Substance abuse is also known as drug abuse. It is the excessive use of chemical substance to gain a specific effect. The substances can be “street” or “illicit”, or drugs obtained with prescription to get pleasure rather than for medical reasons. Different drugs have different effects on you. Cocaine or methamphetamine gives you the feeling of boundless energy. Drugs like heroin, benzodiazepines or oxycontin produce feelings of relaxation and calmness. The common thing in all drugs is over-stimulation of the pleasure centre of the brain.
The overall mental and physical effects of a drug can be different, but the major pattern is the same. For an addict, getting and using the drug is the most important thing of life. The consequences for using the drug can be awful as it prevent you to function normally, often impairing judgment to dangerous level. Some of the signs of abuse and addiction are:
Physical signs of abuse and addiction:
Drug directly affects your brain and body. Drug use can increase your blood pressure and heart rate. Cocaine and methamphetamine not only increase your blood pressure and metabolism but also reduce the ability to sleep. On contrary, use of drugs like opiates and barbiturates reduce your blood pressure, breathing and alertness. Below are some of the physical symptoms of substance addiction.
By using stimulants, you feel restlessness, increased energy and inability to sleep. By using opiates, benzodiazepines and barbiturates, your speech and reaction time becomes slow and you feel confusion and disorientation. You might observe a certain weight gain or weight loss. By using certain drugs, the cycles of sleep increase. The drug addicts usually wear long sleeved shirts to hide scars at injection sites. Smoke drugs cause cough or bronchitis, which can lead to excessive mucus or blood. Methamphetamine addicts can be seen with progressive severe dental problems.
Mental and emotional signs of abuse and addiction
Substance abuse can give you pleasure only for the specified time, and after that the addict become impatient. You will be able to see clearly the mood and emotional swings between the condition of satisfaction and temptation. Some mental and emotional symptoms of substance addiction are as follows.
You will find addicts very talkative, “high” and cheerful with lot of energy in them. You will find in them increased irritability, agitation and anger. Some clear signs are; unresponsiveness, apathy, unusual calmness, depression, hallucinations, paranoia, temporary psychosis, delusions and lower threshold for violence etc.
Substance addiction is mostly found in teenagers, and if they are not treated in time, the addiction becomes chronic. For parents, it is very hard to judge as many teenagers are notorious for oversleeping; they want privacy and space; they are argumentative and angry. If you suspect a teen has drug addiction, you should observe his/her behaviour, health and appearance.
Substance addiction is very common throughout the world, and there are rehabilitation centres which help people to remove stigma of this social evil. An addict affects the entire family, friends, colleagues and even community. It is our duty to help and support the addicts so that they can get courage to fight against the powerful temptation of the drugs.
