Last Updated on April 13, 2023 by Mike Robinson
Do you use cocaine or do you know someone who does? If the answer is yes, you will know more about the problems that this addictive substance can cause.
You will also know how harmful it is for all areas of the person who consumes it and how difficult it is to get out of an addiction to this substance.
In this article we will discuss 11 tips that will give you a great help to overcome this addiction step by step and come out of its negative consequences.
What does it mean to be addicted to cocaine?
The cocaine is a psychostimulant drug central nervous system and has a high addictive potential.
Specifically what it does is to radically block dopamine reuptake inhibitors, thereby increasing the release of this substance into the brain.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter closely linked with the pleasure and reward system of the brain. Therefore, the great release of dopamine makes cocaine very addictive.
In addition, the brain has a great ability to adapt to high stimulation, so it likes to get input from the outside that reinforce its system of pleasure and gratification.
Put another way: our brain likes the stimulation that produces cocaine, so if we consume it we will want more.
This makes that although the cocaine consumer normally believes that he can stop taking it whenever he wants, this is not so. The cocaine consumer will be addicted before they can realize it.
And it is that when we use cocaine, our brain is accustomed to operate with extremely high levels of stimulation, and these levels can only be reached through cocaine consumption, so our first need will be to provide this substance to our brain.
This great stimulation produces high degrees of pleasure, provides a high sense of well-being and eliminates feelings of discomfort.
However, after the effect of the cocaine that lasts between 15 and 60 minutes, the well-being disappears.
And not only that, a completely opposite state appears, with side effects such as: moral collapse, malaise and decreased mood.
This means that our brain is modified and only works correctly if we administer cocaine, so if we have this substance within reach we will consume it to eliminate the discomfort that causes us not to consume it.
So, cocaine becomes a very high addiction because we are only good when we consume it and notice its effect on our brain.
However as any addiction can be overcome, in fact you can leave the cocaine forever today if you do it with conviction and determination.
First of all the first thing that comes to mind when we think of an addict is the typical person who lives on the street with a very deteriorated physical appearance, but we forget those who are equally addicted and lead a “normal life” , Live in family, have work, but these go unnoticed for the rest of society.
Do not forget that to be an addict is not necessary to consume daily, simply consuming sporadically, or just be a consumer of weekends.
The last end of both types of addicts is the same, to experience or seek the sensation of pleasure and euphoria that causes them to use cocaine and to abandon the state of anxiety and discomfort caused by not consuming it.
So if you have a friend, family or acquaintance or you have an addiction problem, these 12 tips will help you get out of that vicious circle as long as you are under the supervision of a professional. In no case do they replace a treatment.
- Recognize that you have a problem
First, before you make any behavior change or make a decision, you must be firm with yourself, and openly acknowledge that you have an addiction problem and therefore you are prepared to receive the help of a professional to overcome it.
Without this first step, it will not be possible to begin the next stages of change. Once we recognize the problem, which is the key to starting a detox treatment, we can begin to consider a new life without addictions.
You have to understand that even if consumed only sporadically, if you continue to consume every time you will be harder to convince your brain to stop needing that substance.
- Look for support
If you want to leave it alone, it will be tremendously difficult for you. Find the closest people and ask them for help.
When you stop consuming, sooner or later you will need someone to support you, give you advice, encourage you and understand you.
Look for these people, the more you have the better for them, they will be fundamental for you to win the battle for cocaine. Do not try to carry all this burden by yourself.
- Distráte
Surely often thoughts come to you to consume, if this is so, for a moment and go for a walk, stay with a friend or relative who does not consume, read a book dive into it, etc. so that you break with those thoughts already that if you recreate in them, the desire to consume will increase.
When doing some activity, for example if you are walking, looks at all those details of the environment, and tries to avoid going places where you consume.
The longer you are doing some activity, the less time you will spend under the effects of cocaine.
- Replant ate the change you need
Once you have recognized being an addict, you must know that to overcome your addiction, you will need new changes in your life.
To do this, it would be useful to note down the pros and cons of not being a consumer in order to get to know more about your perception of the problem, and thus increase the perception of alternative behaviors.
In addition, while you consume, you will be unbalanced emotionally and psychologically, since when you consume you get used to very intense sensations due to the great stimulation that your brain receives.
So if you want to return to real life and be you, you must convince yourself from the first moment.
With this drug the half-measures and the partial intentions of leaving it are not worth.
- Take some time and think about your addiction.
There are times when it is necessary to know how to stop in time because if not the path of self-destruction can never stop.
At the moment it is not a question of doing a review of what cocaine has meant for you, but rather you do it in all your vital areas.
Can you continue with this situation? Can you continue to endure it? Make a list of all areas of your life, how they work and what changes have been lately.
When you have done, think about what changes you need and what is stopping you from doing them now.
Consider how you will make those changes and keep them as a final goal after overcoming addiction.
- Imagine a life without drugs
Cocaine provides you with the state of well-being that you want at the right time, but if you stop for a moment to think about it, you know exactly what comes next.
And is that this state of well-being only lasts while the effect of the drug lasts, then appears the opposite.
Put in a way, if we scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is absolute discomfort and 10 is the maximum gratification, in the life of a normal person, you could be between 4 and 7 most of the time.
At times the bonus could go up to 6 or 7 depending on the stimulus you received, and at times you could go down to 5 or 6, but you would rarely move from these terms.
However when you use cocaine you easily reach a value of 9 or 10 but as soon as the effect of the drug drops rapidly to 1 or 0.
In fact when you use cocaine you only move in those terms, maximum gratification when you consume and apathy the rest of the day.
So, if this is what you want, if you want to go forward with cocaine or recover a normal life like before.
- Be aware of yourself
Once you have definitely considered this new change in your life, you should fully realize that it will not be an easy path, but with the help of professionals, family and friends can be overcome.
With awareness I mean that you have to do the exercise necessary to realize that the best solution for you is to stop using cocaine.
It is habitual the lack of conscience in abandoning a substance like this when one is addicted.
And the most rational part of your brain can tell you that the best solution for you is to quit consumption, but the most elementary part (the addicted part) will tell you otherwise.
That is why it is very important that you work on your most rational brain and get it to overcome the most primary instincts that incite you to consumption.
Find out what factors have led you to consume: why you consume, how often, where, with whom, and what has happened in you since you started.
Point all this on a sheet and become aware of what cocaine actually provides
Also think about the changes you must make in your approach to life so that you can stop feeling the need to use cocaine.
What you need to be well is not to continue consuming, but to make the relevant changes in your life to achieve well-being. The bad thing is that until you do not overcome it, you will be very difficult to make those changes, be aware of it to begin with.
The call of consciousness is very powerful, when you become aware of something your mind awakens and you realize the multiple inconveniences that this drug has for you.
When you activate your consciousness everything is transformed and progress can begin.
- Abandon consumption
Cocaine can be stopped overnight. So if you want, the last dose you have consumed today can become the last of your whole life.
However it is usually difficult, especially if you are accustomed to consuming high amounts of cocaine.
So, an exercise that I recommend is that you organize your abandonment of cocaine. How can you do it?
An effective technique is that you plan the days that you will be without consuming, for example 8 days.
From this moment you must be 8 days without consuming cocaine. After these 8 days you can consume a dose and increase to 9 days that you will spend without consuming.
If you are doing this exercise will come a moment that will be so many days for the next dose that it will not make sense to go back to drugging.
- Consult a physician
When you stop using cocaine you are very likely to experience withdrawal syndrome , which are all those physical and psychic symptoms that occur in your body due to the absence of the desired drug.
Some of the symptoms may be agitation and restless behavior, discouragement, fatigue, generalized malaise, increased appetite, too intense and unpleasant dreams, and decreased activity.
The onset of these symptoms usually provokes an immediate relapse because if you consume the drug the symptoms and discomfort disappear.
So, if you encounter this situation consult a doctor to give you the corresponding drug treatment to overcome the withdrawal syndrome. Usually the drugs given are usually antidepressants or anxiolytics .
- Avoid relapses
Even if you have already left the cocaine, you must keep in mind that you are still a potential addict to this drug, because if you consume it is very likely to fall again.
Do not get carried away by thoughts that you’ve already given up addiction and consuming once will not affect you at all.
This is not so, you will have overcome addiction as long as you do not consume, but if you consume, even once, the thing can be complicated.
Although not easy, you should avoid small relapses, and for this you will need to continue with the treatment until the professionals tell you so.
But as we all know, small relapses are there and must be seen not as a failure, but as new opportunities. It is a difficult process but not impossible.
- Begin a new life
A common mistake is to think that at the moment that cocaine is exceeded all aspects of your life automatically improve, however this is not so.
When you overcome cocaine your life continues the same, but the great advantage you get is that you acquire the necessary capacity to be able to improve all those aspects of your life that you do not like.
It is at this time that you must stabilize your life through a proper profession and establish personal relationships, which provide you with tranquility and well-being.
If you get it, you can forget about cocaine forever.
As final advice I would recommend that you incorporate physical activity into your life. Doing so will fortify your new lifestyle where cocaine has no place and you will be much less likely to be able to get high again.
Be strict and understanding
If it is a family member or friend of yours who has this type of addiction, you must have these two adjectives present at all times.
You must be strict with the consumption as long as the addict has no intention of abandoning the drug.
You cannot have any kind of tolerance with cocaine and it cannot be justified at any time, so you must take the necessary measures that are within your reach however hard they may be.
However, whenever the addicted person has a will to leave the drug, understanding must reign your act towards her.
Quitting cocaine is a very hard process in which you suffer a lot, so whenever a person is struggling to eliminate cocaine from your life you must be sympathetic with it.
“Remember that the big lie about drugs is that you have control”
