By Hugo Elliot
Everything related to drugs is not harmful. There are various kinds of drugs, legal or illegal. A lot of medications that doctors prescribe are drugs. Such type of drugs helps you heal from a particular problem. However, all these medications have specific timing, and continuing the medicine is what we call drug abuse.
When someone abuses a drug and continues to take it in large dosages, they become addicted. Drug addiction affects the human brain. It only destroys everything inside you, but it also harms the outside. It ruins everything, your relationships, career, and feelings all.
People often confuse between what is drug abuse and drug addiction. Before knowing anything about any of these two, one must understand what drug abuse and drug addiction are.
Drug Abuse
Suppose you have had an operation earlier and the doctor prescribed you a lot of medicines. The medication includes painkillers. Yes. You heard it right, painkillers. A common thing in most drug abuse cases is opioid painkillers.
You see, the doctor told you to take a minimal dosage of the painkiller for one month. But even after one month, you do not stop the medication; you increase the dosage of it yourself. You keep taking the painkillers because it makes you feel good; you do drug abuse.
Drug Addiction
The drug abuse turns into a vigorous pattern that it becomes impossible for you to live without it. For instance, the way eating and drinking is an essential part of a person’s everyday life, doing drugs becomes necessary for you. That is drug addiction.
Drug addiction makes the person physically ill. The effect doesn’t end here. Drug addiction makes it hard for you to do the simplest things. You cannot make decisions anymore, you don’t have the power to judge or think properly, and the list goes on.
Study reports say that drugs increase the rush of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine rush makes the person feel good. It creates a good experience. The brain wants to repeat the right experiences, which creates the urge to take a high dosage of the medication.
Symptoms Of Drug Addiction
Symptoms mostly depend on the drug and the dosage of intake. It also varies from person to person.
- Individual change in behavior. The person addicted to some substances becomes aggressive towards the people around them. Especially when they crave the drug.
- Lack of interest in everything. Always trying to run away from responsibilities and work.
- Unable to remember what they did when they were on drugs.
- Doing things that they wouldn’t do if they were expected. For example, rash driving, stealing money, or expensive items to buy drugs.
- They can live without eating or drinking water, but they cannot live without a specific substance.
What Happens When They Try To Withdraw From The Addiction?
- They become way too aggressive and would do anything for the drug
- People going through the withdrawal phase tend to get into depression, become stressed and anxious.
- Nausea is a common thing during withdrawal
- They can become insomniac.
Conclusion
Now that the idea of what is drug abuse and drug addiction is clear, it will be easy to recognize the problem. If you find any of such things familiar, do not wait. Seek help immediately.
To know more about addiction and rehabilitation, click on the link given below.
