Perhaps you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, yet you have the ability to function each day by going to work and taking care of your duties. You might not think that your untreated addiction is harming you, but chances are the longer you ignore your addiction, the more apt you will suffer some mental, emotional, and physical consequences of your addiction. Let’s take a look at this topic further today.

Living with an untreated addiction is akin to drinking a poison on a dare, with the full knowledge of the consequences should anything go wrong. Untreated addiction can significantly reduce an individual’s life expectancy. As a functioning addict, it is quite easy to ignore the need for an intervention, as you might promise yourself or those around you that you will seek help in future. However, as time goes by, you may begin suffering from adverse long-term body damage, as well as emotional and mental health issues.

As a functioning addict, you may never experience any serious physical side effects resulting from your substance abuse. You may only experience stomach upsets, headaches or a simple hangover. This seems like a negligible price to pay compared to the high you get.

Yet, there can be serious negative effects of untreated drug addiction. They are determined by the type of substance, purity, dose, frequency of abuse, length of addiction, prevailing medical conditions such as mental health disorders, genetics and environmental conditions. Your body can be seriously affected when you continue taking drugs. Some of the consequences of untreated addiction include:

Dangers of Untreated Addiction and Abuse

Heart disorders

Drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, and ecstasy can present the body with a myriad of cardiovascular problems. These include irregular heart rhythm or even worse- a cardiac arrest that may be fatal.

Brain damage

Studies show that drugs not only temporarily affect your behaviors and thoughts, they can also permanently change your brain’s structure by destroying your brain cells. This means that these drugs can change the way you comprehend, think, learn and remember what you have learned. As a functional addict, your brain activity is bound to gradually slow down. Even without a history of anxiety or depression, untreated addiction can stimulate these mental conditions by influencing the production of biochemicals and hormones that regulate your emotions and mood.

Untreated addiction also increases the likelihood of spontaneous suicide and trigger episodes of hallucinations, anxiety attacks, or paranoia in the long run.

Liver disease

Liver failure falls among the greatest risks for alcohol addicts. Liver problems like cirrhosis or liver cancer claim the lives of approximately 15,000 people annually.

You may think that your consumption of drugs is perfectly under control however there is a high probability that you can accidentally overdo it and later on face the consequences. Your tolerance can also change, thus requiring you to take more of the drugs in order to achieve the same effect. This brings you closer and closer to the brink of accidental overdose, bodily injury, and worse.

Should you be struggling with an addiction, it is time for you to kick the habit and opt for a healthier, clean life. Even if you are still functioning day to day alright, the adverse mental and physical health problems are apt to cause distress to your life sooner or later. Make a decision to stop abusing drugs or alcohol and reach out for help today.

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