Cocaine is a highly addictive drug sought after for its high. Along with that high, cocaine causes many dangerous effects, such as health issues, money problems, and relationship damage. Despite these well-known effects, about 1.5 million people in the United States abuse the drug each year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Sadly, many of these soon find themselves needing the help of a inpatient cocaine addiction treatment center in Houston.
For many people, the question about cocaine is how quickly you become addicted. Does it happen the first time you use? Your second dose? According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research, cocaine addiction can happen after as little as one use in its crack form but takes longer for the white powder version.
Your First Dose and Cocaine’s Effects on Your Body
Cocaine impacts your psychological and physical health. It is a stimulant drug, one immediately affecting the brain. White powder cocaine is usually snorted through the nose or mixed with water for injection into the veins. The stimulant is also smoked on its own or in combination with marijuana or tobacco.
Using cocaine for the first time causes a rush of feelings, side effects of cocaine abuse include:
- Euphoric feelings of wellbeing
- Increased talkativeness
- Decreased sleeping
- Decreased appetite
- Sense of keen mental awareness
- Increased sexual arousal
The first dose of cocaine is the most intense. The drug causes almost immediate tolerance, your next use producing a less significant high and lower levels of pleasure. As you increase your dose and frequency of use in pursuit of that first high, you also increase your risk of negative consequences. Those possible consequences include anxiety, erratic behavior, violence, paranoia, rapid heartbeat, hypertension and heart attack.
Why Cocaine Addiction Is Dangerous
There are many factors affecting your high from cocaine. These include dose, purity, how you use the drug, whether you have other substances in your body and your tolerance. Every use of cocaine is dangerous and increases the risk of cocaine addiction.
Before your stay at a Cocaine addiction treatment center in Houston it is likely your addiction has led you to experience a mix of problems. These problems include strained relationships, lost jobs, lost interest in favorite activities, money problems, legal trouble and health consequences. Those health consequences include behavioral changes, mental health problems, headaches, lost sense of smell, sexual dysfunction, weight loss, seizures, increased risk of heart problems and a greater chance of infectious diseases.
Why Cocaine Addiction Begins
Cocaine addiction begins for several reasons. Most importantly, the pleasurable feelings of the drug entice you to keep using it. This brings changes in the brain contributed to by genetics, your childhood, traumatic experiences, drug availability, socioeconomic status, prior drug use and social relationships. How all of these factors work together determines how long it takes for your addiction to form.
When you become tolerant to cocaine, you have to take more and more of it to feel its effects. This quickly leads to physical dependence, a state in which you need the drug for normal functioning. If you do not use the drug after dependence, you feel the effects of cocaine withdrawal. Avoiding withdrawal, you use more cocaine, increasing tolerance, and physical dependence.
Sadly, addiction is a one way street to many problems. You keep using the drug despite its negative consequences and only quality detox treatment will end this ugly cycle.
Choose a Reputable Cocaine Addiction Treatment Center in Houston for Detox
Serenity House Detox & Recovery in Houston, Texas, will make sure that you are in a comfortable environment and that you have the support you need to get through cocaine detox. It is important to have a team of encouraging professionals ready to keep you focused. You can regain control of your life and live it in the best way possible without letting cocaine get in the way. Your one life is waiting, and we can help you to learn how to enjoy it again.
We Offer Detox Services Such As:
- Addiction evaluations to make sure that your unique needs are met
- Medical detox during the withdrawal process
- Ongoing support to help you reach your goal
- Caring and professional staff members who can work with you at our cocaine addiction treatment center in Houston
- Advanced medicine that can help to ease your cocaine withdrawal symptoms throughout detox
What Sets Us Apart is Our Commitment to You
We know that a detox for any addiction should always be done under the close supervision of professionals. We will watch your vitals and make sure that you are going through the detox process without any serious concerns.
Our team understands the risks involved in this process, and you can have peace of mind that we will do our best to make sure that you are as comfortable as possible throughout your stay with us. We commit to helping you get through the worst so that you can begin anew. If you want to find a professional inpatient cocaine addiction treatment center in Houston, go ahead and take that first step by calling Serenity House Detox & Recovery Houston today at 866.516.8356.