Drug use carries many health risks, even if only taken occasionally.
Your body can experience a wide range of long-term and short-term health concerns when exposed to drugs. These effects impact you both directly and indirectly. Every case depends on the substance used, how long and how often the drug was ingested. Still, health issues can begin as quickly as after one dose.
It is important to understand how substance use affects overall health, especially drug-related illnesses. These details can help deter recreational drug use before it turns into addiction. Keep reading to learn more about the different ways substance use can damage your health.
Facts about How Substance Use Affects Overall Health Short-Term
Some people think that recreational and occasional drug use will not have much impact on their bodies. Unfortunately, this is not true, and quite the opposite. Many people underestimate how harsh illicit drugs are on the central nervous system and heart. They can also agitate underlying health co-occurring disorders that people did not know they had previously.
Short-term symptoms of drug use will cause more minor changes in the body, such as:
- Increase or decrease in appetite
- Restlessness
- Disrupted sleeping patterns
- Moodiness
- Fluctuations in blood pressure
- Mental health changes
The most troubling short-term effects of the chemicals in drugs will begin to degrade internal organs and mental health. These shifts can potentially lead to dangerous or fatal psychosis, heart attacks or overdose death. It is not uncommon for someone to accidentally overdose when they first begin using a potent substance. They do not yet understand the dosage and their limits and tolerance.
Once someone is addicted to their drug of choice, the brain is drastically affected. Substances can quickly rewire the brain so that even painful conditions will not discourage continued use. Without professional drug treatment, people who face these side effects have a statistically shortened lifespan.
Understanding How Substance Use Affects Overall Health Long-Term
Long-term addiction effects almost always bring on chronic health issues. There are many substance-induced diseases that can cause considerable and irreparable damage after continued use. Those include:
- HIV/AIDS: HIV is a virus that is transmitted from person to person through bodily fluids. Drugs taken intravenously carry the highest risk of HIV/AIDS transmission among users. Although you cannot get HIV/AIDS from the drugs themselves, it can be contracted by sharing needles.
HIV also spreads from participating in unprotected sex with someone who has the infection. When exposed to HIV, the virus infects the person’s white blood cells. Those blood cells control the body’s immune response to various infections. The virus destroys these white blood cells, and the infection becomes more severe with time. This is caused by the virus replicating itself, making it much easier to infect other people.
People will notice swollen lymph nodes and flu-like symptoms within the first month of infection. They are likely to exhibit fever, joint pain and aches. The chronic phase of HIV can last years, and with proper treatment, some can even live with the virus for decades. The treatment can delay the onset of AIDS.
Though people can live a standard quality of life with HIV treatment, there can be complications. They are prone to diseases like cancer. Due to compromised immunity and white blood cell count, they are also more vulnerable to infections like pneumonia and kidney disease.
- Hepatitis C Virus: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transmittable through bodily fluids or blood. This puts intravenous drug users particularly at risk for infection when sharing needles or having unprotected sex. According to the World Health Organization, 45%-85% of those exposed to the hepatitis C virus will develop chronic hepatitis C.
There are treatments for this disease. However, many people are unaware of their exposure until the disease progresses. Also, HCV is common among those with substance use disorders and poverty. Many do not have regular access to healthcare, making treatment less available. Left untreated, HCV can cause liver failure, cirrhosis and even death.
Hepatitis C is curable, but addiction can complicate the process.
The latest approved cure is a series of medications taken multiple times a day. It can be costly if not covered by insurance. Some side effects of these treatments can include depression, which can exacerbate drug-seeking behavior, potentially causing someone to relapse. Those with substance use disorder and HCV must comply with treatment and follow-up care for a positive outcome.
- Strokes or CVA: Cerebrovascular disorders (conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain) are prevalent among drug users. It increases their chances of strokes significantly. Many people who misuse drugs are at risk of high blood pressure as well as hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), drug misuse is present in 15%-40% of strokes in people under the age of 35. This makes drug use the leading condition for strokes in that age group.
These strokes are due to a blockage in a blood vessel that supplies oxygen to the brain. Some drugs affect the body’s blood pressure and heartbeat patterns. Frequent use can cause complications with blood flowing through the cardiovascular system, leading to fatal strokes.
Strokes often occur due to amphetamine misuse like meth or cocaine. Still, opioids can also affect the chances of stroke caused by intravenous use of the drug. This method of use potentially leads to blood diseases and infective endocarditis.
- Neurological Conditions: Once ingested, the main effect of drugs happens inside the brain, including the euphoric high that users will experience. This can cause medical emergencies like seizures, stroke and direct toxic effects, leading the brain to rewire its primary circuits.
When an addiction is forming, it becomes a brain disorder that leads to an alteration of the reward pathway. That pathway controls stress, pleasure, decision making and impulse control. The changes that occur due to repeated drug misuse hijack the brain. It becomes more difficult for the user to resist using the drug, regardless of how harmful the consequences are.
This is what makes treating addiction more challenging than just chemical dependence. Rebuilding the brain’s natural function can take much time and therapy. Some people report never returning to their original selves after long-term use. However, many claim that addiction recovery pushed them to become a better version of their previous selves.
Most people begin using drugs without thinking about how substance use affects overall health. Both long-term and short-term effects of drug use can quickly damage a person’s health. Drugs can affect every part of someone’s life, physically, psychologically and emotionally.
Substance use disorder is a brain disease caused by the changes drugs make to the mind after repeated exposure. These health effects can also cause indirect damage to their children and loved ones, as well. Addiction can steal their societal health, like employment and housing. It can also lead to potential issues with criminal involvement.
Treating Medical Complications from Substance Use with the help of HCRC
Because addiction is such a vast and overreaching disease, evidence-based treatment is the best method of care. At Health Care Resource Centers, our goal is to improve the quality of life for those diagnosed with substance use disorder. Our medical providers consider a patient’s entire health when treating them.
Contact us if you are ready to take the first step towards recovery. Call us to learn more about our treatment programs and how to enroll today. We are ready to help you.
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