10 Warning Signs and Symptoms of Substance Abuse and Addiction

If you are concerned about yourself or your significant other suffering from substance abuse or substance addiction, it is pertinent that you recognize the potential warning signs and symptoms. Being knowledgeable of these early on can empower the person suffering toward seeking help and recovery.

In this article, we will discuss the warning signs and symptoms of substance abuse and addiction. Additionally, we will look at how to identify them in accordance with a person’s behavior and physicality. It is important to understand that a person suffering from substance abuse or addiction experiences these changes temporarily—while currently using or soon after quitting.

Being aware of these warning signs and symptoms is the first step to recovery for people suffering from substance abuse or substance addiction. Bettering oneself through recovery will improve your mental, physical, and social health.

What is Substance Use Disorder?

Substance use disorder (SUD) refers to drug abuse and addiction. It is the single use of a substance or a physical dependence on a substance, respectively. SUD includes drugs of every variety, such as, but not limited to:

• • Alcohol
  • Marijuana
  • Opioids
  • Stimulants
  • Dissociative Drugs
  • Hallucinogens
  • Prescriptions Medications

What is the Difference Between Substance Abuse and Substance Addiction?

The difference between substance abuse and substance addiction relies on the quality, or lack of, of a person’s substance use disorder. Succeedingly, they represent the heightening variability of dependency on a drug or substance.

Medically speaking, substance abuse refers to any one time a person uses a drug or substance. However, socially speaking, substance abuse can be categorized as continued use of a drug or substance. This type of use does not qualify for addiction as it may be considered experimental and not yet habitual. Another example would be binge drinking.

Medically and socially speaking, substance addiction can be described as a person’s habitual or addictive need to consume a substance or drug. This includes the long-term use of a substance and the inability to quit using it. An addict is described as regularly using a substance on a daily or bi-daily basis.

Warning Signs and Symptoms

Identifying the warning signs and symptoms of substance abuse or substance addiction is key to preventing further abuse of a drug as well as stopping the inevitable downturn toward declining health. These warning signs and symptoms are seen as behavioral changes and physical changes.

If you know or suspect yourself or a loved one is suffering from substance abuse, you can use these behavioral warning signs as a way to identify it:

• • Failing to come into work or school
  • Failing performance at work or in school
  • Inability to perform household duties and chores
  • Parental irresponsibility
  • Run-ins with law enforcement and arrests

Additionally, when a person is under the influence or has cravings, they are more likely to commit unlawful actions that they would otherwise not typically commit, including:

• • Manipulating or stealing from loved ones, especially prescribed medications or money
  • Selling familial possessions in order to have enough money to purchase a substance
  • Skipping payments on a credit card, mortgage, or utilities
  • Faking an illness and manipulate health care workers in order to obtain a prescription
  • Making appointments with several doctors at a time in order to obtain a prescription
  • Listing multiple pharmacies and requesting early refills for prescribed medications

Medically, these behavioral changes are viewed as effects on a person’s mental health, which can include:

• • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Paranoia
  • Aggression
  • Hallucinations

As reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “compared with the general population, people addicted to drugs are roughly twice as likely to suffer from mood and anxiety disorders.” From the same article, drugs that can cause mental health problems include:

• • Cocaine
  • Inhalants
  • Ketamine
  • LSD
  • Marijuana
  • MDMA
  • Methamphetamine
  • PCP
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Steroids

Physical changes may also come into play in addition to behavioral and mental changes. In the Handout of Physical and Psychological Effects of Substance Use, provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), physical or bodily changes a person will see due to SUD includes:

• • Unexplained weight loss or gain
  • Unexplained increased or lowered blood pressure
  • Worsening heart health
  • Dermatology issues
  • Respiratory problems
  • Tremors
  • Increased chance of a stroke
  • Liver damage
  • Enhanced cancer risk

The warning signs and symptoms of substance abuse and addiction spread far and wide, negatively affecting a person’s health with varying short and long-term consequences. It is best to catch these symptoms and signs early-on before this disease worsens.

Prevalence of Drug and Substance Abuse in Florida

The prevalence of drug and substance abuse in any location is different, such that one type of community, like urban neighborhoods, is impacted by substances not seen by another type of community, like rural neighborhoods. That does not mean the approach to recovery should change significantly; instead, acknowledgment and education regarding how your community is impacted should be taken into account.

The population in Florida that is experiencing substance abuse and addiction is heavily skewed towards using opiates, heroin, and cocaine.

According to Florida’s Opioid State Targeted Response Project, in the United States during 2015, 52,000 deaths reported were attributed to drug poisoning, and 63% of these were at least partially due to opioid use.

Additionally, the lifetime prevalence of heroin use and the number of heroin users in the state of Florida between the years 2005 and 2012 was an average of 1.9% of the total population and 230,000 people.

According to the latest (2019) National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), cocaine use in the United States rested at 1.6% (540,000) for 18 to 25-year-olds and 0.7% (1.4 million) for those aged 26 years or older.

Common Risk Factors of Substance Abuse and Substance Addiction

What are the risk factors of substance abuse and substance addiction? As described by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, risk factors are “how drug abuse begins and how it progresses.” Additionally, because risk factors increase the chance for drug abuse, it is necessary to identify them in case you or a loved one is affected.

These risk factors include:

• • Minor drug use at a young age increases the chance of more significant substance abuse when older
  • Having a family history of drug use
  • Surrounding oneself with other users, increasing the chance of exposure to other substances, also known as drug availability
  • Demographics, such as gender, race, and geographic location can also play a role
  • Early aggressive behavior
  • Lack of parental supervision
  • Poverty

Additionally, people who suffer from mental health disorders are at greater risk of experiencing substance abuse and substance addiction. Similar to how substance abuse and addiction exacerbate these disorders, they also harm those most susceptible to mental health issues.

The Importance of Community for Substance Use Disorder Recovery

As was discussed in our last section, a common risk factor of substance abuse and addiction is surrounding yourself with a community of users. Being part of a community like this increases your exposure to and likelihood to delve into using other harder substances. In a community like this, where hope for recovery seems nonexistent, spiraling towards rock bottom is a clear and present danger.

We bring this up again because on the flip side of the fight against substance use disorder, coming together in a community that welcomes recovering addicts provides incredible support.

A community of support and recovery provides members with an outlet for relevant group discussions about substance use experiences. Discussions allow you to understand how you got to the point of abusing and being addicted to a substance. Furthermore, it helps you understand other people’s journeys.

Sober living communities help you regain trust in yourself and others. When abusing or addicted to a substance, your life revolves around how and where you can get your next fix. Instead, being part of a sober community helps explain why you suffer from addiction.

There are various types of sober living and recovery communities for substance abuse and addiction. They vary based on their goals and who they help. Popular recovery communities include:

• • Twelve-step groups
  • Sober living facilities
  • Halfway houses
  • Sober living apartment complexes

Twelve-step groups form locally in communities throughout the United States. They focus on working a twelve-step program by incorporating the individual in a community larger than him or herself. These groups create reliability that each member can expect of another. Additionally, in twelve-step programs, gaining a sponsor is an important component of recovery. A sponsor helps guide you through the steps and your recovery, having done so themselves.

Twelve-step groups that target those suffering from substance abuse or addiction include but are not limited to:

• • Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
  • Heroin Anonymous (HA)
  • Cocaine Anonymous (CA)
  • Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
  • Al-Anon
  • Nar-Anon

Sober living facilities, halfway houses, and sober living apartment complexes focus on an addict’s recovery within different types of live-in communities. Although each of these recovery communities’ goals is about helping an addict become sober, their methods for achieving that differ. Strategies for helping a person suffering from substance abuse or addiction depend on the facility in question. Additionally, live-in recovery facilities exist that follow an approach similar to twelve-step programs or advocate for implementing a twelve-step program in your recovery.

Seeking Treatment and Help for Substance Abuse and Addiction

If you find yourself struggling with substance abuse or addiction, finding help and treatment can be mentally exhausting. You know you face a life-threatening problem, but it is difficult to persist.

Fighting cravings and withdrawals of substances like methamphetamines, amphetamines, opioids, synthetics, and ketamine are side effects unable to be treated alone. Either a supportive community is needed or medical treatment. Discerning for yourself where you stand in your recovery is vital to know what type of treatment you need.

Long-term substance abuse and addiction are detrimental to your physical health. If you believe you or a loved one requires treatment for substance use disorder, please seek help as soon as possible. For treatment at Real Recovery Sober Living, we ask that before transitioning to our facility, you complete a medically supervised detox, as withdrawals of most drugs are dangerous and can be life-threatening.

Additionally, in-patient treatment is recommended for those facing the greatest risk of relapse. At Real Recovery, we welcome those who are serious about their recovery, and we are happy to help you transition from your treatment or rehab facility to our sober living homes.

As Florida’s largest provider of sober living beds and highest rated sober living home, Real Recovery offers a safe and stable environment with a strong community support system to help men successfully transition back into the real world. To learn more, please call (727) 290-9156.