What Are the Long Term Effects of Drug Abuse?

Question by MICRO: What are the long term effects of drug abuse?
Can you ever gain back what was lost? How long does it take for the brain to start to heal?

Best answer:

Answer by butanebird91
Death is common
So is a coma
And as for getting back what was lost, i really don’t know for sure, it depends on which drug and how much is taken. I smoke and I’ll tell you from experience that tobacco causes brain changes just like heroin and coke. Here’s the link and i’m talking about something so simple and legal as a ciggarette, what do you think drugs are gonna do to you man. I don’t know if you’re thinking about doing it but if so, may the Lord be w/ you!!!

Answer by extraex
It depends on what kind of drugs we are talking and how long the use was, as well as the method and frequency of use. Brain damage is brain damage and is not repairable, but some of the other long-term effects of the drugs gradually goes away.

The downside is that many emotions and times of personal growth were delayed or stopped during the drug use, so it can take awhile to get stabilized emotionally. Feelings a little at a time are manageable, but when ten years of emotions pours on when the drugs are gone, it can be a little overwhelming and lead to relapses with drugs/alcohol if the person does not have an experienced drug/alcohol counselor helping them through their sobriety.

The up-side is that our bodies are amazing and will regenerate in many ways, as if the drug use never occured.

So be hopeful, eat well, get plenty of exercise, and take good care. Take care of whatever was behind the drug use and you should be fine. Give it time. I don’t know how long the drug use was, what drugs were used, your health status, genetic predisposition, etc. so it is hard to answer, but I’ve seen some pretty -out people do 180 degree turn-arounds and end up very successful.

Hard question to answer. You can look up long-term effects of certain drugs, but I am not sure there are specific stuidies on long-term sobriety after drug use. Like I said though, there are many successful ex-users, so the outlook is good. If you smoked pot, get lung x-rays yearly due to the risk of lung cancer. You can actually undergo testing to see where you are at and what your prognosis is if you are concerned.

Good luck.

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