Cocaine is a white crystalline alkaloid, which is extracted from the leaves of the Coca plant, Erythroxylon coca, which is grown at high altitude in South American countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
Cocaine is used medically in the form of its hydrochloride as a powerful local anestheticAn agent or process that removes the body's sensitivity to pain. Anesthetics are usually medically administered chemicals, although they include other forms such as hypnosis, or the body's own ability to cause numbness through shock.
Anesthetics can either be local, whereby only a portion of the body or an individual organ is desensitized or general, in which the entire body is desensitized, with the result the patient is often temporarily unconcious.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. It was the first anesthetic that could be used to numb subcutaneous tissues. Research permitted isolation of the anesthetic structure of cocaine, and thus the development of benzocaine and procaine, which are marketed as Novocaine.
Illegally it comes in several forms, which can sniffed or smoked, (when it is known as crack cocaine). Cocaine is a mental stimulant and was supplied by Indian chiefs in the Andes to their foot messengers who were required to run at high altitudes in sparsely populated kingdoms. Runners were paid with coca leaves to maintain the addiction and thus ensure loyalty. Cocaine spread to Europe when Spanish explorers conquered South America.
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Cocaine is a stimulant of the brain and the central nervous systemAn intricate network of structures that runs extensively throughout the body and activates, coordinates and controls all functions of the body.
The nervous system consists of two parts, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is composed of the brain and the spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system includes the cranial nerves and spinal nerves.
Afferent fibers carry sensory impulses to the central nervous system. Efferent fibers carry motor impulses in the form of electrical energy from the central nervous system to the muscles and other organs.
Somatic fibers are those associated with the bones, muscles and the skin. Visceral fibers are those associated with the internal organs, blood vessels and mucus membrane. All of the functions are coordinated by a network of tiny structures including neurons, axons, dendrites and ganglia.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. It increases blood pressure in the user and simulates increased energy. Cocaine abuse frequently lasts several days during which time users consume little food or drink.
According to researchers there is a correlation between cocaine abuse and first trimester miscarriage, premature labor and placental abruption. If you use cocaine, intoxication may cause convulsionsA term used to describe a sudden, violent and involuntary contraction of a group of muscles. Convulsions may be episodic in the case of a seizure disorder such as epilepsy, or transient and acute if it occurs after a head injury. There are five types of convulsions described as clonic, tonic, focal, unilateral or bilateral.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., arrythmiasA term used to describe any variation from the normal pattern of the heartbeat. There are several kinds of arrythmias including asystole, atrial fibrillation, atrioventricular block, premature ventricular contraction and sinoatrial block.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., hypertension and hyperthermiaA condition in which body temperature is higher than normal. It can either be induced therapeutically or iatrogenically (caused by treatment or diagnostic procedures).
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. Continued cocaine use can affect nutrition and your body's ability to control its own temperature.
Babies born of mothers who use cocaine suffer from congenital birth defects. Babies are shorter, they weigh less and their heads are smaller in circumference. There is also evidence of neurological changes in the newborn who have a reduced response to environmental stimuli and interactive behavior.
Studies suggest that there is an increased incidence of sudden infant death syndromeThe sudden and unexplained death of an otherwise healthy and normal infant during sleep with no sign of disease.
It is the most common cause of death among infants between the ages of 2 weeks and 1 year occuring once in every 300 - 350 births.
Causes of sudden infant death syndrome are unknown although many theories have been put forward. Among them are a lack of biotin in the diet, an abnormality of the endgenous-opioid system, suffocation in the crib, a defect in the respiratory mucosal defence, prolonged apnea, an unknown virus, an abnormality of the larynx or immunoglobulin.
The condition seems to occur more frequently during the winter months among children between 10 - 14 weeks. Children born prematurely seem more susceptible as are males. Other predisposing factors include a higher incidence among children born of women less than 20 years of age and have had at least one previous child, those who begin prenatal care in the third trimester and among mothers who smoke are anemic or drug dependent.
Sudden infant death syndrome is neither contagious nor hereditary but there is increased risk of occurence within the same family. Also called cot death or crib death.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., sometimes shortened to SIDS or cot death. Traces of cocaine have been found in breastmilk of mothers who use cocaine up to 48 hours after ingestion and there has been at least one published report of a baby dying from cocaine overdose after being breastfed by a mother who used cocaine.
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