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Effects of Cocaine on the Human Body

The human brain, weighing over three pounds, influences everything a person does. Whether or not you may realize it, your brain is not the same brain as it was a month ago or even as it was yesterday. In fact, your brain is a constantly changing with new collection of cell. When you have any form of new experience, from learning new math topics to seeing a new TV show, new synapses form. Some of these synapses can get stronger, whereas some can disappear.

Your brain also enables you to feel pleasure. Whenever you do something that you enjoy, the stimulation of neurons in this mood activates the reward pathway in the brain. The stimulation in the pathway is what then makes you feel good.

Cocaine acts on these neurons in the reward pathway. After cocaine increases the release of dopamine, the increased level of dopamine then gives the drug abusers the rush or high that will make them enjoy for a short time. Even though the feelings of pleasure only lasts for a short time, the drug can cause changes in the brain that would last for a very long time; in some cases it can be permanent.

One of the changes that arises when a person takes Cocaine is the development of cravings. If a person takes Cocaine and then stops taking it, he or she will soon crave the drug. In other words, the individual will have a strong desire to take more of the drug. Cocaine exerts such a strong effect that even the mention of it may stimulate cravings in Cocaine addicts. Figuring out why addicts are so prone to relapse is a major area of research. One culprit is the powerful craving for drugs that can linger months or even years after an addict quits using them. Scientists have recently discovered evidence that this craving, partly a physiological phenomenon, is related to the long-term changes in brain function that addiction causes. Now geared towards functioning in the presence of drugs, the addicted brain, in essence, has become unable to function properly in their absence.

As mentioned beforehand, Cocaine alters the release of dopamine. However, what happens when a person takes Cocainesover a long period of time? Does the body respond to the drugs the same way it did when the person tried the drugs the first time? Oftenly, the individual doesn’t get as intense of a response after taking it repeatedly as for the first time; this is known as "tolerance". The brain has adapted to having a certain amount of the drug present and doesn’t respond the same way it did initially. Either the body may become more efficient at metabolizing the drug. (i.e. This abates the amount of drug in the bloodstream), or the cells of the body and the brain can become more resistant to the effect of the drug by causing changes in the activity of the receptors. Tolerance can explain why drug abusers take increasingly higher doses of drugs over time than before.

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I'm currently a medical student.