Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse

Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse Related Information:

Although drug abuse can result in social problems, such as addiction, crime and family problems, there are also medical consequences of drug abuse. These consequences are often long-lasting and potentially fatal to the abuser. In fact, the greatest cost to the health care system is a result of dealing with these medical problems.

 

The use of illicit drugs has a myriad of medical consequences on the body. Cocaine and methamphetamines, for example, increases the heart rate and constricts the blood vessels. This action sets the stage for a user to have a heart attack or stroke. A popular illicit drug on the streets today, ecstasy, is known to cause malignant hypothermia, damage to the kidneys and damage to the nerve fibers of the brain.

 

The financial aspect of drug abuse also leads to problems where the user has to live in substandard conditions in order to get enough money to buy the drug. This leads to unhealthy living conditions which breed disease. The increased use of drugs also lowers the body’s ability to fight off infection.

 

Using injections for drug use leads to other types of medical consequences of drug abuse. The repeated injections can cause blood clots and skin infections, as well as viral infections such as HIV. When drug abusers share the paraphernalia among them, they are putting themselves and others at risk for developing serious diseases.

 

In addition to the medical consequences of drug abuse by the abusers themselves, the contagious diseases that they can come down with also put innocent people at risk. Tuberculosis is one of these diseases that is common among drug abusers and is easily spread to those around them.

 

When one comes off drugs, the withdrawal symptoms can be quite severe. The range of these symptoms vary according to the drug used, the length of time a person was using it and the method in which he/she stopped taking it. Quite often, because the body builds up a tolerance to the drug over time and a person has to use more and more to get the same result, drug overdose is the result. This requires immediate medical attention and usually results in death.