Causes of Cocaine abuse

Cocaine abuse Causes: Book Excerpts

• Differential Diagnosis - Hallucinations
• Differential Diagnosis - Hallucinations
• Causes - Substance abuse and induced disorders
• Causes and incidence - Alcohol-related disorder
• Differential Overview - Delirium/Hallucinations
• Causes - Alcoholism
• Heroin Intoxication - pathophysiology - Heroin Intoxication

Related information on causes of Cocaine abuse:

As with all medical conditions, there may be many causal factors. Further relevant information on causes of Cocaine abuse may be found in:

• Hidden causes of Cocaine abuse

Causes of Cocaine abuse: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the causes of Cocaine abuse.

Hallucinations: Differential Diagnosis
(In a Page: Signs and Symptoms)

• Delirium
  –Develops over hours to days
  –Fluctuates throughout the day
  –Causes include dehydration, drug-induced, electrolyte imbalance, UTI, URI, hypoglycemia, and alcohol or drug withdrawal
  –Occurs in 10–30% of hospital patients
  –Drug-induced delirium (e.g., cocaine, β-blockers, alcohol, corticosteroids, pseudoephedrine, dopaminergic drugs)
• Alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens)
  –Often presents in hospitalized patients about 3 days after admission
  –Commonly presents with tactile hallucinations (e.g., formication—the sense of insects crawling over body)
  –May be accompanied by seizure activity
• Hallucinogenic syndromes (e.g., LSD, marijuana, mescaline, phencyclidine, mushrooms, amphetamines)

• Schizophrenia
  –Auditory hallucinations are most frequent; visual hallucinations occur in about 50% of patients, tactile in 20%, olfactory in 6%
  –Progresses to positive psychotic symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder) and/or negative symptoms (e.g., anhedonia, poor concentration, flattened affect, poor social/personal function)
  –1% incidence in the general population, males >females

• Schizophreniform disorder
• Schizoaffective disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Dementia
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
  –Auditory hallucinations caused by corticosteroids; visual and tactile by lupus psychosis
• Bipolar disorder
• Psychotic depression
• Postpartum major depression
• Mass lesions
• CNS infections/encephalitis
• Seizures
• Occipital lobe injury
• Heavy metal ingestion
• Lewy body dementia

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: In a Page: Signs and Symptoms, 2004

Hallucinations: Differential Diagnosis
(In A Page: Pediatric Signs and Symptoms)

• Hallucinogenic drugs
  –LSD, “mushrooms,” mescaline, and PCP are primarily hallucinogens
  –Amphetamines, cocaine, inhalants, and marijuana may also produce hallucinations
• CNS acute events
  –Trauma
  –CNS infection
  –Hypoxic events

• Psychosis
  –Defined as a mental state with significant impairment in cognition, interpersonal relations, and reality testing
  –Hallucinations may be a major or minor component
  –Psychosis may be psychiatric or organic (secondary to CNS insult)

• Schizophrenia
  –A disorder of impaired perception, cognition, interpersonal relations, and behavior with illogical and disordered thought content
  –Hallucinations (most often auditory) and delusions are common findings
  –Onset is frequently in adolescence
  –Frequently a positive family history

• Seizure disorders
  –Prominent auras may manifest as perceptual disturbances; visual and olfactory are the most common; tactile may also occur
• Narcolepsy
  –Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations that occur while falling asleep; they may be visual or auditory
• Medications
  –Antipsychotics, anticholinergics, and corticosteroids can rarely cause hallucinations

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: In A Page: Pediatric Signs and Symptoms, 2007

Substance abuse and induced disorders: Causes
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Psychoactive drug abuse commonly results from a combination of low self-esteem, peer pressure, inadequate coping skills, and curiosity. Most people who are predisposed to drug abuse have few mental or emotional resources against stress, an overdependence on others, and a low tolerance for frustration. Taking the drug gives them pleasure by relieving tension, abolishing loneliness, allowing them to achieve a temporarily peaceful or euphoric state, or simply relieving boredom.

Drug dependence may follow experimentation with drugs in response to peer pressure. It also may follow the use of drugs to relieve physical pain, but this is uncommon.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Alcohol-related disorder: Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Numerous biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors appear to be involved in alcohol addiction. An offspring of one parent with alcohol-related disorder is seven to eight times more likely to become an alcoholic than is a peer without such a parent. Biological factors may include genetic or biochemical abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, endocrine imbalances, and allergic responses.

Psychological factors may include the urge to drink alcohol to reduce anxiety or symptoms of mental illness; the desire to avoid responsibility in familial, social, and work relationships; and the need to bolster self-esteem.

Sociocultural factors include the availability of alcoholic beverages, group or peer pressure, an excessively stressful lifestyle, and social attitudes that approve of frequent drinking.

More than 15% of American adults have a problem with alcohol use, and about 5% to 10% of male and 3% to 5% of female drinkers are alcohol dependent, accounting for about 12.5 million people. Alcohol-related disorder cuts across all social and economic groups, involves both sexes, and occurs at all stages of the life cycle, beginning as early as elementary school.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Delirium/Hallucinations: Differential Overview
(Field Guide to Bedside Diagnosis)

Systemic

❑ Drugs/toxins

❑ Sepsis

❑ Hypoglycemia

❑ Hypercalcemia

❑ Hyponatremia

❑ Shock

❑ Delirium tremens

❑ Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency

❑ Hypoxia

❑ Hypercapnia

❑ Thyrotoxicosis

❑ Uremia

❑ Hepatic encephalopathy

❑ Thiamine deficiency

❑ Heat stroke

❑ Hypothermia

❑ Lead intoxication

❑ Carbon monoxide poisoning

Neurologic

❑ Concussion

❑ Hypertensive encephalopathy

❑ Subdural hematoma

❑ Postictal

❑ Transient global amnesia

❑ Meningitis

❑ Right parietal stroke

❑ Encephalitis

❑ Vasculitis

❑ Carcinomatous meningitis

Hallucinations

❑ Drugs

❑ Schizophrenia

❑ Temporal lobe epilepsy

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Field Guide to Bedside Diagnosis, 2007

Alcoholism: Causes
(Handbook of Diseases)

Numerous biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors appear to be involved in alcohol addiction. An offspring of one alcoholic parent is seven to eight times more likely to become an alcoholic than is a peer without an alcoholic parent. Biological factors include genetic and biochemical abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, endocrine imbalances, and allergic responses.

Psychological factors include the urge to drink alcohol to reduce anxiety or symptoms of mental illness; the desire to avoid responsibility in family, social, and work relationships; and the need to bolster self-esteem.

Sociocultural factors include the availability of alcoholic beverages, peer pressure, an excessively stressful lifestyle, and social attitudes that approve of frequent drinking.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Heroin Intoxication: Heroin Intoxication - pathophysiology
(The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult)

• Well-absorbed from gastrointestinal (GI) tract, nasal mucosa, pulmonary capillaries, and SC and IM injection sites
• Oral dose less potent than parenteral because of 1st-pass hepatic metabolism
• IV heroin peaks in <1 minute; intranasal and IM heroin peak in 3–5 minutes.
• Very lipid soluble; crosses blood–brain barrier within 15–20 seconds
• Extensive distribution into skeletal muscle, kidneys, liver, intestine, lungs, spleen, brain, and placenta
• Rapidly crosses the placenta, entering fetal tissues within 1 hour
• Crosses into breast milk in quantities sufficient to cause addiction
• Excreted in urine as morphine
• Receptor types:
  • Mu (or OPLocated in CNS, GI tract, and sensory nerve endings
  • Effect: Analgesia, euphoria, respiratory depression, physical dependence, GI dysmotility, miosis, pruritus, bradycardia
• Kappa (or OPLocated in CNS
• Effect: Analgesia, miosis, diuresis, dysphoria

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 2008

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