Even a single dose of drugs has a negative impact on a person’s health. The damage increases with each subsequent dose. With prolonged use, the whole body suffers – the addict gradually loses his human face. In this article, we will tell you why you should not delay rehabilitation and what awaits people who are unable to cope with addiction.

Physical harm to health

Once in the bloodstream, drugs are carried throughout the body by the circulatory system. It is like a poison that affects everything it comes into contact with.

The organs that are most affected:

  • the heart and blood vessels. Stimulants make the heart work to its limits, and drugs with sedative effects slow down the heart rate, so that the body is not saturated with the necessary amount of oxygen. The blood vessels lose their elasticity from the pressure drop after drug use, and injecting substances directly into a vein carries the risk of infections. Addicts are several times more likely to die from heart attacks and strokes than sober people;
  • the lungs. By inhaling powder, vapor, or smoke containing drugs, a person with an addiction is at risk for diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and even lung cancer. Because of this, other organs are affected and cannot get the right amount of oxygen;
  • kidneys and liver. These organs are filters built into the human body that are constantly cleaning toxic substances from the blood. However, like any filter, they have a resource. With prolonged exposure to poisons, the kidneys and liver deteriorate and cease to fulfill their functions. Kidney and liver failure are serious diseases with irreversible consequences;
  • stomach. People with addiction have poor nutrition, which causes their gastrointestinal tract to stop functioning properly. Many substances put additional strain on the stomach, destroying its mucosa. This can lead to chronic ulcers;
  • teeth. People with addictions rarely follow oral hygiene. Therefore, their teeth are more prone to decay and fall out early;
  • skin. The skin, the largest organ, loses elasticity, ages, and is less able to perform its protective functions.

The human body is unique in that it can recover even from drugs. But in order to do so, you need to overcome addiction. This can be done at a rehabilitation center in simi valley CA, where each patient is given maximum attention and comfortable conditions of stay are created. The sooner this happens, the faster and easier the recovery process will be.

How the addict’s brain changes

Addiction is essentially a disease of the brain. Psychoactive substances hack into the central nervous system, disrupting the normal rhythm. They habituate the brain to fast dopamine in quantities that cannot be obtained naturally. When the effects of the drugs wear off, it leads to a sharp deterioration of the state and mood, wanting to use again. This is how a person gets trapped.

Substance abuse in the long term has the following effects on the brain:

  • cognitive decline. A change in the balance of neurotransmitters leads to a deterioration in the ability to analyze and assimilate new information;
  • memory impairment. Connections between individual neurons are destroyed, the brain is poorer supplied with oxygen – all this has a negative impact on memory. So-called memory lapses are possible, when a person cannot remember certain periods of his or her life;
  • accelerated aging of neurons. Each new dose kills brain cells, and this is an irreversible process.

It is possible to trace the changes visually. A person suffering from addiction for a long time cannot think about anything but drugs. There is only one thought circulating in his brain: “Where can I find the substance?”

Effects of drugs on the psyche

Substance abuse and mental health problems are interrelated. Statistically, people who use drugs are twice as likely to suffer from mental health problems. These are usually anxiety and depression. In the long run, psychosis with the worst prognosis is possible. 

Conversely, the presence of mental abnormalities can be one of the reasons why a person started using substances. In any case, drugs cause a powerful psychological dependence, from which it is very difficult to get rid of – you have to constantly fight the desire to get easy dopamine.

How drugs change a person

Prolonged substance use affects all areas of a person’s life. Such people drop out of school, lose their jobs, break off relations with their families. They may have problems with the law because they constantly need money for drugs. Addicts are prone to rash actions, which further aggravates their situation.

Therefore, it is important to stop in time. Before it is too late, everything can be corrected with the support of loved ones and modern medicine.