London is the cocaine capital of Europe, with King’s College research showing that Londoners take 23kg of cocaine per day. With a long list of health, social and societal harms, cocaine affects physical and mental health, relationships, work and finances. Local communities in London are affected by cocaine too, from the children, partners, neighbours and employers who feel the impacts of cocaine addiction, to those caught up in trafficking and supply. If you’re affected by cocaine addiction, this isn’t about judgment or lectures. Most of the team at Help Me Stop have experienced addiction, including to cocaine. We know what it’s like to be taking a substance that you cannot control. We also know what it’s like to recover and sustain an amazing way of life. In this blog, we’re simply asking you, when is it time to draw the line on cocaine? If you need immediate help, Help Me Stop provides affordable cocaine rehab in London and in our Online Rehab. Call 0208 191 9191 or email enquiries@helpmestop.org.uk to speak in confidence.
Where is your line on cocaine?
How cocaine affects your health
There are so many mental health and physical health harms of regular cocaine use. First of all, cocaine is an addictive substance, which if used by itself or mixed with alcohol or other drugs, can lead to years or decades of active addiction. Our cocaine rehab in London and online offers you a solution to addiction. Our intensive psychotherapeutic programme helps you to stop cocaine, understand the nature of your addiction, identify relapse triggers, and develop healthier responses. All of this means you can sustain your cocaine addiction recovery.
Secondly, it’s really important to acknowledge the many physical and mental health illnesses that can be caused or exacerbated by cocaine. It starts with raised blood pressure, with your heart beating harder, and your blood vessels constricting. Your body temperature is likely to go up. You are less likely to sleep well or eat well or drink enough water. There’s a risk of overdose because the potency of the cocaine you’re taking can vary greatly. If snorting, there are serious harms you can do to you nose, from damaging the lining through to full nasal collapse. If smoking cocaine, there are further harms to your lungs and circulatory system. If injecting, there is vascular damage and the risk of contracting blood-borne diseases like hepatitis and HIV. Longer term, sustained cocaine use is a factor in many chronic health conditions including heart disease, stroke, respiratory failure, liver damage (especially when cocaine is mixed with alcohol and cocaethylene is produced in the liver), right through to sudden death. There’s also a very long list of mental health conditions that cocaine can bring on and make much worse. These include anxiety, depression, paranoia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, and more.
How cocaine affects your work
King’s College research (2019) revealed that people in London use cocaine throughout the working week, with a slight increase at weekends. Most other cities show significantly higher recreational use at weekends than in the working week.
Whether you’re using cocaine on working days, or just at the weekend, there can be a marked impact on your ability to function at work. There are signs and symptoms of cocaine use that are very hard to disguise. If you’re snorting, then you might have a runny nose or suffer nose bleeds at work. Your mood is probably affected by the highs and lows of the drug. Your work performance might be hit and miss, as you feel the peaks and troughs of cocaine in your system. You also might be calling in sick regularly. If you’ve used a lot of cocaine late at night, it’s hard to recover in time for work.
If this is familiar and you’re sick of the addictive cycle, contact Help Me Stop today about cocaine rehab in London and online.
How cocaine affects your relationships
Relationships with loved ones take a big hit from cocaine addiction because over time, getting hold of and using cocaine become the focus. If you’re in a relationship with a partner or spouse, the half truths and lies can build up over where you’ve been, how you’ve been spending your money, and why your moods are so up and down. If both partners are using cocaine, then things can be chaotic in a different way: arguments, unpaid bills, kids caught in the crossfire. Family might have distanced themselves, or withdrawn completely, not knowing how to handle the situation. Or you might be trying to pretend everything is okay, when really cocaine has taken over. We understand all of this because we have been there. There is another way.
Choose cocaine rehab before your world falls apart
Do you draw the line at losing your job, your savings, your partner or kids, your best friend, your health? When is enough for you? At Help Me Stop, we work primarily with clients who have not yet lost everything. Most of our clients are still in employment and/or have self-employed work. Their family is still around, just. They come to our cocaine rehab in London before their entire world has fallen apart, because they recognise that everything will go if they don’t get help. There isn’t much choice left in active cocaine addiction, but one of those choices can be to say, ‘I can’t do this on my own anymore’. If you ask for help, it gets easier from there. By picking up the phone to us, you open up the possibility of change.
Cocaine Rehab in London: Fitzrovia, Camden and Ealing
Our central London rehab is right in the heart of town, just off Tottenham Court Road. We’re a few minutes walk from Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road tube station and Soho. Our facilities are welcoming, comfortable and professional. Our six-week Dayhab treatment programme runs Monday to Friday, with group therapy, recovery workshops, and a one-to-one counselling session every week with your focal counsellor. Our successful treatment completion rates are 85%, ahead of the national average of 50%.
Help Me Stop has also pioneered Online Rehab, which is available to anyone with wifi and a computer or tablet device. It’s the most affordable intensive rehab for addiction.
Call 0208 191 9191 or contact Help Me Stop here for cocaine addiction help.
