Cocaine Addiction is a serious mental health condition that affects your brain, body and behavior. It can be difficult to recover from cocaine addiction, but it’s possible with medical detox and an inpatient rehab program. During treatment you will learn to identify the situations that cause you to use cocaine and gain skills to avoid them. You’ll also learn to cope with a range of other problems that are associated with cocaine abuse, like depression, anxiety and family issues.

Cocaine is a powerful and dangerous drug. Thousands of Americans die from cocaine overdose each year. This is because when abused, it prevents the brain’s natural reward circuit from properly signaling pleasure. Cocaine stops the dopamine that’s released from nerve cells from being recycled back into the cell, causing large amounts to build up in the space between the cells and stopping their normal communication. Eventually, this flood of dopamine in the brain’s reward circuit strongly reinforces drug-taking behaviors.

Aside from its addictive effects, cocaine causes damage to the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and hepatic systems. It can also lead to a variety of psychological problems, including paranoia and hallucinations. When these symptoms are combined with alcohol or other drugs, they can have extremely dangerous effects.

Symptoms of cocaine abuse include changes in mood that can shift from euphoria to agitation and irritability. Users often have trouble sleeping and may experience cravings for cocaine, as well as a loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. In severe cases, long-term cocaine abuse can cause paranoia and psychosis, causing people to lose touch with reality and behave unpredictably.

It’s important to get help for a cocaine addiction immediately. A supervised medical detox is the first step, followed by an inpatient rehab program that addresses underlying psychological and physiological issues. The best treatment for a cocaine addiction is cognitive behavioral therapy, which can help you learn to recognize and avoid cocaine triggers and cope with other life stressors that can lead to drug use.

Whether snorted or injected, cocaine can damage the lining of the nose and the structure that separates the nostrils, as well as the delicate tissue around blood vessels and the skin. It can also lead to a variety medical conditions, including pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs), heart failure, liver disease and kidney disease, and infection with blood-borne diseases like HIV or hepatitis. It’s also easy to overdose on cocaine, even when using small amounts. This is why it’s important to find a professional addiction treatment center that offers detox and rehabilitation services.