How Addiction Can Affect One’s Physical Health

The Addiction Center reports that addiction is the cause of thousands of deaths in the United States each year. Not only this but addiction can affect one’s physical health in several ways that can lead to death. Whether you are dealing with addiction or someone in your life is struggling, here are some physical effects everyone should understand.

Heart Disease

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, about 23% of heroin users develop opioid dependency as well. Using such substances can cause the heart to malfunction due to interference in the cardiovascular system, which includes your veins and arteries. Heroin users usually inject the substance into several veins and, after years of addiction, those veins can collapse. A user may begin to have irregular heart rates which could eventually develop into heart attacks.

Liver Failure

Using addiction recovery services can help save one of your most vital organs, such as your liver. Your liver is responsible for helping to cleanse your blood. When you’re filling your body with toxins such as too much alcohol or drugs, it can cause the liver to work overtime. As a result, many addicts suffer from liver failure. A disease known as cirrhosis of the liver is common in individuals who suffer from alcohol dependency. Cirrhosis of the liver is often characterized by a large belly because the liver swells.

Lung Disease

You can’t breathe without your lungs. They carry oxygen throughout your body, including to your blood. You can damage your lungs by smoking and excessive drug use. As a result, you can develop a chronic cough, breathing issues, and other respiratory problems. If you’ve damaged your lungs over the years, you can also be susceptible to lung cancer, especially if you’re addicted to nicotine.

Infectious Diseases

Another side effect of drug use is not being aware of what you’re doing when high. Whether someone is using heroin, opioids, LSD, or is chronically drunk, they may unknowingly harm themselves with negligence. Harmful practices such as sharing needles when doing heroin or having frequent unprotected sex with strangers can result in diseases such as HIV, AIDS, or Hepatitis B or C.

As you can see, there are many reasons to seek help from local addiction recovery services. Substance abuse and dependency can happen to anyone, and you’re not alone in your struggle. Contact our team at Peace Medical for professional assistance today.