How Cocaine Addiction Damages the Human BodyDescriptionDisease ProcessDiagnosisHow it is diagnosedCommon SymptomsTreatmentTreatment and ManagementPrevention. Prevention may be possible. This all really depends on the family, the person and the knowledge of just who really loves them.ConclusionReferencesRunning head: COCAINE ADDICTION 1How Cocaine Addiction Damages the Human BodyStacie P. Pearson Liberty UniversityBIOL 102, Human BiologyDr. Cindy BunkerCOCAINE ADDICTION 2How Cocaine Addiction Damages the Human BodyCocaine addiction has become an epidemic in the world today. Some people consider it a diseaseof the mind or the spirit. While others say it is not a disease, but rather a choice. Regardless of the standpoint it wreaks havoc on the human body. Addictive substances by design can harm every organ system in the human body. Some of the most effected are the nervous system, the circulatory system, the skeletal system and the integumentary system. DescriptionDisease ProcessFor the most part it does start off as a choice. A very bad choice. The process of how you acquire this disease is almost “personal”. It can affect you by inhaling it, digesting it or through direct contact into the blood stream. Sometimes it starts by just wanting to have a good time and going along with peer-pressure so you can fit in. Then there are other times that your whole family has the disease, so it just seems a way of life. Either way that “stage one” begins, this disease becomes rapidly progressive. It takes control of the mind, the spirit, the soul and the body.Effects on the organ systems. When use of this substance begins it automatically starts to attack the central nervous system. This organ system controls every other system in the humanbody. Outwardly the damage cannot be seen at first but inwardly it is damaging the neurotransmitters in the brain. Cocaine affects the dopamine and opioid receptors which are basically the body’s electrically wiring. The damage continues to the sensory nerves that relay information to the spinal cord. There are hundreds or thousands of interneurons in the brain and spinal cord. (Star, et. al, 2016 p. 245) Because of the disease these receptors are dying and growing back causing the wiring to be faulty. Because all the systems are intertwined then the circulatory system also feels the affect. Cocaine is a stimulate. It spends up the heart rate blood which can lead to a heart attack or strokedue to the stress. Also, because the circulatory system is responsible for carrying oxygen to the body and removing carbon dioxide (p. 121) you see again, how one organ system affects the other. The skeletal system is affected because it decreases the density of the bone. “The adult skeleton is constantly renewed through bone remodeling” (Rosen 2007). When this disease isCOCAINE ADDICTION 3chronic there is poor nutrition and the bones are not being supplied with the nutrients needed to produce calcium. (p. 87) This can lead to osteoporosis, several forms of arthritis and tooth decay.(Starr, et. al, pg. 88)Cocaine addiction damages the body’s integumentary system. It can cause necrosis of the skin, chronic skin ulcers, and Berger’s disease. Homeostasis and the body as a whole. Because it changes the overall operating dynamicof each of the body’s organ systems, homeostasis is also compromised. It speeds up the messaging to and from the brain as well as to the other organs. The heart rate and blood pressure increase, the body temperature rises, the body doesn’t sleep, and it starves itself. There is no calcium balance in the blood, no nutrients to be digested and the oxygen needed for the ATP to be made is not there. DiagnosisHow it is diagnosedThere is drug test that can be done to check for it in the blood, urine or hair follicle. Common Symptoms They will become distant, antisocial then paranoia will follow. Hallucinations will begin because their body is not getting enough rest. Behavior becomes erratic and irresponsible. Common symptoms are staying up all night, abandoning their families, quitting their jobs and money cannot be accounted for. Also, memory deterioration and facial sores start to appear. Main causes for this disease. There have been studies done though to show the links in human genes that contribute to addiction. Goldman (2014) explains how this disease is tied together with both genetic and environmental factors. This disease can creep into our humanCOCAINE ADDICTION 4make up by psychosocial adversity, chronic distress, childhood physical or sexual abuse and the list goes on. (Kampman 2005) TreatmentTreatment and Management Treatment for this disease depends on the willingness of the person diagnosed. It’s a choice, a commitment and a decision to surrender to God or for some a twelve-step program. There are also programs for psychotherapy and cognitive therapy that help with the compulsions and rehabilitation of the brain’s reward system. The brain must be allowed the time for the neurotransmitters to level out and for the brain to heal itself. This is possible because of the amazing God that we serve.Prevention. Prevention may be possible. This all really depends on the family, the person and the knowledge of just who really loves them. ConclusionLike many diseases, this one has steps that can help prevent it and treatment that can helpcure it. Know the Lord.COCAINE ADDICTION 5ReferencesSinha, R. (2015).System Level View of Cocaine Addicition. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4216763/Morton, A. W. (1999). Cocaine and Psychiatric Symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181074/Dong, Y. (20011). Cocaine Induced Homostatic Regulation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975799/Starr, C., McMillian B., Bunker, C.(2016) Human