Effects of illegal drugs

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Specializes in Acute Care.

I'm still a new nurse, but I've noticed a lot of cocaine users come in with extreme uncontrolled HTN and often CVAs. Is this a coincidence or is that a s/e of cocaine abuse?

Now, I know depending on the drug you can have dilated or pinpoint pupils, etc. but other than that I'm clueless on street drugs.

Is anyone out there able to give me a run down of symptoms/side effects/eventual health issues associated with illegal drugs?

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Specializes in ICU, Psych.

depends on the type of drug!

with cocaine or most of the time its crack-cocaine you will see very high blood pressures, and CVAs even in the users younger years are common. The users tend to be very agitated when coming of their fix, violent, uncontrollable to say the least.

Most users of illegal drugs also have many psychosocial issues, like unstable living situations, homelessness, diseases like HIV, malnourished, felony charges, no insurance, no support system(families disown them, and their peers are not a great support group).

Many have psychiatric issues, mainly paranoia, or substance induced dementia, the list goes on.

Illegal drugs, and some of the legal ones like ETOH have devastating effects on the user, his families, and society as a whole. The negative effects on the economy is also visible in every part of the country.

I have no answer to how to fix the problem, but the law and order stance of building more jails is not working to fix the problem either, the war on drugs was lost many years ago.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric/psych, Substance abuse.

If someone is in alcohol withdrawal, vs tend to go up, they'll feel anxious, nauseous, tremulous, and sweaty as the time since their last drink passes. If it's benzo withdrawal, they'll probably get a huge headache and some numbness/tingling in the extremities along with the above symptoms.

In opiate withdrawal, the pulse increases, and the same nausea, tremors, and sweats are common. In addition, the pupils tend to be huge, the body aches feel like the flu so the pt can't sit still, and the nose and eyes water. You might see excessive yawning and the cravings are nearly unbearable to use again just to feel normal.

I'm amazed at the number of pt's that abuse prescription drugs. It catches them so unaware...after all...their doctor PRESCRIBED them. They just needed A FEW extra.

These drugs are illegal, too. Right?

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Cocaine constricts blood vessels. This constriction is what causes the hypertension, CVAs, and MIs.

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http://www.erowid.com

Cocaine

Erowid is an almost inexhaustible resource.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Interesting article on crystal meth here, but if you Google crystal meth or methamphetamine, please be aware that some of the photos are pretty shocking.

http://healthinmotion.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/crystal-meth-the-dance-of-death/

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Specializes in med-surg.

I'm amazed at the number of pt's that abuse prescription drugs. It catches them so unaware...after all...their doctor PRESCRIBED them. They just needed A FEW extra.

These drugs are illegal, too. Right?

What irritates me is the MDs that prescribe these meds instead of actively getting clients with chronic pain into the appropriate pain management programs. Then when they realize what they have done, they 'dismiss' the patient. My mom is one of those older ladies that believes in doing what the doc tells you to do. She gets hooked for YRS, then he suddenly dismisses her and sends her to another doc. She goes to see this guy, wants her labetolol refilled and his office manager accuses her of being a 'drug-seeker' (she wanted her bp med, not the xanax or percocet folks). Finally, my brother convinced her to see his MD who explained the whole addiction process to her and got her tapered off and into a pain management program. Sheesh!

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