.
Why is
Cocaine Addictive?
Cocaine produces an
artificial feeling of pleasure. Most addictive drugs are able to
produce pleasurable effects by chemically mimicking certain normal
brain messenger chemicals which produce positive feelings in response
to signals from the brain.
The result is a dependence
on the immediate, fast, predictable drug which, at the same time,
short circuits interests in and the motivation to make life's normal
rewards work. More and more confidence is placed in the drug while
other survival feelings are ignored and bypassed. The result of
this addiction cycle is a lack of concern for, and confidence in,
other areas of life.
Where Does
the High Go?
Usually, a person using
cocaine never gets as big a "high" as she/he did on the
first dose. This is a result of the drug's ability to suppress and
deplete the brain's production of the normal chemical messenger
on which the brain relies to generate positive feelings. The brain
adapts to the presence of the cocaine by decreasing production of
the normal chemical messenger. The user then begins to use more
- he has to work harder to get less and less pleasurable effect.
Ultimately he crashes. As tolerance develops to the euphoric effects,
higher and higher doses of cocaine are needed to get pleasurable
effects. Then, the more you use, the greater risk from toxic effects
of cocaine.
Why Does
Cocaine Take Over Your Life?
Cocaine, like other
addictive drugs, is able to short circuit your survival system by
artificially stimulating the reward center, or pleasure areas in
your brain, without anything beneficial happening to your body.
As this happens, it leads to increased confidence in cocaine, and
less confidence in the normal rewards of life. This first happens
on a physical level. Then, it affects you psychologically. The big
cocaine lie results in decreased interest in other aspects of life,
as you increase your reliance and interest in cocaine. People, places
and activities involved with using cocaine become more important.
People, places and activities or lifestyles that worked through
your normal reward system, before using cocaine, become less important
to you. In fact, after awhile, a heavy cocaine user will actually
resent people, places and activities not able to fit in with cocaine
use.
In certain studies,
animals would press levers to release cocaine into their blood stream,
no longer concerned about eating, mating or other natural drives.
They would, in fact, die in the process of giving themselves cocaine.
Is there
Withdrawal from Cocaine?
Yes. The severity and
length of the symptoms vary with the amount of damage done to your
normal reward system through cocaine use and the rate of recovery.
The most common symptoms are: drug craving, irritability, loss of
energy, depression, fearfulness, wanting to sleep a lot, or, difficulty
in sleeping, shaking, nausea and palpitations, sweating, hyperventilation,
and increased appetite. These symptoms can commonly last several
weeks after you stop using cocaine.
What is
cocaine craving?
Cocaine craving is
the result of the drug's imprinting in the memory of a pleasant
association of euphoria with the drug. The subconscious memory then
motivates the individual to seek this drug because of the false
imprint. The brain, in effect, has been trained that using the white
powder is the fastest way to feel good. This learning process then
produces a new appetite or drive to seek the drug which we call
craving. This craving is most often activated by, a) memory of pleasure,
b) when we feel bad and have a habit of using cocaine to rapidly
feel good, c) when we are in a situation with people, places and
activities in which a previous habit pattern of cocaine use has
been established.
Treatment
for Cocaine Addiction Involves…
-
Body re-balancing with replenishment
of our natural dopamine and noradrenalin in one to four weeks
with diet, exercise and rest.
-
Counter-conditioning against
old positive brainwashing with the drug.
-
Refocusing on true friends.
-
Developing
habits of reacting through people support when we feel bad.
-
Avoiding habits of people, places and activities
that were strongly associated with Cocaine.
-
Avoiding
mental habits that were regarded only by Cocaine. These
include no longer avoiding people, places and activities
that would enable us to get life rewards and no longer blaming
ourselves or others for problems caused by Cocaine.
- Using the tools of honesty, open
mindedness and support from others to meet our needs and maintain
peace of mind.
Call
8 0 0 - 3 3 8 - 1 2 3 6
Click
below to visit our partner programs:
We provide compassionate and individualized Drug
and Alcohol Treatment and rehabilitation that offers
the chemically dependent person a route to recovery that is specifically
tailored to their needs.
After admission at Opiate
Recovery, the client meets with a drug addiction MD
to address their needs and formulate a drug and alcohol treatment
program together that takes into consideration the amount of opiates
used.
Specializing in designing programs
that address the values and beliefs of the people we serve, Executive
Recovery increases their ability to engage and participate
in treatment.
