What Is Cocaine?

Cocaine is a powerful and addictive brain stimulant. It is a popular recreational drug, but illegal in US and most other countries.

Naturally appearing cocaine is an alkaloid benzoylmethylecgonine, extracted from the leaves of a coca plant, mostly raised in South American countries Bolivia, Columbia and Peru (1).

Cocaine Forms and Uses

Coca Leaves

Coca leaves contain less then 1% of cocaine (1). Some people in South America chew coka leaves; it suppresses hunger, thirst, pain and fatigue. This use should not be understood as a cocaine abuse; it is considered harmless and is not likely addictive.
continue reading Cocaine, Crack Abuse – Addiction Signs, Overdose Side Effects

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and once a person becomes addicted to it, sudden deprivation (‘going cold turkey’) can cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The severity of these symptoms may be significantly reduced if there is a gradual weaning off nicotine or the simultaneous use of nicotine replacement products.

There are both physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal which may persist for varying periods of time. These symptoms are usually more intense and persist for longer periods of time in a nicotine user who is dependent on large quantities of nicotine on a daily basis or who has been using nicotine since early in life. Cessation of these symptoms are not a guarantee of overcoming the addiction, and as with any substance dependence, a person who quits nicotine has to be vigilant not to return to the habit.

continue reading Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms, Timeline, Treatment

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, which when smoked through cigarettes or administered by other means, can result in a substance dependence (nicotine addiction). Nicotine itself has harmful effects in the body but it is the method of administration that is at times more detrimental to one’s health. The health hazards of the most common method of nicotine administration, namely cigarette smoking, is often confused with the effects of nicotine. However many of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking is due to the compounds, other than nicotine, emitted by burning tobacco and inhaling the smoke.

Nicotine addiction is not different from other forms of substance dependence, whether that of narcotic or pharmaceutical drugs. There are temporary feelings of pleasure (‘high’ or ‘upper’) followed by withdrawal symptoms like irritability and agitation (‘downer’) and in the early stages of nicotine use, this prompts the user to administer another dose in order to experience the ‘upper’ again. Once addiction sets in, a user will  often crave a regular dose of the substance in order to allay the ‘downer’ symptoms.

continue reading Nicotine Addiction, Effects, Toxicity, Poisoning

Monosaccharides – Simple Sugars

Monosaccharides (Gk. mono- = single, saccharide = sugar) have only single sugar unit in their structure. They are called simple sugars, since they cannot be split into substances that would still have characteristics of a sugar. Monosaccharide units can combine together to form disaccharides (containing two sugar units) or polysaccharides as starch (containing several sugar units).

Monosaccharides of main importance in the human body are glucose, ribose and deoxyribose. Other monosaccharides, used by human mainly as nutrients are fructose, galactose, mannose, and tagatose.

Monosaccharides are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and are arranged in groups according to the number of carbon atoms in their molecules such as trioses containing three carbon atoms, tetroses four, pentoses (e.g. ribose, deoxyribose) five, and hexoses (e.g. glucose, fructose) six carbon atoms.

continue reading Sugar Types: Monosaccharides (Simple Sugars)

Mary Alice Asked :

I went off birth control in December, to start trying to conceive in February. In January, I skipped my period, and then I got my period in February and it lasted for 2 and a half weeks. In March it lasted 2 weeks again. Now it is April and I am on day 13 of my period. Is this normal?

There aren’t any major cramps, just what I would normally have during a period. I have taken pregnancy tests thinking it could have something to do with it but it was negative.

continue reading Irregular Periods After Stopping Birth Control Contraceptive Pill