Cocaine is a stimulant with addictive properties used for legitimate medicinal purposes in pharmaceutical drugs. It comes from the crushed leaves of the coca plant. When used in powdered form for recreational purposes, cocaine poses serious risks and falls under the category of illegal street drugs.
The temporary stimulating exhilaration of cocaine causes psychological and physical addiction because it makes people want to achieve the same feeling over and over again. The repeated use of cocaine begins to alter how the brain releases a chemical called dopamine, which happens naturally when a person is happy. Cocaine addiction blocks the natural production of dopamine and replaces it with an intense, almost manic feeling of high alertness that also causes paranoia and irritability with the single focus on obtaining and using the drug. The uncontrollable desire to obtain cocaine leads to dangerous illegal behavior.
Cocaine addicts are likely to use other drugs that act as depressants, in order to balance the manic “high” of cocaine. Depressant drugs have an opposite effect on the heart, and mixing cocaine with depressants such as Xanax, Vicodin, or Oxycodone, can cause heart or respiratory failure. The best way for a person to overcome cocaine addiction is to begin with a medical detox, under supervised professional care.
Sunrise Detox Long Island offers medical detox from cocaine with ‘round the clock monitoring to prevent withdrawal complications, of which the most disturbing are depression and suicide. The withdrawal symptoms of cocaine detox last about 2 weeks, but this varies for everyone. Long Island Sunrise Detox is a medical detox facility that treats withdrawal symptoms under the supervision of medically trained professionals.