Bodily changes due to DRUG ABUSE

 

Bodily changes Due to Drug Abuse/Addiction

https://youtu.be/PY9DcIMGxMs

 

Don’t even think Of reading this without watching this video. If you want to learn. Then watch it first then come back only a few will do that.

 

Cocaine on the other hand is a stimulant which inhibits the reuptake of dopamine in the neural receptors maintaining the dopamine levels higher.

This piece of text is to make you totally aware about the changes in the human body due to drug abuse or addiction. Now I am assuming that you are not even aware of what addiction really is. Let me break it down for you: when commencing an action or in particular any substance a point comes when person adapts to that action in his daily routine. And when that activity is stopped, the person feels just the opposite of what he used to feel during that activity. For example If a person feels pleasure taking sleeping pills, when he stops he suffers from rather more than he used to before he ever took the medication.

Now there are drugs that have rather drastic effect or rather direct effect on our brain. There are three main types of drugs that have such tendency of addiction.

1.  Depressants slow or ‘depress’ the function of the central nervous system. They slow the messages going to and from your brain. In small quantities depressants can cause a person to feel relaxed and less inhibited. In large amounts they may cause vomiting, unconsciousness and death. Depressants affect you concentration and coordination, and slow your ability to respond to situations. It is important to not operate heavy machinery while taking depressants. Alcohol, cannabis, GHB, opiates (heroin, morphine, codeine) and benzodiazepines (minor tranquillizers) are examples of depressants.

2. Hallucinogens distort your sense of reality. You may see or hear things that are not really there, or see things in a distorted way. Other effects can include emotional and psychological euphoria, jaw clenching, panic paranoia, gastric upset and nausea. Ketamine, LSD, PCP, ‘magic mushrooms’ and cannabis are examples of hallucinogens.

3. Stimulants speed or ‘stimulate’ the central nervous system. They speed up messaging to and from the brain, making you feel more alert and confident. This can cause increased heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, reduced appetite, agitation, and sleeplessness. In large amounts stimulants may cause anxiety, panic, seizures, stomach cramps and paranoia. Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines (speed and ice), cocaine and ecstasy (MDMA) are examples of stimulants.

 

The effects of on brain

Drugs can enter the body in a few different ways. They can be ingested orally, injected in the bloodstream, inhaled into the lungs or absorbed through any of the external mucous membranes of the body. The path taken affect the severity of the effect as well as the rate of it’s onset. The bloodstream is the most direct, and thus the fastest and the most predictable, while the other methods eventually make it to the bloodstream after being absorbed into the blood vessels. Some drugs are able to penetrate the blood brain barrier, thus making their way into the brain while others are not. Of the ones that do most can be referred to as psychoactive drugs, which generally means anything that affects the mind.

 

Some drugs bind to certain synaptic receptors, acting as inhibitors, also called antagonists. While others bind and mimic the role of the native ligand, known as agonists. Some drugs influence the synthesis, transport release, or deactivation of specific neurotransmitters. Whatever the case may be the drug will continue to have particular effect until it is until it is metabolized by enzymes, which break them down until they can no longer perform any function.

 

The body will respond to the presence or absence of a drug differently over time. If exposed to a particular drug regularly, tolerance can be developed. This is a decreased sensitivity to the drug, either in the way of metabolic tolerance, where less and less drug makes it to its destination, or functional tolerance, where the drug makes it to where it’s going, but efficacy diminishes, often because receptors undergo endocytosis. If the body grows accustomed to a drug, its sudden elimination can trigger symptoms of withdrawal these are opposite to the effects of the drug, and if withdrawal is experienced, it means a physical dependency is developed.

 

This foes beyond a mere physical dependence that can develop with certain substances, as addiction can also be psychological condition, as is evidenced by addictions to activities like gambling, which has nothing to do with any substance, but works quite similarly from a neural standpoint.

 

The most common example of physical addiction is nicotine. These act as an agonists for nicotinic cholinergic receptors in the brain. These normally respond to acetylcholine. This causes the receptors to open, allowing ions to enter which results in the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which generates a pleasurable sensation. The brain responds through neuroadaptation, affecting the binding sites for nicotine, which produces withdrawal symptoms, thus establishing tolerance and dependence.

 

In alcoholic beverages the active agent is ethanol. This interacts with the brain in a variety of ways.

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     In the cerebral cortex, behavioral inhibitory centers are depressed, which lowers behavioral inhibition, processing of information slows down.

·       It affects center of movement and balance in the cerebellum, as well as the medulla, which impacts breathing and consciousness.

There is also a major genetic component to alcohol addiction, or a predisposition that has about a 50% probability of being passed on to offspring.

 

Cocaine on the other hand is a stimulant which inhibits the reuptake of dopamine in the neural receptors maintaining the dopamine levels higher.