Use of Alcohol And Cocaine Creates A Third Drug
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anonymous Asks ...
My brother gave up drinking and drugs last month. I don’t know exactly what he was using but I know he was drinking every day and doing cocaine and if he is like everyone else around here I am sure he was doing a lot of pills too. I am really proud of him for quitting but ever since he quit he has just sat at home and watched TV, like all the time. At first I was just happy to see him not drunk or stoned but now I am starting to worry about him. Is this normal behavior for the first month of being clean and sober? He is generally a really sociable guy so to see him at home all the time and by himself is really out of character. He is just so down and he doesn’t want to do anything. Should I encourage him to get out and do more or should I just leave it alone since he isn’t drinking or using drugs?
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Dr. James Strawbridge Says ...
Your brother's behavior is a response to his use of alcohol and cocaine together and their effects on his brain chemistry. When cocaine is consumed with alcohol, people actually experience the effects of three drugs, not two. The cocaine results in a breakdown product known as cocaethylene. Cocaethylene is a psychoactive drug. Psychoactive drugs are chemicals, substances, and medicines that have a generally rapid effect on a person's mood, emotions, behavior, and thinking. For example, changes in mood include stimulation, sedation. and euphoria. Behavioral changes can include an acceleration or retardation of movement or activity. Changes in thinking can include a speeding or slowing of thinking, as well as delusions, hallucinations, and illusions.
For people with addiction to any drug(s), life is centered around obtaining, using, and recovering from the effect of the drugs. They may feel disconnected from others, no longer a part of their world. They may feel that their lives are without meaning and that there is no higher power or spiritual purpose to their lives. They may feel that there is no power greater than themselves to which they can turn for help. The power (drugs) they have relied upon has promised everything but ultimately given them nothing. They either change or they go either to a mental institution, penal institution, or die pre-maturely. The choice is always a personal choice with consequences.
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