Substance abuse
Substance abuse is a painful addiction to substances that are not included in the official list of narcotic drugs. From the point of view of biological processes, there is no difference between substance abuse and drug addiction, the difference lies only in socio-legal factors. Drugs that cause substance abuse provoke a condition resembling alcohol or drug intoxication. With prolonged use, the patient’s personality changes, mental and somatic disorders occur. Upon discontinuation of the drug, withdrawal syndrome develops.
General information
Substance abuse is the abuse of psychoactive drugs, household chemicals and other substances not included in the list of narcotic drugs. The distinction between substance abuse and drug addiction is purely legal. From the point of view of medicine, these are similar conditions accompanied by the development of addiction with subsequent personality change, deterioration of social status, violation of physical and mental health.
Officially, substance abuse refers to any chemical dependence on legal substances, including tobacco, alcohol, sleeping pills and sedatives, etc. However, in practice, experts often use the term “substance abuse” in a narrower sense – as the name of a group of dependencies on volatile substances belonging to a group of household and (less often) industrial products chemistry. Specialists in the field of narcology are engaged in the treatment of all types of substance abuse.
Causes and mechanism of substance abuse development
Substance abuse with the use of household chemicals is considered mainly as a problem of children and adolescents, the average age of patients suffering from substance abuse is 12-14 years. In adults, substance abuse associated with the use of household and industrial chemicals are rare. Among the drugs used for substance abuse are acetone, solvents for nitro paints, gasoline, fuel for aircraft models, shoe polish, stain removers and adhesives.
The psychoactive effect of these drugs is provided by acetone, hexane, benzene, toluene, xylene, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, gerchloroethylene and some other components. All of the listed chemicals are highly toxic and rapidly evaporable. The greatest danger in terms of long-term consequences are stain removers, toluene and leaded gasoline, which very quickly begin to affect the intelligence of adolescents.
Homeless children and children from disadvantaged families predominate in the risk group for the development of substance abuse, but socially well-off teenagers can also begin to abuse household chemicals. This is due to the peculiarities of the psyche peculiar to adolescence: the desire for independence, curiosity, an insufficiently developed will, a tendency to imitate “authorities” (peers from the same company who already suffer from substance abuse) and a weak ability to assess the long-term consequences of their own actions.
Due to the lack of material resources and problems when trying to get substances that cause changes in consciousness, teenagers use readily available chemicals that can be found at home or bought with pocket money. All means are used by inhaling vapors. Other use cases for substance abuse are not applicable either because of the lack of effect, or because of the immediate danger to life. The severity of the action depends on the depth of inspiration and the concentration of the substance in the inhaled vapors.
In the initial stages of substance abuse, use is stimulated by colorful dream-like hallucinations. Due to the individual characteristics of the response, dependence does not occur in all adolescents. Some children feel too weak euphoria, at the time of use they have pronounced negative somatic symptoms: nausea, vomiting and headache. If the child has enjoyed the first or second use, he begins to sniff the substance regularly. Attraction occurs after 5-6 receptions.
Over time, the body “adapts” to the constant use of chemicals. Headache and nausea decrease or disappear, movement coordination disorders become less pronounced. Euphoria comes faster, the teenager learns to partially control his hallucinations. At the same time, the dose of the substance necessary to achieve the previous effect increases by 2-3 times. Addiction develops. The circle of interests narrows, the child communicates mainly with other substance abusers, sniffs a chemical agent both in company and alone. Discontinuation of intake causes severe withdrawal syndrome.
Symptoms of substance abuse
With substance abuse using household chemicals, there is a short duration of euphoria. There are three stages of the action of a psychoactive substance. At the first stage, a teenager suffering from substance abuse has a condition resembling alcohol intoxication. He feels an improvement in mood, comfort, pleasant warmth and slight deafness, accompanied by noise in his head. If the intake of the substance is stopped, the child quickly returns to its normal state.
If the patient continues to inhale vapors, the next phase begins. There is a lightness and a feeling of carelessness. The child experiences unreasonable joy, he wants to sing and laugh. Many teenagers stop using at this stage because they are afraid of dangerous consequences. With continued inhalation of the chemical, the second phase passes into the third. Cheerfulness is replaced by “cartoons” – colorful visual and auditory hallucinations. The duration of this stage can be up to 2 hours, at its end there is depression, lethargy, fatigue and weakness.
Substance abuse with inhalation of gasoline vapors develops due to xylene, benzene and toluene. Substance abusers sniff gasoline-soaked cloth. The pronounced effect occurs about 10 minutes after the start of use. After coughing and sore throat caused by the irritating effect of vapors, the initial stage of intoxication occurs, which is accompanied by tachycardia, facial hyperemia, pupil dilation, unsteadiness of gait and deterioration of coordination of movements. If a teenager continues to inhale gasoline, delusions and hallucinations may occur. Upon cessation of use within half an hour, euphoria is replaced by irritability, weakness, weakness, headache and nausea.
Substance abuse with inhalation of acetone vapor differs from other substance abuse by the almost instantaneous development of euphoria and the brightness of hallucinations. Intoxication occurs after several breaths. Against the background of lightness and mood elevation, a violation of orientation in time appears in combination with bright, colorful hallucinations (usually sexual). The connection with the outside world is lost, the teenager does not react to what is happening. At the end of the action of the remedy, irritability, nausea, weakness and loss of strength appear.
Substance abuse with inhalation of glue vapors is one of the most dangerous types of substance abuse, taking into account the high risk to life caused by the method of taking a psychoactive substance. Glue is sniffed by pouring it into a bag, and then putting the bag on your head. Sometimes, due to the rapidly advancing intoxication, children do not have time to remove the bag from their heads to ensure air access, and die from suffocation. When using glue, as with other substance abuse, euphoria occurs, turning into hallucinations. The end of the action of the remedy is accompanied by apathy, fatigue, nausea and headache.
Substance abuse with inhalation of solvent vapors is characterized by impaired consciousness in combination with sharp mood swings. Violent joy can alternate with sudden bouts of anger. After a while, there is a rise in mood, auditory and visual hallucinations, followed by nausea, headache, lethargy and pronounced weakness.
Consequences of substance abuse
With substance abuse, the condition and behavior of a teenager change. Warning signs for parents should be unexplained malaise, sleep disorders, lethargy, headache, apathy, loss of interest in studying, classes in clubs and sections. With any long-term substance abuse (from a year or more), pronounced mental and somatic disorders occur. The child’s body weight decreases, his nails and hair become brittle. The skin color is unhealthy, earthy, the face is puffy. Inflammatory foci appear on the skin in areas of contact with the chemical. It is characterized by lethargy, drowsiness, difficulties in assimilating new information, lagging in studies. Dementia develops over time.
Withdrawal syndrome occurs after 3-6 months of regular intake of chemicals. The cessation of substance use in substance abuse is accompanied by anger, aggression, sleep and appetite disorders, headaches, dilation of pupils, trembling of limbs and convulsive twitching of muscles. Pronounced anxiety, irritability and dysphoria are replaced by melancholy, lethargy and stupor. The duration of withdrawal syndrome is about 2 weeks, residual withdrawal symptoms can persist for a month and a half.
Treatment and prognosis for substance abuse
Substance abuse requires long-term multi-stage treatment followed by follow-up. Initially, a patient suffering from substance abuse is placed in a narcological or psychiatric hospital. They carry out the fight against withdrawal syndrome, carry out detoxification measures: pour saline solutions and glucose solution, prescribe vitamins, nootropic drugs and means to normalize the functions of internal organs. If necessary, hemodialysis, hemosorption or the method of forced diuresis are used for substance abuse.
