A long term addiction can damage nearly every system in the body. Some drugs cause more damage to some bodily systems than others. Here are only a few of the ways that an addiction can badly impact your health:
Damage to the Nervous System
Drugs cause intoxication because they bind surprisingly well to the receptors on the surfaces of the nerve cells in the brain. Over time, the number of receptors, nerve cells and even the structure of the nerve cells are changed. Sometimes, these changes are permanent. Depressant drugs like opioids and alcohol also slow down bodily functions like breathing. An overdose occurs when a function like respiration is slowed down to the point of unconsciousness or death.
Pregnancy Complications
Women who are addicted to drugs while pregnant run the risk of premature delivery and complications like breech birth. However, the baby suffers the brunt of the mother’s addiction. Alcohol can stunt the growth of the brain and lead to fetal alcohol syndrome. Amphetamines and opioids cause babies to be born with underdeveloped brains, and cocaine can cause the placenta to separate prematurely.
Negative Impacts To the Circulatory System
Addiction can produce effects on the heart and the circulatory system that are more insidious than a sudden heart attack or stroke. Drugs that cross the blood/brain barrier like heroin can influence both the heart rate and the blood pressure. If the drug is taken to the point of addiction, the damage to the cardiovascular system can be permanent.
Drugs like amphetamines can be responsible for blood clots, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a scourge of people addicted to alcohol. Over years, the alcohol scars the heart muscle, and the heart begins to fail. The symptoms of this are fatigue, edema in the legs and feet and swollen veins in the neck. Alcohol can also react badly with medicines that are prescribed to treat a patient’s heart disease. One of the benefits of a drug addiction rehab center is that the staff is knowledgeable when it comes to the comorbidities that often accompany addiction.
Cognitive Damage
Addiction to drugs like amphetamines and marijuana can also impair thought processes like the ability to concentrate, decision making and planning and locating and reacting to objects in space. Some of these impairments are permanent.
As can be seen, the impact of addiction on a person’s health can be devastating. The sooner an addict joins a drug rehabilitation center, the higher his or her chances are of returning to good health.