You thought it was supposed to be fun – taking a bump to lift your mood or snorting a line to get the party started. You never thought your occasional use would transform into something more gripping; more sinister.
What once was a random habit has turned into a daily addiction, driving your behavioral patterns and forcing you to sacrifice personal obligations and responsibilities in order to chase that next high. You soon find that your cocaine addiction has taken a toll on both your personal life and physical health, affecting everything from your social interactions to your daily sleep patterns.
It is the latter that can infect your entire being, causing you to slip into states of insomnia and leaving you disoriented, confused and physically deteriorated. Learning to identify the symptoms associated with cocaine addiction, and the ways sleeping while on cocaine induces sleep deprivation, can provide valuable insight into the dangers of recreational and habitual cocaine use.
Cocaine Use Symptoms
When typical symptoms of cocaine use are identified, both the user and their loved ones can better understand the disease. Becoming aware of cocaine use symptoms also:
- Enables those struggling with the addiction to understand the grip their maladaptive behaviors have on their life.
- Assists those around them at identifying behavioral red flags linked with their loved one’s substance use disorder.
Cocaine use symptoms can range from physical ailments to emotional instability:
- Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
- Weight loss
- Mood swings
- Social isolation
- Loss of interest in things that once brought joy
- Excitability
- Unusual talkative habits
Cocaine is an extremely addictive drug that rewires the brain, making it very difficult to quit using the drug without outside assistance. This is why it can impact so many areas of life and make defeating the addiction so difficult to accomplish.
Cocaine and Sleep Problems
Cocaine use can dramatically impact your sleep patterns and circadian rhythms, altering the brain’s chemical makeup and the manner in which you neurologically respond to both pleasurable and rewarding experiences.
Users of cocaine become addicted to the energizing high it creates by flooding the brain with dopamine. During this high, it is typical to experience insomnia stemming from a substance induced energy spike. This spike makes it hard to fall asleep and can be followed by periods of hypersomnia during withdrawal.
Recent studies have found that addictive drugs (like cocaine) alter our internal biological clock, which regulates dopamine – a brain chemical that underlies the rewarding effects of cocaine.
These drug-induced changes in sleep patterns may have a negative influence on mood, which could be a possible factor leading to relapse. Decreased sleep efficiency can result in erratic sleep cycles and a loss of deep sleep patterns essential for the body to heal and the mind to rejuvenate.
These brain alterations and mood adjustments can lead to extreme emotional instability and serious physical ailments such as:
- Hypertension
- Weakened immunity
- Trouble concentrating
- Increased risk of heart disease, and
- Much more
Christian-Based Cocaine Addiction Treatment at Covenant Hills
Understanding the symptomatology connected to habitual cocaine use and the negative manner in which cocaine impacts your mind and body, is essential to breaking the cycle of addiction plaguing your life.
It is important to remember that relying on your own strength to defeat this disease can prove to be overwhelming. That is why tapping into a power greater than yourself is an essential component to achieving victory over any substance use disorder.
Philippians 4:13 states, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and through His strength and guidance all things are possible.
At Covenant Hills, your addiction can stop forever. You can regain your life.
As one of the most experienced and acclaimed cocaine treatment teams in the country, we help addicts quit all forms of cocaine use. Through a proven 12-step, Christian-based model, our cocaine treatment program empowers you to reclaim your physical and mental well-being through emotional, nutritional, social, fitness and spiritual therapy components.
We offer a safe place to surrender. If you choose to, we can help you establish a deeper connection with Jesus Christ and change the trajectory of your life.
Learn about our gender-specific, Christian-based cocaine addiction treatment programs, or contact us for a free and confidential assessment.