Strokes and convulsions occur mainly due to dopamine flowing into the wrong receptor sites.
Incoming messages to the brain are slow and clouded, so the medulla continues to send messages for increased heart rate until a heart failure occurs. The heart will become exhausted by the abnormal overuse. As the hormones enter the heart, they increase heart rate to abnormal highs. Prolactin and adrenaline are produced in the adrenal glands. The medulla relays the message to the pituitary gland for production of adrenaline, but due to the high levels of dopamine, the message for an increase in a hormone produced by dopamine called prolactin is read as well. When the hypothalamus reads low levels of adrenaline, it sends messages to the medulla to increase heart rate. The most often clouded messages are those from the brain stem to the subcortex. All the activity caused by this, depreciates the clarity of normal messages of thought and sense from region to region of the brain. The rush of dopamine and drop of ceretonin is taking place all over the brain. Most often heart attacks and strokes occur, convulsions are produced at the least. This dependence is called a physiological dependence, and is common with repeated cocaine abuse.Ĭocaine will often cause death in its users. This adaptation will require more of the drug to produce the previous effect, and the once thought amount of cocaine needed to produce a high would be needed to produce a norm. The neurotransmitters start to adapt to the dopamine overflow and ceretonin receptors will die off and ceretonin will not be produced at it’s normal levels in the brain. After repeated usage of cocaine, the brain begins to fall prey to an effect called neuroadaption. This creates the “rush” that cocaine gives it’s abuser. The excess dopamine flows into the open receptor sites of norepinepherine and noradrenaline (the neurotransmitters that arouse and cause pleasure) and excites them. The production of ceretonin (the neurotransmitter that slows down the system) is blocked by cocaine, and dopamine (the neurotransmitter that excites the system) is produced rapidly. As cocaine floods the dopamine and ceretonin receptors to there limits, the hypothalamus will send signals to open more receptor sites. This is commonly referred to as a ’sugar rush’, so as the cocaine enters the dopamine and ceretonin receptors, the brain believes it’s on a ’sugar. Glucose naturally induces the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine and ceretonin. Cocaine particles bear a striking resemblance to glucose molecules, so as they enter the brain, the hypothalamus will send messages to the brain to open more dendrite receptors to receive the overflow of “glucose”. Whether through the nose capillaries, or an injection, once the cocaine is in the bloodstream, it will travel to the brain.
The cocaine will enter the nerve and eat away at it, and in time, will destroy it, leaving the victim with no sense of smell.Ĭocaine needs to be in the bloodstream to become effective. The olfactory nerves will receive some of the cocaine particles and mistake them for smell-producing particles. This provides a more direct route to the brain than an injection and gives what is commonly referred to as a ‘quick high’. When inhaled, cocaine travels up through the nasal passage to the capillaries that line the olfactory nerves. Cocaine is taken mainly in two ways: inhalation, and injection. Cocaine takers often speak of a rush in the sense of a whole body orgasm.Ĭocaine comes in two forms–preprocessed and cut (which are the most popular and most expensive on the market), or in rock form, which is most commonly called ‘crack’.
The user also experiences an altered state of conciousness where he/she feels an intense sense of feeling alive. When a user takes cocaine the user experiences pleasure beyond what a person usually would ever experience in their life. By taking a look at cocaine from its entrance into the body, to the end of it’s high, and the side effects it produces, the answers to these questions will become clear.
The question now though, is how does it produce these feelings, and why is the addiction so strong. Cocaine addiction is easy to understand– it produces a good feeling, so naturally people would tend to want more of it. Cocaine abuse has risen 118% since 1990, and continues to rise. With so much widespread abuse, cocaine is in extreme demand. It is used in offices, parties, on street corners, in homes, and even in schools.
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