cocaine addiction
Cocaine is an illegal stimulant drug typically snorted although it is also used in a form that is smoked (crack cocaine) and injected. Cocaine is often combined with other drugs such as heroin (speedball). Cocaine can cause damage to the brain’s ability to produce the chemicals that allow a person to feel pleasure. Cocaine blocks the reuptake of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Cocaine addiction can be particularly difficult to treat due to the long-term impact of blocking reuptake. Those in recovery may feel depressed for several months and even as long as a year after quitting while the brain repairs its ability to properly process neurotransmitters related to pleasure.
Posted under Addiction Treatment
Researcher Given Grant to Further Study Effect of Exercise on Addiction
In a series of experiments over the last three years, Mark Smith, Associate Professor of Psychology at Davidson College, has found that exercise can reduce the desire for cocaine in addicted rats. Now he’s been given a grant of nearly $1 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to further investigate the benefits of exercise at various stages of addiction.
Posted under Cocaine
Amino Acid May Help Reduce Cocaine Cravings
A new study in rats has found that N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a commonly available and generally nontoxic amino acid derivative, reverses changes in the brain’s circuitry associated with cocaine addiction. The reversal appears to lessen the cravings associated with cocaine, thus helping to prevent relapse.
Posted under Celebrity Addiction
Mackenzie Phillips Had Genetic Disposition to Drug-Addled Lifestyle
Actress Mackenzie Phillips has said that she believes she had a "genetic predisposition" to the life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll that have come to define her. In a 1999 interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” she said didn’t blame Hollywood for the years of drug and addiction she had endured.
Posted under Cocaine
New Research Reveals Cocaine Addiction’s Impact On The Brain
There are several popular misconceptions circulating in society today as to what exactly addiction is, and whether or not addiction should be treated as a disease by health professionals. To many scientists, addiction has long been associated as a by-product of altered mental states where the brain cannot distinguish between healthy and unhealthy behavior. For example, addictions manifested in the form of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) are thought to arise from abnormal neuron firing in the brain; in other words, the brain of an addict displays the same need for the desired object in the same way that one would crave basic necessities like food or water. However, scientists from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have revealed surprising information on how an addiction can actually alter the activity of certain proteins and neurons in the brain. This new research can help scientists understand why addiction is so hard to overcome, and how to effectively prevent and treat addict relapses.
The Addiction Primer
Everything you need to know to help a loved one struggling with addiction, from the writers and editors of Everything Addiction.
