Cocaine overdose is a serious risk in Australia, potentially leading to severe side effects or death. This article discusses the signs of overdose, associated risks, and emergency response actions.
If you’re ready to quit cocaine for good, then we have a message of hope. It’s possible to get sober and remain sober even if you’ve tried countless times to stop using cocaine but keep finding yourself trapped in the negative cycle of addiction.
It won’t be easy, but if you follow the steps in this guide to quitting cocaine once and for all, your brain will eventually heal and you’ll return to a baseline of stability and happiness.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been addicted for years or are just coming off a bender, addiction can be cured. You can become someone who not only doesn’t use drugs but doesn’t WANT TO use drugs, because they’re happy with themselves and the life they’ve built in sobriety.
We’ve helped thousands of Australians beat addiction and lead lives of happiness and fulfilment using the information you’ll find in this guide.
If you’re ready to stop and “stay stopped” forever, this article on how to quit cocaine includes:
- How to quit using science-backed techniques
- Tips for finding healthy coping mechanisms and managing triggers
- Treatment options that have proven to help you remain sober
- Guidance on ongoing treatment options to help you stay sober
How Does Cocaine Affect The Body And Mind?
If you want to quit using cocaine, you first need to understand how it affects you. When you understand how this dangerous drug grips you (and millions of others), you’ll see it for what it really is: A drug that causes nothing but pain and anguish.
And once you understand it, you can beat it.
Cocaine is a drug that produces psychoactive effects due to its effect on your brain’s limbic system, the part of your brain that regulates pleasure and motivation.
When you take cocaine, it temporarily creates feelings of pleasure and euphoria. This is then followed by a sharp decrease in dopamine that leaves you craving more.
You surely know the feeling well. You’re in a great mood, everything feels amazing, and nothing can bring you down. Then, 15 minutes later, all you want is more and more of the drug until it’s gone…and then you’ll do anything to get more.
The level of perceived pleasure you feel from cocaine is the crux of your addiction. According to a study published in The National Library of Medicine in December 2005 entitled The Neurobiology of Cocaine Addiction, some laboratory animals, when given the choice, chose to ignore food and kept taking cocaine until they starved. That’s how strong cocaine’s effects are.
Cocaine creates an unnatural surge of dopamine in the brain (more on this in the next section). Over time, this reduces your natural ability to create dopamine, which leaves you feeling down whenever you don’t have the drug. And this is what eventually leads to dependence and addiction.
As your disease progresses, you’ll notice more and more of the telltale signs of cocaine addiction such as mental health issues, physical problems, and a lack of motivation to do anything except use more of the drug. You may even be driven to use cocaine to avoid withdrawal symptoms, such as cravings, irritability, and physical pains.
The short-term effects of cocaine you’ve probably experienced include:
- Euphoria
- An extreme level of confidence and reckless behaviour
- Loss of appetite
- Irritability and mood swings
- Poor sleep
- Paranoia
- Constipation
- Vomiting
And some of the long-term effects of cocaine use include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Damage to your nose
- Heart problems
- Psychosis
- Hallucinations
- Brain damage
NOTE: Cocaine has serious negative effects on your heart due to its nature as a stimulant. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine entitled Acute and Chronic Effects of Cocaine on Cardiovascular Health by Sung Tae Kim and Park, Taewhan, “Cocaine-related cardiac complications include acute conditions such as arrhythmia and acute myocardial infarction (MI), as well as chronic conditions such as cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease (CAD)”.
Some of the effects of cocaine are relatively short-lived and are easily reversible. Others may be difficult to overcome and persistent usage may cause permanent damage.
Cocaine addiction can cause extreme negative consequences to your personal life, work life, physical health, mental health, and relationships.
Quitting is not easy, but with the correct steps and a support system in place, you can – and will – recover if you put in the work. And once you do, you’ll notice your mind and body returning to normal.
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Overview: How to Stop Using Cocaine in 5 Steps
Here is a quick summary on beating your cocaine addiction based on our experiences treating addicts here at The Cabin in Sydney:
- Realize that cocaine is a dangerous drug that provides 0 benefits whatsoever. It is not “helping” you in any way. It is the cause of your problems – not the cure.
- Tell your friends and your family that you’re ready to quit and ask for help
- Seek professional guidance to educate on how cocaine addiction works, the effects of the drug, and how to kick the habit
- Identify your triggers, learn healthy coping mechanisms, and change the habits that are enabling your cocaine use
- Heal the underlying causes of your addiction that drive you to keep using
While it might seem difficult at first, it’s much easier than you think it is…especially with professional help and a support system of former addicts helping you on your journey.
Once you discover how much better life is in sobriety, you’ll want to be sober at any cost.
Before we get into our step-by-step guide, let’s cover how cocaine affects the mind and body. The more you understand how the drug is affecting you the easier it will be to get sober (and stay that way).
How to Stop Using Cocaine in 5 Steps
These 5 steps to quitting cocaine are relatively simple, but they are not easy. You should not do this alone. Prepare yourself to cope with withdrawal symptoms, and be kind to yourself in recovery.
Understand that cocaine withdrawals can cause mental and physical issues, but just remember that these are temporary and will begin to ease up within a few days.
As you progress through the steps, you’ll feel better and better each day. Many of our patients claim they feel a sense of calm and relief knowing that they are breaking free from addiction. Professional support helps immensely while going through this process.
1. Recognize That Cocaine is a Drug That Provides 0 Benefit
The first step in breaking free from the havoc that is cocaine addiction is realising that it is a harmful drug that has absolutely zero benefits. If you’re reading this blog now, it’s because cocaine is causing severe negative consequences in your life. If cocaine were actually providing some benefit to you, you wouldn’t be here.
Here’s what’s actually happening in your brain…
Cocaine causes a flood of euphoria and perceived well-being because of how it affects your limbic system. It essentially “tricks” your brain into thinking everything you experience is pleasurable, but in reality, it’s merely binding to a protein in your brain called a dopamine transporter that regulates the “feel-good” chemical and stops it from preventing a flood of dopamine from reaching your brain.
Normally, this dopamine transporter blocks more dopamine entering your system. But when you take cocaine, there’s no “door” holding back the flood anymore.
The truth is that cocaine is not producing more dopamine. It’s merely preventing your brain from properly regulating it.
This unnaturally high level of “feel good” chemicals in your brain is an illusion designed to get you hooked on the drug. The result is that you get addicted, and every moment you live without that high feeling becomes boring and miserable.
In reality, it’s the cocaine that is causing your misery. Your cocaine use is causing your depression, boredom, stress, relationship problems, and severe cravings – it’s NOT making you happy.
The Bottom Line: Many addicts continue to use cocaine because they think it provides a “benefit”. That is, they think it makes them temporarily happy. But in reality, it’s not producing happiness, it’s just tricking your brain into thinking that. In reality, it’s causing your misery. Understanding this illusion will help you break free from the negative cycle of addiction. Ask yourself, if cocaine were really making you happy, would you be reading this guide on breaking free of a cocaine addiction? Probably not.
2. Tell Your Friends and Family That You Want to Quit
Once you understand the trap that cocaine has caught you in, the next thing you need to do to break free is gain the support of your friends and family. It helps to have an emotional support network to keep you accountable when you’re going through such a difficult time.
Cocaine addiction can wreak havoc on your family, friends, and partners, but don’t be discouraged by this. Trust us, the people closest to you will want to help you no matter how you’ve acted in the past. Don’t be embarrassed. Be proud.
Even if you’ve tried to quit using drugs multiple times in the past and failed, it helps to be clear that you’re trying to change your life.
Here at The Cabin, we’ve noticed that our patients who successfully break free from addiction almost always have a support network of friends and family helping them through the process.
Be sure to let them know that you’re going to quit and why, and let them know how they can support you.
Pro Tip: Whatever you do, do not be high when you tell your friends and family that you want to change your relationship with cocaine. Wait until you have come down, and be clear about your situation, goals, and how they can support you.
3. Seek Professional Guidance and Education
Now that you’ve got your support network in place, it’s time for you to seek guidance and education from trained professionals to help you learn more about how to overcome addiction.
There are a few reasons that guidance and education play a key role in addiction recovery:
- Structure: Structure is a key component of addiction recovery because it creates a stable, predictable environment that reduces the chaos and unpredictability of active addiction. You’re trying to take back control of your life, right? Having a plan, routine, and professional guidance helps you build healthy habits and increases accountability. But most importantly, it minimizes idle time, and that’s exactly when those bad habits tend to creep in.
- Knowledge: Knowledge helps you see your cocaine addiction as a manageable condition rather than a lifelong affliction that you can never break out of. When you learn how cocaine affects your mind and body, you’ll realise that you’re fighting against a disease rather than “doomed” to being an addict. But most importantly, you’ll learn about triggers and gain self-awareness, which will help you squash cravings when they arise.
- Support: Friends and family are a great start, but they have their own lives too. You can’t expect them to be there for you 24/7. But when you have extra support from trained addiction staff and support groups from other addicts, you’ll have help whenever you need it. This support network will empower you to overcome addiction through learning coping mechanisms, gaining access to medications if necessary, and having someone by your side on call whenever cravings try to draw you back in.
We know it might feel hopeless, but just remember that you are never alone. At the very least, you should seek a support group to help you manage your addiction
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4. Identify Your Triggers and Change Your Habits
There’s a saying in the addiction recovery community: You can’t heal in the same environment in which you got sick.
The reason for this is that your environment often plays a key role in you becoming addicted in the first place. It could be family issues (many addicts come from dysfunctional families), work stress, peer pressure, or any mixture of factors. But the long and short of it is that your environment almost certainly helped you get sick, and it will continue to do so unless you make changes.
A few environmental factors that play a key role in cocaine addiction are:
- Being friends with fellow addicts and frequenting the same places
- Family or work stressors that trigger you to use cocaine
- Having unhealthy habits such as drinking or staying out late
- Access to drugs in a major city
A study in the National Library of Medicine called What is the “Trigger” of Addiction defines a trigger as “a stimulus that elicits a reaction”. This study then went on to say that “This external stimulus would lead the individual to repeat drug use or relapse after a period of abstinence”.
We find that many of our patients were triggered to use cocaine simply by going to a social event that they associated with cocaine use (e.g, going out with the lads on Friday night).
If this is you, you need to identify that trigger and eliminate it. It’s madness to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
The most common triggers for drug use include:
- Negative feelings
- Loneliness
- Boredom
- Stress
- People and places
- Sounds (e.g, club music)
- Conflict
Take the next 48 hours to identify as many of these triggers as you possibly can and make it a goal to avoid them. You’ll be surprised at how much of your addiction comes down to habits.
Once you know your triggers, create healthy habits that minimise your exposure to these triggers and keep your mind off using drugs. This includes exercise, finding a hobby, reading, cooking healthy meals, attending meetings or a support group, and spending more time with family.
Pro Tip: We recommend diving head first into the recovery community. Do anything you can to get involved. Start attending Cocaine Anonymous, listen to podcasts, join an online support group, or do anything you can to connect with other addicts. The opposite of addiction is connection.
5. Start Healing The Root Cause of Your Addiction
As you begin to heal from your cocaine addiction, you’ll realise an incredible truth: Addiction has nothing to do with your drug of choice.
Addiction is almost always due to underlying causes that drive us to seek drugs in the first place. As you progress in your recovery, you’ll need to address those root causes. That’s when a miracle can happen. The goal is not just to stop using, but to become someone who is confident and happy with themselves and doesn’t feel the need to escape.
The most common underlying causes of addiction are:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma
- Biological or environmental factors
- Reward system dysfunction
It’s these factors that drive you to want to use drugs in the first place. As you work through your issue – hopefully with the help of a trained therapist – you’ll find that it was the drug that got you addicted, but it was these root causes that drove you to seek the drugs (without even realizing it).
Professional help from an addiction therapist, a cocaine support group, and educational counselling can do wonders for healing these conditions.
If you put in the work, you’ll find that your desire to use drugs will slowly go away.
The Bottom Line: Quitting cocaine is an amazing first step, but healing the underlying condition that drove you to use cocaine in the first place is where you’ll find true happiness in life. Once you do, you’ll become a happy non-user. That’s the end goal.
What Are My Treatment Options For Cocaine Addiction?
Treatment options for cocaine addiction usually include counselling, support groups, and medication when necessary. It depends on several factors, including the severity of your addiction.
In general, the treatment options for cocaine addiction include:
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT): While there may not be a specific prescription drug for cocaine addiction, your doctor can prescribe medications to help manage withdrawal and reduce cravings. If you’re battling severe addiction, MAT is the first step towards healing.
Counselling: In counselling, you’ll work closely with a therapist who genuinely cares about your well-being. Together, you’ll explore the deeper reasons behind your addiction and find new, healthy ways to cope with life’s challenges. It’s a space where you can grow, heal, and take steps toward the future you want.
- Group Support: Joining a support group, like Narcotics Anonymous, introduces you to others who understand exactly what you’re going through. You’ll feel less alone, and the group’s shared experiences can give you strength.
Here at the Cabin, we normally start with a free evaluation call to assess your addiction and find the best treatment option for you. It totally depends on your situation and resources, and there’s no way to know for sure unless you get in contact with us. However, just keep in mind that there’s always a way out that works on your schedule.
How Can The Cabin Sydney Help You Quit Cocaine For Good?
Our drug and alcohol rehab clinic in Sydney handles both inpatient and outpatient cocaine rehabilitation using a mixture of counselling, therapy, support groups, and if needed, medical treatment. If detox is necessary, we can get you in right away.
Our team specialises in treating not just the addiction itself, but the human being afflicted with the disease. We offer treatment in any manner you need it: online, in-person, group, and one-to-one counselling.
Here you’ll find a safe space to heal from your condition surrounded by fellow recovering addicts and trained therapists and medical practitioners. We’ve helped countless Australians overcome addiction and go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives. Many even did it on their own schedules, and didn’t even have to miss work.
Contact us today for your free evaluation, and we’ll get back to you in as little as 24 hours. It’s 100% free and confidential. Get in touch with us now for more information on how to end your cocaine addiction for good.
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