Drug addiction complications

I regularly help people with drug addiction complications in my clinic as an addiction specialist.

Many health professionals are often too afraid to raise these with you, until it is too late, and you become very ill.

Problems can occur even after having used recreational drugs just once. If you are a regular user, you have complications that you might not even know about yet. Future problems are like a ticking time bomb that suddenly occurs when you are older.

You may already be fully aware of the side effects from the substances you have been using. Delaying dealing with them will not serve you. You need to get help straight away.

Marijuana’s effect on the body

Two things happen if you are a user: you either think it’s cool, or your doctor or healthcare practitioner has promised you it’s a solution to your problem. It may even be both.

Smoking or eating cannabis on a regular basis shrinks the brain. If you’re a teenager, your brain fails to grow to the size or efficiency it’s supposed to be (1). As a fully grown adult your brain will shrink inside your skull. It reduces your short-term memory, IQ, and focus, so learning becomes much harder (2).

Mentally, you become more paranoid with an eventual risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. You have a much higher likelihood of anxiety, depression and personality disorders.

Cannabis has also been found to interfere with the immune system (3). There is strong evidence that it disturbs the body’s abilities to deal with and fight viruses.

Amphetamine side-effects

All amphetamines have an effect on your heart and speed up its rhythm. That’s why they are commonly known as ‘speed’, whether it is amphetamine sulfate, methamphetamine or a prescription drug such as Ritalin. This can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of heart attack (4).

Amphetamines can dramatically raise anxiety levels, paranoia, depression, and insomnia. Initially when you take them there is a high, but it’s artificial because it masks exhaustion, which puts the body under stress (5). We have known medically there is always a crash and fatigue when you come down off them.

There is a partial suppression of the immune system which means you are more susceptible to infection (6). Amphetamines disturb the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis which creates a fine balance of the speed and tempo at which your body works. When the HPA is disturbed, you become sick.

There is no difference in the side effects of illegal amphetamines and prescribed ones.

Opioid complications

Opioids have been used for thousands of years in the relief of pain and are still very useful in trauma and palliative medicine today. Street drugs such as opium, heroin, illegal prescription opioid-type and illegal manufactured drugs such as fentanyl, are not used in a controlled way (7). You really don’t know what’s in them.

Narcotics depress breathing, which, in cases of overdose, can lead to your lungs just shutting down and death (8). Even if you don’t die, the lack of oxygen circulation around your body can cause organ and brain damage.

Vascular collapse can lead to the shutting down of circulation, particularly vein death (9). There can be an increase in loss of teeth, and failure of blood to reach your extremities, causing tissue death, necrosis, and gangrene.

There are equally as many problems with prescription overdose as well as street drugs. The overprescribing of highly addictive opioid-type drugs such as oxycodone has led to many deaths and permanent addiction throughout the world. Purdue, the manufacturers, were ordered to pay out $6 billion USD in the US for damages. (9a).

Psychedelics

These have been used traditionally in the forms of Ayahuasca and psilocybin in traditional healing with the guidance of shamans. Again, the problem of street drugs is that you don’t know what you are getting, and many can be highly toxic, inducing psychosis (10).

Constant use dramatically increases the risk of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and major psychotic breaks where you begin to hallucinate after the drug has worn off (11).

People are often hospitalised due to a major psychotic break when they are delusional, imagining things that are not there, and have major paranoia (12).

Under the influence, and not supervised, people have been known to jump out of buildings, in front of cars and put themselves and others in extremely dangerous positions.

Prescription drugs

One of the major problems in medicine is that prescribers don’t warn people of the dangers of drugs or monitor their use. Nearly half of Australians take prescription drugs every day. Some studies report that up to 3.9% of those end up in hospital with side effects (13). This low figure is a higher rate of hospitalisation than some street drugs.

Many of these side-effects are caused by antidepressants, pain killers, sleeping pills, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, antibiotics, vaccines, anti-malarial drugs, and many more. You kept taking them because your doctor told you to, but they didn’t review your case (14). Many of these side effects include organ failure, psychosis, and addiction in that you keep taking them when they are harming you.

You have become addicted to them mentally when they may be harming you physically. When some people cannot get a prescription from their doctor, they may even buy them on the street (15).

Society often blames the patients, but when you are prescribed a medication and not monitored, the prescriber is responsible.

Drugs chasing drugs

One of the major problems in medicine is prescribers’ poor education in human biochemistry as they don’t really understand the body’s reaction to drugs (16).  They then prescribe more drugs to cancel out the side- effects, which often does not work, and causes even more problems.

As a user of street drugs you may often chase one drug after another, called polydrug use. This can create major medical complications that put you in short- and long-term danger, particularly if you are pregnant (17).

There are major problems in treating addiction when clinicians substitute one drug for another, such as methadone for heroin or benzodiazepine for amphetamine. It creates what is called secondary addictions, so you end up with a completely new addiction that has its own complications.

Waiting too long to deal with your addiction can result in irreversible physical damage. If you know you have an addiction, address it now today – not when it is too late.

Dr O’Keefe’s bestselling book on addiction for healthcare professionals

Integrative addiction recovery

When recovering from addiction it’s important to have both your physical and mental progress monitored. As health professionals we are here to help you. So, if we ask you to have the tests done, it’s wise to do them.

Conditions that arise from addiction may have been initiated by drug use, but they could then become cumulative, progressive, and chronic.

These are conditions such as vascular collapse, high blood pressure, tachycardia, immune system failure, liver, and kidney failure, etc. When it’s caught early, treatment can be more effective, but if the health problem is left to deteriorate, then it can become irreversible.

What is also important to consider is that you may have had a condition that made the addiction worse, and by finding and treating that condition, it makes recovery easier for you.

As an addiction specialist who is both in psychotherapeutic and natural medicine, I will use hypnotherapy to help your recovery go faster. I also look at what physical changes you need to make so your body gets stronger too. I will tell you the truth about the damage to your body because only that way can you get better.

Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, BHSc, ND is an addiction specialist and published author, clinical naturopath, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and PACFA registered mental health professional. She has helped more than ten thousand addicts. You can consult her in the office or by Zoom from anywhere in the world.

Call our central booking for your FREE telephone consultation with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH. Phone 0403 398 808.  Health funds.

References

(1) Jacobus, J., Tapert, S. (2014). Effects of Cannabis on the Adolescent Brain. Curr Pharm Des, 20(13): 2186–2193. doi: 10.2174/13816128113199990426 

(2) Volkow, N., Baler, R., Compton, W., & Weiss, S. (2014). Adverse Health Effects of Marijuana Use. N Engl J Med., 370(23): 2219–2227. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1402309.

(3) Maggirwar, S., Khalsa, J. (2021). The Link between Cannabis Use, Immune System, and Viral Infections. Viruses, 13(6): 1099. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8229290/

(4) Corliss, J. (2022, February 1). How stimulants may affect your heart. Heart Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-stimulants-may-affect-your-heart

(5) Zaretsky, D., Brown, M., Zaretskala, M., Durant, P., & Rusyniak, D. (2014). The ergogenic effect of amphetamine. Temperature (Austin), 1(3): 242-247. doi: 10.4161/23328940.2014.987564

(6) Glac, W., Dunacka, J., Grembecka, B., Swiatek, G., Najkutewicz, & Wrona, D. (2021). Prolonged Peripheral Immunosuppressive Responses as Consequences of Random Amphetamine Treatment, Amphetamine Withdrawal and Subsequent Amphetamine Challenges in Rats. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, 16(4): 870–887. doi: 10.1007/s11481-021-09988-1

(7) Collier, R. (2013, September 3). Street versions of opioids more potent and Dangerous. MAJ., 185(12): 1027. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-4535 

(8) Boom, M., Niesters, M., Sarton, E., Aarts, L., Smith, T., & Dahan, A. (2012). Non-analgesic effects of opioids: opioid-induced respiratory depression. Curr Pharm Des, 18(37): 5994-6004. DOI: 10.2174/138161212803582469

(9) Ciccarone, D. & Harris, M. (2016). Fire in the vein: Heroin acidity and its proximal effect on users’ health.  Int J Drug Policy, 26(11): 1103–1110. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5152678/

(9a) Mann. B, Bebinger, M.(2023). Purdue Pharma, Sacklers reach $6 billion deal with state attorneys general. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084163626/purdue-sacklers-oxycontin-settlement

(10) Roberts, D., Premachandra, K., Chan, B., Auld, R., Jirantakan, T., Ewers, C., McDonald, C., Shaw, V., & Brown, J. A. (2021) cluster of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) poisonings following insufflation of a white powder sold as cocaine.  Clin Toxicol (Phila), 59(11):969-974. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33849370/

(11) Paparelli, A., Di Forti, M., Morrison, P., & Murray, R. (2011).  Drug-Induced Psychosis: How to Avoid Star Gazing in Schizophrenia Research by Looking at More Obvious Sources of Light. Front Behav Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00001 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3024828/

(12) Australian, Government, (2018). Drug related hospitalisations. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol-other-drug-treatment-services/drug-related-hospitalisations/contents/content

(13) Lim, R., Ellett, K., Semple, S., & Roughead, E. (2022). The Extent of Medication-Related Hospital Admissions in Australia: A Review from 1988 to 2021. Drug Saf., 45(3):249-257. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8933367/

(14) Tariq, R., Vashisht, R., Sinha, A., & Scherbak, Y.(2023). Medication Dispensing Errors and Prevention. StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519065/

(15) Monheit, B., Pietrzak, D., & Hocking, S. (2016). Prescription drug abuse – A timely update. Australian Family Physician, 45(12).  https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2016/december/prescription-drug-abuse-a-timely-update

(16) Afshar, M. & Han, Z. (2014, May 7). Teaching and Learning Medical Biochemistry: Perspectives from a Student and an Educator. Medical Science Educator. 24:339-341. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40670-014-0004-7

(17) Chasnoff, I., Griffith, D., Freier, C., & Murray, J. (1992). Cocaine/Polydrug Use in Pregnancy: Two-Year Follow-up. AAA Publications, 89(2).  https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.89.2.284