Drug abuse poses a significant risk factor for inducing a stroke. While not all drugs pose the threat of a stroke, further complications could directly result in a stroke occurring.
Various drugs can induce a stroke in many ways; some can cause a stroke by impairing vital organs in the body, such as your liver, heart, or kidneys. At the same time, other drugs will directly start attacking the blood vessels in the brain, which subsequently causes a stroke.
Common drugs that, when abused, pose a significant threat to causing a stroke include:
- Cocaine
- Heroin
- Amphetamines
The connection between cocaine and strokes
There is a strong connection between heavy drug users and strokes. Cocaine is one of the drugs that can cause a sudden stroke either during an individual taking the drugs or shortly after.
Furthermore, long-term repetitive heavy abuse of cocaine can significantly increase the risk of the individual developing cerebrovascular disease, which further increases the likelihood of the individual having a stroke. From experience and research, cocaine has induced strokes in otherwise perfectly healthy young individuals.
The chemicals that make up the cocaine substance increase the risk of a stroke by:
- Causing either a sudden or gradual narrowing of blood vessels to the brains
- Sudden and quickly increases the blood pressure within an individual, which results in bleeding in the brain
- When used in its intravenous form, otherwise known as crack cocaine, there is an opportunity and significant risk of severe infections in the heart valves. This type of heart infection is known medically as endocarditis, one of the many conditions leading to a stroke.
The connection between amphetamines and strokes
There has been a vast amount of documentation around the abuse of amphetamine use in the last few years and the likelihood of the individual experiencing a stroke. This has been witnessed several times in young, healthy individuals who otherwise do not have any health conditions to worry about.
Amphetamines, such as methamphetamine, have potent abilities to produce immediate and extremely high blood pressure within individuals. High blood pressure is the number 1 risk to every human, whether you take drugs or not for causing a stroke.
The same as cocaine, long-term use of amphetamines will increase the risk of the individual experiencing mild to severe strokes by causing abnormal function in the brain’s blood vessels while subsequently at the same time harming vital organs around the body.
Furthermore, short-term amphetamine use may also result in an individual experiencing a sudden stroke, mainly resulting from sudden, quick changes in blood pressure and heart function.
The connection between heroin and strokes
Heroin has quickly become one of the most abused drugs within America; heroin has been well documented to significantly increase the risk of endocarditis, a condition where bacteria enters the blood and rapidly spread all over the vales of the heart. Small batches of this bacteria are medically known as septic emboli. They have often been seen to detach themselves from the heart’s valves and travel via the blood vessels to the brain, resulting in individuals experiencing a stroke.
The nature in which heroin is taken further increases the risk of deadly diseases that are all transmittable by sharing needles. Such diseases can include:
- Hepatitis C
- HIV
Additional drugs that have been linked to causing strokes
- Marijuana
- Some energy drinks
- Herbal Viagra
- Lysergic ac diethylamide
- Phencyclidine, also known as angel dust
The last word from Shoreline Recovery
Generally, a stroke is caused by an individual who has struggled with long-term health problems that, over time, have damaged the blood vessels within the body, which significantly increases the risk of developing a blood clot or bleeding on the brain.
Drug abuse can produce immediate, quick, and dramatic effects on the body, which as a result, causes a variety of severe health conditions, a stroke being one of the conditions.
Recovering from a stroke that was a direct result of drug abuse is similar to the process of recovering from a stroke caused by long-term health conditions. However, when a stroke is a consequence of drug abuse, individuals will be placed on a recovery program to eliminate drug use and begin addiction recovery to reduce the risk factor of it happening again.
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