Crack Addiction: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Whatever the method of delivery, seek immediate medical care after using naloxone. Your chances of getting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are higher if you use cocaine. Some research has suggested that cocaine damages the way immune cells work in your body, which could make HIV worse. You may develop depression, unpredictable mood changes, paranoia, or even violent behaviors toward yourself and others.

Types of Problems Exercise Can Improve

Over time, the brain receptors may become desensitized to the manufactured rush of dopamine that cocaine causes. With that said, studies have suggested that some groups are at the highest risk. These include people who also abuse alcohol and cannabis, as well as individuals who have depression. Behavior treatments show promising results for helping people through cocaine addiction.

Treatment and recovery options

• Both CBT and standard drug treatment require a great deal of infrastructure support for treatment providers, and transportation to the treatment site may also be difficult for some patients.
• Recovery may involve medication to help with cravings and withdrawal as well as different forms of therapy.
• Several types of psychosocial treatments for CUD have proven efficacy.
• A couple of weeks ago, when the TCPalm Editorial Board was discussing this issue, one of my colleagues asked me if I would be OK with someone putting a treatment center like the one that’s been proposed in my own neighborhood.

A special challenge for pharmacotherapeutic treatments for CUD is the fact that cocaine has diverse effects in the brain, involving multiple kinds of neurotransmitters. Thus, unlike treatment of nicotine and opiate disorders, effective agonists for CUD must be directed toward more than one molecular target. Many types cocaine addiction treatment of outpatient treatment programs are available to cocaine users. During treatment, you’ll attend group therapy sessions and lectures on drug abuse, addiction, and recovery. If you choose to attend an outpatient program, it’s important that you have a strong support system at home to help ensure your recovery.

What medications and devices help treat drug addiction?

• Baron said, “People don’t see exercise as an intervention, but more of a lifestyle choice.
• There have been three clinical trials conducted with propranolol for the treatment of cocaine dependence.
• Opioid deaths fell 3.7 percent while deaths from cocaine rose 5 percent and deaths from meth rose 2 percent.
• Once someone admits to struggling with cocaine use, the only way to go is forward.

Topiramate also has side effects that may make it difficult to tolerate fatigue and general mental slowing (61, 62, 66). Combinations of topiramate and long-acting stimulants take advantage of two separate mechanism of action and thus far seem to offer benefits over stimulants or topiramate alone. On the basis of the positive trials of long-acting dopamine agonists for CUD and the positive trials of topiramate for CUD, Mariani et al. (67) evaluated the combination of topiramate and mixed amphetamine salts for the treatment of CUD. Eighty-one cocaine-dependent adults were randomized to receive a combination of MAS-ER and topiramate or placebo for 12 weeks. MAS-ER doses were titrated over 2 weeks to a maximum dose of 60 mg daily, and topiramate doses were titrated over 6 weeks to a maximum dose of 300 mg daily. The overall proportion of subjects who achieved three consecutive weeks of abstinence was larger in the MAS-ER and topiramate group (33.3%) than in the placebo group (16.7%).

Time to try some compassion and empathy

The search nevertheless continues, primarily because CUD is a devastating illness, and psychosocial treatments, although effective for some, have been shown to be ineffective for many other patients with CUD. Recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of CUD have stimulated exploration of several promising pharmacotherapeutic strategies, and several medications have shown potential efficacy in controlled clinical trials. The most promising pharmacological classes thus far include dopamine agonists, such as long-acting amphetamine and modafinil, and GABA agonists/glutamate antagonists, such as topiramate. In addition, some combinations of pharmacological agents (for instance, amphetamine and topiramate) may also be useful. Modafinil is a medication approved for the treatment of narcolepsy.

However, the evidence so far is insufficient to recommend one kind of physical activity over another. So if a person prefers yoga or mountain biking, either option may be helpful to combat addiction. Future studies should help us learn more and create programs tailored to individuals.

How long does cocaine detox last?

More recently, 65 crack cocaine–dependent outpatients were randomized to receive either 12-week individual CBT plus modafinil (400 mg/day) or 12-week individual CBT only. Modafinil adherence was low, with only 10% of subjects completing treatment. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that modafinil did not improve CBT treatment retention or any of the cocaine-related outcomes. Both groups showed similar, large reductions in cocaine use during the trial. Post hoc exploratory analyses within the CBT plus modafinil group showed significantly larger baseline to week 12 reductions in cocaine use days in subjects who took modafinil for more than 8 weeks (48).

Despite showing reduction in cocaine use overall, many patients do not respond to standard addiction treatments and there are often high dropout rates (10). There are several promising alternatives to standard psychosocial treatment, of which two of the most effective include voucher-based reinforcement therapy (VBRT) and CBT. VBRT is the most effective treatment for promoting abstinence, and CBT has shown particular benefit for relapse prevention. For anyone considering treatment for cocaine addiction, it’s helpful to seek a substance abuse evaluation from an addiction professional to determine the right type of support.

There was a significant moderating effect of baseline total number of cocaine use days on outcome, suggesting that the combination treatment was most effective for participants with a high baseline frequency of cocaine use (67). Long-acting methamphetamine has also been evaluated for use in treatment of CUD. Mooney et al. (32) conducted an 8-week trial involving 82 individuals with DSM-IV cocaine dependence.