Drug Addiction

Drug Addiction

Synonym as substance use disorder, is a condition which cause defect in person’s behavior and control of using certain drugs or medication either obtained legal or illegal means. Alcohol, marijuana and nicotine are among most used substances. The duration of becoming dependent on certain substances varies according to the chemical nature of drug. For example, opioid painkillers cause dependence in a very short time as compared to other additives.

Symptoms

Clinical features include

• Feeling of taking drug frequently.
• Having trouble in doing any other work without taking drug.
• Need of increasing the dose of drug after sometime to get same high.
• Continuing the use of drug even though it’s destroying your priorities.
• Get involved in illegal acts just to get drug.

As there are different substances which could lead to addiction. Clinical features of each varies like opioid painkiller, marijuana, hashish leads to feeling of euphoria, visual and auditory hallucinations, difficulty in coordination, decreased IQ, anxiety, depression, dry mouth, red eyes etc. psy

There are certain drugs which are known as club drugs as there are mostly utilize in clubs and parties. Ketamine, ecstasy or molly (MDMA), gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), flunitrazepam are among them.

Causes

There are so many factors that could be the reason of drug addiction for someone:

• Environmental factor: This led to the initial use of the drug. Family behavior, depression, bad company all can be the factors of concern.
• Genetical factor: After the first the first exposure genetical factors can lead to the development of addiction and sometimes withdrawal reaction and other progressive disorders.

Complications

A lot of complications either short erm or long-term can result after continuing use of different drugs or combination of them.

• Psychotic behavioral changes.
• Damages in the brain with variation in severity.
• Prone to communicable diseases and other health problems.
• Accidents, suicide, work issues, legal issues, financial problems etc.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of drug or substance addiction requires thorough monitoring and physical examination and even also there is need of physiatrist or drug consular. Blood test, urine test is used for screening.

Treatment

Although there is no any treatment if you became a drug addict. However, there are certain options through which patient can prevent relapse. There are many therapy centers which help addicts to lead a healthy and drug free life but it’s a lengthy process and requires a lot of patience. Another option is to go for detoxification or withdrawal therapy but it can produce severe side effects throughout the therapy. After all this behavior therapy is another option to regain social adjustment behaviors and come out of depression or anxiety.