Drugs help in healing diseases, reducing pain, and controlling various disorders. However, when abused, they cause damage to the body. Seeking help from an evidence-based recovery New Orleans center is crucial for those facing addiction. This article will help you understand why.
Physical Effects of Drug Abuse
Disoriented Vision
When ‘drug abuse’ is mentioned, people think of organs like the liver, kidneys, or heart. Total blindness, loss of eye focus, and constricted pupils are some of the eye effects of people abusing cocaine, heroin, or Amphetamines. Loss of eye focus can cause accidents, while constricted pupils respond poorly to light, making visibility difficult.
Impaired Judgment
People on drugs such as marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine often can’t tell what is right from what is wrong. Most end up engaging in socially unacceptable behavior. Impaired judgment is evident through stumbling, loss of psychomotor skills, slurred speech, and inappropriate behavior.
Increase in Blood Pressure
Stimulants such as cocaine activate the sympathetic nervous system responsible for releasing adrenaline hormones. The hormone alerts the body when there is danger, making the heart beat faster. The hormone is released for a short period. However, with stimulants, the adrenaline is released until the drug wears out from the body, resulting in high blood pressure.
Heart Attack
Cocaine has the highest number of heart attack victims worldwide. It is due to its ability to increase blood pressure to dangerous levels for a long time. Also, it constricts the left ventricle, making the heart susceptible to heart failure, heart attack, or stroke.
Brain Seizures
Seizures occur when pathways and neuron transmitters in the brain are altered. Drugs that cause seizures include cocaine, inhalants, and antidepressants, and long-term abuse of such drugs may result in irreversible mental damage.
Sleeplessness
Drugs such as alcohol will cause sleep after use. However, they end up causing long-term sleeping disorders, and worse, making the user drug dependent. A stimulus such as cocaine disrupts the sleep rhythm in the body, resulting in sleepless nights. Quality sleep is crucial for the proper functioning of the body; therefore, drug abuse may result in health complications.
Decreased Awareness of Touch and Pain
Most abused drugs impair the nervous system as well as the pain receptors. Pain is paramount in helping withdraw from a threatening situation, for instance, a burning fire. A drug abuser in pain from injury will feel pain even when administered with regular painkillers, resulting in more drug abuse for pain relief.
Mental and Psychological Effects
Hallucinations
Illicit drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, and amphetamines can cause hallucinations. Severe hallucinations may involve seeing moving objects on the body. For example, a person might start seeing imaginary spiders or worms on the skin.
Hallucination can also occur when withdrawing from drugs, especially when the drug abuser suddenly stops. It is therefore advisable to seek help from professionals when quitting drugs. You can read more for more information on how to go about quitting drug abuse successfully.
Confusion and Suspicion
Confusion and suspicion are ordinary to everyone from time to time. However, with drug abuse, the levels of bewilderment are high to the extent that they lack self-consent. Symptoms of severe confusion include anxiety, incoherent speech, inability to track time and recognize immediate surroundings, and disorientation.
Depression
Alcohol is the most abused depressant. It causes anger, sadness, aggression, loneliness, and hopelessness, resulting in depression. Alcohol abusers are involved in violence and insults, an indicator of resentment. According to research, three in ten people suffering from depression are alcoholics.
Most drug abusers face depression when drugs wear off from the system, resulting in more drug abuse. Some symptoms that may display the character of a depressed person include:
- Suicidal thoughts
- Disorganized sleeping patterns
- Unpredictable appetite changes
- Feelings of guilt or despair
- Insufficient energy
- Lost concentration
- Loss of interest in activities
The commonly misused drugs are cannabis, alcohol, heroin, tobacco, and cocaine. These drugs mainly affect the brain, liver, kidney, and respiratory systems.
