Use Cocaine? Watch Your Heart Health!
People who use cocaine have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and other forms of heart disease. Cocaine causes high blood pressure, can cause cardiac infections, causes the heart to work harder as it shrinks blood vessels, can lead to an enlarged and weakened heart and to a host of other cardiovascular conditions. The chronic use of cocaine can lead to serious damage, but most scarily, cocaine can lead to heart failure even after a first experimentation.
Although the dangers of cocaine addiction are pretty well known, cocaine users may be less aware of the damage cocaine can do to the heart.
Cocaine can cause heart failure the from the first time you use
The chronic use of cocaine can damage the heart and lead to an increased likelihood of heart attack, stroke, or death from other cardio pulmonary conditions
Cocaine is such a risk factor for cardiac incidents that emergency room doctors are urged to ask about recent cocaine use whenever heart attack symptoms present in a non typical patient (Too young, no history of heart disease, no familial history of heart disease etc.)1
What Are the Odds?
Researchers at Institute for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Boston studied interview data from almost 4000 men and women who had suffered a non fatal heart attack. They found that:
People have a 2400% increased chance of having a heart attack within 24 hours of using cocaine and that amongst the study subjects, cocaine users seemed to have heart attacks decades younger than non cocaine users.2
What Does Cocaine Do to the Heart?
Cocaine affects the cardiovascular system in a number of ways. Cocaine’s effects can cause immediate (dangerous) changes in cardiac function and cocaine can also cause lasting damage when used chronically.
Cocaine can cause heart damage in a number of ways, such as:
- Cocaine causes blood pressure to rise after ingestion – which can lead to stroke or ruptured blood vessels in the brain
- Cocaine causes a thickening of the blood vessels which results in diminished supply of oxygen to the brain and muscles. Cocaine also causes the heart to beat more quickly, which compounds the stress and can lead to heart attack or stroke3
- A cocaine overdose can lead to sudden heart failure
- Cocaine can lead to an inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or of the heart lining (Endocarditis)
- Cocaine can cause fluid to gather in the lungs (Pulmonary edema)
- Cocaine can lead to clots in blood vessels (thrombosis)
- The chronic use of cocaine can lead to an enlarged and weakened heart (dilated cardiomyopathy).4
References
Editor’s picks
Cocaine Addiction - What Happens in the Brain? Why Is It So Hard to Just Stop?
Learn how gradual and imperceptible changes to the brain’s structure and function lead people steadily from recreational use to heavier use to addiction.
Addicted to Alcohol? Learn About Alcoholism & Treatment
The difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction (alcoholism), what puts you at risk of becoming an alcoholic and what to do once you’ve crossed that invisible line to addiction.
A 2 Question Drug Abuse Test That Predicts Your Odds of Having a Problem
Drug abuse test: do you have a substance use disorder? Well, if you’re not sure, answer the following 2 questions honestly and find out – 92.3% of people that can answer no to both questions do not have a problem.
Oxycontin Addiction Treatment: Rehab or Suboxone/Methadone?
This article examines the different treatment options for Oxycontin addiction. It looks at who should go to rehab versus who should go to Medication Assisted Treatment like Suboxone or methadone treatment. An explanation is given for what each treatment is and what would be expected of the addict for each option.
The Dangers of Cocaine Use while on Suboxone or Methadone
Here are 4 excellent reasons to avoid cocaine use while on Suboxone/methadone: cocaine reduces the effectiveness of Suboxone or methadone (which means more opiate withdrawals), increased risk of overdose, poly-drug addiction and resumption of a drug seeking lifestyle.