Mental HealthWhat Are Drugs Doing to Your Body?

Drug users are often chasing a high, and in that pursuit they become completely single-minded, never even thinking once about what these substances are doing to their bodies and brains. Those who find themselves feeling helpless might book in for drug counselling and treatment around the Perth area, or wherever they live. Many that do seek help do so because they’ve come to see and acknowledge the damage being done.

Here are a few of the things that drugs are doing to your brain and body.

1. Slowing Your Nervous System

Depressants are a common type of drug, and come in various forms such as alcohol, cannabis, opiates, tranquilisers and others. These “depress” or slow the function of your central nervous system, which means that your brain is receiving signals from the rest of your body at a much slower pace than is normal or healthy. The normal effect of this is a lowering of inhibitions and an enhanced feeling of relaxation.

In more extreme quantities, however, they will induce vomiting, unconsciousness or “blackout” periods where you lose sections of recent memories, and also will completely impair physical coordination and concentration. For those who become dependent on this altered state of mind, it can mean being in this condition for huge sections of the day and night.

2. Distorting Your Reality

Besides depressants, another common drug category is the hallucinogens. These include things like ketamine, LSD, PCP, some forms of cannabis, and magic mushrooms. In small amounts this altered state of mind can induce visions of things that aren’t there, as well as different illusory sounds. It can seem like fun, until the chemicals cause your jaws to over clench and teeth to grind, as well as panic and paranoia to start setting in. Other physical problems include severe stomach upsets and nausea.

To distort one’s perception of reality means there are some serious negative things going on within your body chemistry. If you’ve ever experienced fever dreams or flu-induced stress dreams, you get the idea of what a body under serious duress can do. Taking hallucinogens is willingly putting oneself in those conditions.

3. Stimulating Your Central Nervous System

While depressants work to slow the movement of messages and signals to your brain, stimulants do the opposite. When induced by drugs, these are substances that make one feel instantly more alert and confident, including caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, MDMA/ecstasy and cocaine. Physical changes to your body include an elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure and a raised temperature.

In addition, and even more negatively, appetite can become reduced while agitation, sleeplessness and paranoia take over. The ultimate result can be severe panic, seizures, stomach cramps, and lasting anxiety that goes beyond periods of use.

4. Increasing the Likelihood of You Having an Accident

Finally, one thing these drugs have in common is that they severely impair one’s judgment and sense of rationality and proportion. This in turn leads to one making bad decisions that can affect their physical safety, as well as those of others around them. For example, those who are in a drug-induced state of no inhibitions and/or increased paranoia might decide to get in a car and go somewhere because they lose any rational sense of safety.

In other words, use of drugs is a pathway to an increased likelihood of engaging in risk-taking behaviours. Whatever form that takes, it means that the user and quite possibly anyone who gets in their path is put in danger. It means risk of physical injury, as well as potential for the spreading of infectious disease through shared injecting equipment…the list goes on.

For all these reasons and more, it’s vital that those suffering with addiction problems seek whatever help they can.

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