Treatment of Cocaine Use Disorder At Laguna Shores Recovery
Laguna Shores Recovery is designed to provide safe and comfortable care during recovery from cocaine addiction. Our customized treatment plans help patients get the most out of our treatment center. By utilizing evidence-based addiction treatment practices like individual therapy and support groups, we teach our residents coping skills and life skills to achieve and maintain lasting recovery.
Our thoroughly trained professionals employ therapeutic and holistic approaches to cocaine addiction, its harmful effects on the body and mind, and diagnosing co-occurring disorders. Psychotherapy, support group sessions, and fun activities such as hiking, beach visits, ziplining, and cooking are all incorporated into our treatment program so that your experience and memories of your stay are not only impactful and worthwhile but enjoyable as well.
Laguna Shores Recovery understands that addiction can impact anyone at any stage in life, and that’s why we align with your unique situation and build small steps with you towards recovery. Our detoxification center, residential rehab, and alumni services will help guide you in every stage of recovery, even after graduation from our program.
There are countless benefits to treatment and addiction therapy at Laguna Shores Recovery in Mission Viejo, California.
Understanding Cocaine Use Disorder
How Cocaine Works
Cocaine is a highly addictive, illicit stimulant that is derivative of fibrous coca leaves. This drug is white and powdery in appearance and is often cut with baking soda, cornstarch, or talcum powder by dealers to increase profits. For thousands of years, people in South American tribes chewed on coca leaves for their stimulant effects, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). However, today cocaine is extracted and distributed at incredibly high rates all around the world.
Cocaine can be consumed through snorting, injecting, or smoking. The short-term effects are usually achieved immediately following consumption. The speed and length of intoxication following dosage qualify cocaine as a Schedule II substance, meaning it holds a high potential for abuse but can be prescribed by a doctor as anesthesia for surgery.
Short term effects of cocaine abuse include:
- Euphoria
- High energy levels
- Hypersensitivity to sound, touch, and vision
- Increased mental alertness
- Irritability
- Excitability
- Paranoia
- Being overly talkative
- Deadly overdose by a heart attack, stroke, or seizure
Health Risks of Cocaine Abuse and Addiction
Individuals addicted to cocaine develop a tolerance that requires more of the drug to achieve the same high. Addiction to this powerful drug is all-encompassing and may result in the severance of meaningful relationships, loss of employment, or poor decision-making skills. Not only does cocaine addiction impact your social life, but it can also have lasting adverse effects on your physical and mental well-being.
Physical Health Risks
As addiction progresses, the severity and amount of long-term health effects related to cocaine abuse increase.
- Regularly snorting cocaine can cause irreversible damage to the nostrils and sinus passageways. This often leads to a loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, and sinus infections.
- Cocaine also causes damage to the gastrointestinal tract, leading to ulcers and tears.
- One of the most well-known long-term effects of cocaine is its damage to the cardiovascular system. Among the immediate effects of cocaine is increased heart rate, and chronic use of the drug can lead to blood clots, heart attacks, chest pain, high blood pressure, and irregular heart rate.
- Smoking cocaine can permanently damage the respiratory system, which presents as coughing, wheezing, chest pain, asthma, and lung infections like pneumonia.
Mental Health Risks
Persistent cocaine abuse and addiction can permanently impair the brain by continually constricting blood vessels and depriving oxygen flow. Following long-term exposure to cocaine, the brain begins to adapt so that its reward circuit is not as sensitive to natural stimulation. This means, without cocaine in the system, depression, anxiety, and feelings of meaninglessness will likely settle in.
- Cocaine users run the risk of developing sensitization, in which less cocaine is needed to produce anxiety, convulsions, or other toxic effects, according to the NIDA.
- When cocaine is used repeatedly at increasingly higher doses, an individual can expect feelings of irritability, restlessness, panic attacks, paranoia, and psychosis with hallucinations that follow.
Withdrawal and Detox
When a person attempts to stop using cocaine altogether, withdrawal symptoms can make it incredibly difficult to reach full sobriety; failed attempts lead to a vicious cycle that can be avoided in a professional treatment facility. That is why detox is one of the most important and challenging steps in the addiction recovery treatment process.
Withdrawal symptoms from cocaine include:
- Depression
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Difficulty thinking clearly
- Muscle aches
- Nerve pain
- Hunger
- Nightmares
Although these symptoms are unpleasant and make it challenging to achieve sobriety alone, detox from cocaine is rarely deadly. Currently, there are no FDA-approved medications to treat cocaine withdrawals or deter cocaine addiction. Instead, doctors usually recommend supportive therapies throughout the withdrawal period to treat thoughts, emotions, and cravings that arise.
Other therapeutic techniques used to treat cocaine addiction include cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), contingency management, and recovery support groups. If you would like to learn more about these services and how Laguna Shores incorporates them into our approach, click here.
Consistent and heavy use of cocaine can not only cause permanent damage to the body, but it can also cause irreparable damage to your relationships with friends and family. If you have had enough of your cocaine addiction and are ready to seek help, contact Laguna Shores Recovery today at 866-934-5276 to explore individualized treatment options.
