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5 Warning Signs of Addiction

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Drug addiction can strike anyone at any moment. Some people become addicted to drugs the first time they use them. Others can use drugs for years before they feel the effects of addiction. However, what is true for all drugs is this: all drugs are addicting. Even if you believe you are safe in using drugs casually, eventually, the drugs will catch up to you and you will become addicted. The safest way to avoid drug addiction is to never use any drugs at any point in life.

Drug addiction comes with certain warning signs that make it easy to identify. If you see these signs in yourself or someone you know, it is time to get help. Catching the signs of drug addiction when they first occur will help make recovery easier and faster.

Intense Cravings

Your body craves certain fuel types, such as food and water. The body uses these to survive. When you introduce a synthetic drug into the body, your body sees the drug as a fuel type. Often, drugs stimulate the pleasure areas of the brain, so your body starts to crave the drug to activate the feelings of pleasure. In many cases, the drug will prevent your body from making natural pleasure chemicals, which soon creates intense cravings for the drug. This leads to feelings of anxiety when you are not using the drug, depression, and an inability to concentrate on anything else. At this point, some drug users may try to quit, but then realize that it is much harder than they ever imagined because of the strength of the cravings.

Increase in Dosage

Anyone that has used drugs before knows that after a while, it takes more of the drug to get the same effects. This generally occurs because your body gets used to the number of drugs you were taking and requires more to have the same effects. This is somewhat of a safety feature of your body because it is stopping the artificial feelings that the drug gives you because it knows that they are bad for you. Having to increase the dosage is a clear warning sign of drug addiction.

Unsafe Activities

Have you ever seen someone on drugs do something extremely crazy and unsafe? Drug use often leads to unsafe behavior, especially from taking drug stimulants. If you ever engage in unsafe behavior because of drug use, this can be a sign of addiction. You can hurt more than your physical body with drug addiction. Drug use can lead to the loss of a job, broken relationships, and jail time from the possession of illegal substances. When these things matter less than the drugs, the addiction is serious.

Symptoms of Withdrawal

If you feel let down and out of sorts when you haven’t taken any drugs for a while, that is a warning sign for addiction. You can get similar feelings from stopping common stimulants, such as sugar or caffeine. Any time you stop taking something and it alters your mood or physical state, that is a sign of addiction.

Effects on Life

When drugs are your primary focus, other things in life fall by the wayside and are no longer important. Things like keeping a job, progressing in your career, maintaining close relationships, and engaging with others are no longer important. If you notice that drugs are more important than life goals, that is a warning sign of addiction.

If you notice any of the above signs in your life or the life of someone you know, the time to act is now. Contact a drug abuse hotline and speak with them about rehab and treatment options. It is never too late to recover from drug addiction and start your life anew.