Using the Crash After a Coke Binge to Seek Treatment
I’ve crashed countless times following a cocaine binge. Cocaine comedown is brutal, and I thought about seeking treatment every single time. Once I was finally ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’, I decided to give recovery a chance through South Shores Detox and Recovery. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made.
The symptoms of a cocaine comedown make you feel like death. There were times during my comedowns that I would have rather died than felt the comedown symptoms. With cocaine being such a highly addictive drug and stimulant, it requires a complete life change to achieve sobriety. Drug addiction is difficult no matter what the substance, but cocaine abuse can easily lead to a life of crime and an early grave.
If you want to learn more about cocaine addiction, I will lay out all of the facts and try to give you an idea of how dangerous this drug is. My substance abuse lasted years and did a lot of damage to my body and mind. Beyond all of the physical symptoms of a cocaine comedown, there are a lot of psychological symptoms you must grapple with as well.
Keep reading to find out more about how the drug wears you out, and how and why I finally chose South Shores as a treatment program to help me find recovery and a life I had not thought possible!
How Cocaine Addiction Begins
Cocaine is often looked at as a party drug. More often than not, you begin doing cocaine socially. This isn’t true for everyone, but it was for me. I dabbled in substance abuse in my teenage years, but I didn’t try harder drugs like cocaine until I was in college. The cocaine comedown was always something I dreaded, but I wasn’t using enough for it to become a common occurrence.
A lot of people engage in drug abuse at a young age. I was no different. As soon as I began using cocaine, it was a slow burn until I had a full-on cocaine addiction. Once you fall into a cocaine addiction, it’s very hard to get out of. It stops being a social thing and becomes something you need on a daily basis just to get by.
The Not-So-Gradual Progression of My Cocaine Abuse
Because my substance addiction became the only important thing in my life, everything else was put off. I dropped out of college and couldn’t find any kind of gainful employment. All I wanted to do was do drugs, so I entered into the world of drug dealing. After a while, I was doing more cocaine than I was selling. I put myself in a very bad position very quickly by doing this.
Drug Abuse And The Body
A cocaine comedown is inevitable if you are using it regularly. Cocaine is a big mood booster, so once you come down off of it, it’s very easy to feel depressed and hopeless. Your brain is depleted of dopamine, and when you have none left, you go through a lot of mental anguish. You can become very irritable and fall into irrational thinking. All the problems you are trying to escape come into your mind.
I know for me, as the coke hit my brain, and my jaw began grinding, at least some of my issues began to fade away.
That was why, for me, a big part of my drug abuse was in seeking to escape. I was always trying to escape all the heavy responsibilities and mental health issues that seemed to multiply each day. When I went through a cocaine comedown, the only thing that fixed it was more cocaine. Sometimes that didn’t even work. I had developed a high tolerance so I needed more of the drug to feel how I wanted.
When Enough is Enough: Taking the Comedown as an Opportunity
My cocaine addiction lasted until my late twenties before I finally decided to seek help. I went through recovery a couple of times and then ended up going back to my old ways. After one particularly brutal cocaine comedown, I decided I had enough.
It’s hard to know what it takes to finally get clean, but when you finally have that moment of clarity, it feels like a huge weight off your shoulders.
Make no mistake, it took time for my central nervous system to begin to self-regulate again, and to overcome the intense comedown symptoms, especially in terms of my depression and mental health.
It was literally months before I began to think I could feel happiness or joy without a hefty line from the ‘fruits of the coca plant.’
Finding Recovery from Substance Abuse
When I got to South Shores Detox and Recovery, I was in bad shape but determined to make it work. My cocaine withdrawal syndrome was uncomfortable, but I knew I had to fight through it because it wouldn’t last forever. Some of my withdrawal symptoms included fatigue, agitation, and severe depression. It was worse than any cocaine hangover I had ever had.
Even after I got through the detox process, I suffered from post-acute withdrawal syndrome. Even though the cocaine was technically out of my body, I still felt post-withdrawal symptoms. This was difficult for me, and I nearly gave up. I assumed I would go right back to normal once I got out of detox, but this was wishful thinking. The people at South Shores did a great job of keeping my progress going and not letting me succumb to my mood swings.
Keeping a Support Network in Place: Early Recovery Essentials
The cocaine high is a tough one to let go of, and I still often feel drug cravings. Luckily for me, I was in one of the best treatment programs in the country. I still felt the urge to abuse cocaine when I got out of treatment, but I had a new set of tools to help me on my recovery journey.
Even though I still felt intense cravings, I made a commitment to sobriety that I was determined to not break.
Although I had used other drugs in the past, and suffered from alcohol hangovers that were pretty devastating, nothing compared to the impact of cocaine comedowns.
Beyond the nasal dryness, nose bleeding, and other physical symptoms, the most intense effects were psychological and left me feeling as though my life (let alone any recovery) was not even worthwhile.
In my book, this makes cocaine among the worst substances to quit, and when people tell me you don’t need medical supervision or cocaine detox unless they’re someone struggling who needs help, I just laugh in my head and stay silent.
Recovering From Cocaine Abuse
There are a lot of reasons people can’t achieve lasting recovery from a drug like cocaine. Between the cocaine comedown symptoms, the post-acute symptoms, and the mental game you play when you are newly sober, many people don’t last long into sobriety. Unfortunately, for many people, it takes many attempts to finally get clean.
I have to make a concerted effort every day to remain sober. Some days are easier than others. A few months into sobriety, I even had to go back into inpatient treatment just to stay ahead of my addiction. I didn’t relapse, but I felt like I was right on the verge of it. Just because you seek treatment during your sobriety doesn’t mean you are weak or not giving it your all.
The Rebound Effect and Finding a Path Back to Health
They call it the ‘rebound effect’ when your body and brain desperately try to regulate the effects of cocaine use, by regulating itself and producing symptoms the opposite of those taking drugs creates.
It took me a long time to feel normal again after I was sober. I didn’t begin getting a good night’s sleep until months into my recovery. I still felt the physical effects of my cocaine use, and I still had to play the mental game. Even though I often felt the urge to relapse, I had the motivation to keep my sobriety going.
The Psychological Symptoms of a Cocaine Addiction
The physical symptoms of cocaine abuse are intense, but it’s nothing compared to the mental hurdles of a cocaine crash. Cocaine users often go between high highs and very low lows. Cocaine dependence creates many issues that take a lot of treatment to address. My physical dependence on cocaine was so severe that I had nightmares about it for years after I got clean.
These nightmares are a part of the psychological symptoms that many cocaine addicts struggle with. Even intense cocaine addiction treatment will not solve all of these symptoms. You can get a lot of help along the way, but ultimately it comes down to the way you control yourself when you are alone. When I first got clean, being by myself was scary. Left with my own thoughts, I was afraid I would relapse.
Reach Out to South Shores and Break the Cocaine Cycle
The stimulating effects of cocaine change your brain. For recovering individuals, it can take a long time for your brain to return to its normal function. There is no timeline for recovery from drug addiction. Finding the right treatment center is key to your sobriety.
For me, I made the right choice by going to South Shores Detox and Recovery. If you have suffered the effects of cocaine comedown one too many times, or seen a loved one suffer through it, reach out to South Shores today to get options and support for recovery. I know it’s a call I will always be grateful I made.