Cocaine use has both short term and long term effects. When you take cocaine, it sends high levels of dopamine into the brain’s reward center. This natural chemical messenger in your body makes you feel good, which convinces the brain to reward the behavior that caused the pleasant sensation. This is how addiction forms, and it begins from the very first time you use cocaine.

The dopamine buildup causes intense feelings of alertness, confidence, and energy. This is called a high. But not all the short-term effects of cocaine are positive.

Cocaine can make you feel more sensitive to light, sound, and touch. It can affect your mood, making you feel angry, irritable, paranoid, or extremely euphoric. Aside from extreme sensitivity to pretty much everything, cocaine will also decrease your appetite.

Other potential short term effects of cocaine include dilated pupils, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, elevated temperature, convulsions, seizures, stroke, sexual problems, and lung damage.

It is also possible for cocaine abuse to co-occur with a mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression. Cocaine use affects a person’s mental health, making them feel paranoid or even more prone to violent behaviors.

On top of all these effects, cocaine will give you intense cravings. The more you use it, the more your brain wants it. Eventually, you become tolerant, which means you need a stronger dose just to feel the same euphoric high. This leads to a dangerous pattern of substance abuse which leads to drug addiction.

Taking larger doses of cocaine can cause more serious adverse health effects. The same can be said for taking the drug more frequently. Long-term cocaine abuse can change your brain’s chemistry. It can make your mind and body dependent on the drug, making it harder to function normally without it.

Long term cocaine users struggle to think, sleep, or remember things. Their reaction time becomes slower. They also become exposed to the risk of lung, stomach, and heart problems.

Long term cocaine use can cause damage to the cardiovascular system, causing stroke, heart attacks, blood clots, arrhythmia, and increased blood pressure.

It can also cause respiratory problems like breathing difficulties, pain, wheezing, cough, and black sputum. It can even damage the sinus and/or the mouth, causing palatal perforations, septal perforations, and collapse of the nose structure.

Cocaine abuse can even lead to brain damage and other neurological problems such as mini-strokes, inflammation, cerebral atrophy or brain shrinking, mood changes, irritability, anxiety, depression, tremors, and muscle weakness.

The effects of cocaine on the brain can make a person struggle to solve problems, process information, remember things, learn new skills, and make decisions. Long term abuse of cocaine can even lead to coma.

Anyone can develop a cocaine addiction. However, some people are at greater risk of developing it than others. The development of cocaine addiction from cocaine abuse depends on various factors such as age at first use, method of ingestion, amount taken, duration of abuse, mental health history, family history of substance abuse, and co-occurring medical disorders.

There are genetic and environmental risk factors that lead to an increased risk of developing an addiction. There are also social factors like peer pressure, childhood trauma, poverty, and work-related stress.

Abusing other substances like drugs or alcohol can increase a person’s risk of developing cocaine addiction. The more risk factors a person is exposed to, the more likely it is that they will develop an addiction. This does not guarantee that they will become addicted at some point in their life, but it does mean they are at greater risk.

As a fast-acting drug, the method of ingesting cocaine can have a direct impact on how quickly a person becomes addicted. The method of ingestion determines the rate of absorption into the body. Faster absorption may lead to a greater euphoric high, but the effects may not last as long. If a person experiences a short-lived but intense high, they may be more compelled to take the drug again.

Smoking cocaine can cause an intense but short-lived high. This often leads to binging on cocaine, which involves several doses in quick succession. This is done in an attempt to prolong the high.

The more often cocaine is used, the more the brain is affected. The risk of addiction and overdose are also higher for those who take other drugs along with cocaine. While doing so may give you a more intense euphoric experience, it can also lead to a fatal overdose.

Cocaine is highly addictive because it acts upon the brain’s communication pathways, disrupting the typical mechanism of dopamine and making the user feel happier than usual. This euphoric sensation is addictive.

Since the brain wants to feel good, it remembers the activities that gave it that feeling. Cocaine is then associated with pleasure, the same way the brain associates pleasure with delicious food, sexual experiences, or any other positive stimulus. When you take cocaine, dopamine is released to signify pleasure.

Cocaine doesn’t just release dopamine, however. It actually blocks dopamine from being reabsorbed, which floods the brain with pleasure. The brain is encouraged to repeat that behavior, and that leads to addiction. Soon after, the person is hooked.

After cocaine leaves the person’s system, the body crashes. The person experiences increased appetite and fatigue. This negative feeling makes the person want to take more of the drug just to feel good again. Some people give into the impulse and fall into the destructive pattern of substance abuse.

Repeated cocaine intake makes the brain more accustomed to high levels of dopamine, which is why it stops producing the same amount of dopamine it used to. Now the person needs to take cocaine just to reach those high levels of dopamine. Drug dependence develops as the body adjusts to the constant presence of the substance.

Without it, the user feels depressed, anxious, or irritable. They also have heightened cravings for the drug.

Addiction is a medical condition that is characterized by the compulsive use of a particular substance—in this case, cocaine—despite already experiencing its adverse health effects. An addicted person will keep taking cocaine even when they are already suffering from its physical and mental health effects.

The addicted individual will prioritize the drug over everything else in their life. They will neglect their responsibilities and lose interest in things they used to enjoy. Most of their days will be spent thinking about cocaine, trying to obtain it, using it, and recovering from its effects.

Cocaine use is also associated with overdose and possible death. In 2013, there were around 5,000 cocaine overdose deaths. Some cocaine users also contract infectious diseases like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.

Cocaine abuse also leads to increased symptoms of mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and mood disorders. Mental illness and drug addiction have a strong connection and it is common for them to co-occur.

Addicted individuals may suffer from long-term health problems like cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and neurovascular complications. Possible effects include heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, heart attack, organ failure, stroke, respiratory distress, memory problems, decreased reaction time, significant weight loss, and seizures.

When someone who has developed drug dependence suddenly stops taking cocaine or significantly reduces their intake, they will experience withdrawal. Cocaine withdrawal happens when someone who has used cocaine a lot suddenly cuts down on their intake.

Withdrawal happens for a lot of addicted individuals, often when they attempt to quit the drug. But the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms keep them from staying sober. Withdrawal symptoms may range from mild to painful. In some cases, withdrawal symptoms can even be life-threatening. This is why quitting cold turkey is not encouraged.

The thing about cocaine withdrawal is that it can happen even if the user still has a bit of the drug in their system.

When cocaine intake is stopped, a crash follows almost immediately. The withdrawal symptoms are often paired with intense cravings for cocaine. This combination often causes a relapse.

Cocaine withdrawal symptoms include fatigue, anxiety, irritability, sleepiness, agitation, paranoia, and the inability to experience pleasure without the drug. Interestingly, cocaine is unlike other drugs that cause physical withdrawal symptoms, like heroin or alcohol that cause vomiting or shaking. Instead the person will feel agitated, paranoid, depressed, fearful, restless, etc.

Cravings for cocaine can last for months after discontinuing intake. Some people experience suicidal thoughts as part of the withdrawal stage.

A cocaine overdose is a life-threatening emergency. If you or someone else experiences what you think may be an overdose, call 911 or seek emergency medical treatment immediately. It is important to know the possible signs of a cocaine overdose so you can help someone survive it.

A cocaine overdose is the result of toxic levels of the substance within a person’s bloodstream. This speeds up the person’s heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure. This can also elevate the body’s temperature to dangerous levels. It is possible for someone overdosing on cocaine to experience a stroke, a seizure, or a heart attack.

Other signs of cocaine overdose include nausea, headaches, seizures, irregular heart rate, fever, agitation, hallucinations, chest pain, and increased blood pressure.

Watch out for signs like being unable to focus, speak, or keep their eyes open. The person may become unconscious because of the overdose. They may either have shallow breaths or stop breathing altogether. Their skin may turn blue or gray, and their lips or fingernails may darken.

Also watch out for snoring or gurgling noises from their throat.

After contacting medical experts, you can try to reduce the severity of the overdose by applying CPR. First, shake or shout at the person to get their attention. If they are unconscious, try to wake them up if you can. Push your knuckles down on their chest while rubbing gently. You can then attempt CPR.

Move them onto their side to help them with their breathing. Make sure to keep them warm. Do not leave the person’s side until emergency responders arrive. They may use medication to treat complications that the person may have. The ER doctor will test for conditions like stroke or heart attack, which are often caused by overdose.

Using cocaine while you are pregnant is dangerous for both you and your baby. Cocaine can pass through the placenta that surrounds the fetus, which can affect the development of its heart and nervous system.

Cocaine use during pregnancy can cause premature birth, miscarriage, and neurological birth defects.

In fact, the effects of cocaine can remain in the mother after giving birth. It may cause anxiety, postpartum depression, dizziness, nausea, irritability, diarrhea, and intense cravings for cocaine.

Stopping drug use during the first trimester can increase your chances of having a healthy baby.

A proper addiction treatment program is needed in order to recover from a cocaine addiction. Going through a rehab program also reduces the risks associated with the drug. Just like treatment for other drug addictions, cocaine treatment addresses the physical and mental health needs of the patient.

A personalized treatment plan is often the best way to go, because everyone experiences addiction differently. Even two people who abused cocaine for the same amount of time can experience different sets of health problems.

Rehab for cocaine addiction will include a medical detox process wherein their intake can be reduced gradually while their withdrawal symptoms are managed by medical professionals.

While detox helps you get sober, behavioral therapy teaches you how to stay sober. It addresses the root causes of addictive behavior and even teaches the patient healthy coping mechanisms that will help them maintain their sobriety even when they leave the rehab facility. There are many different treatment options for cocaine addiction. Admitting that you need help is the first step towards the long and difficult recovery journey. Look for a rehab near you today and know that help is available to those who need it.

Treatment is an addicted individualʼs best option if they want to recover. Beating an addiction not only requires eliminating the physical dependence, but also addressing the behavioral factors that prevent them from wanting to get better. Simply quitting may not change the psychological aspect of addiction. Some people quit for a while, and then take drugs or alcohol again, only to overdose because they did not detox properly. Recovery involves changing the way the patient feels, thinks, and behaves.