How to Quit Cocaine: A Guide to Professional Treatment and Recovery

Figuring out how to quit cocaine can feel overwhelming, but recovery is possible with the right approach. Cocaine use alters brain chemistry, making cravings and withdrawal symptoms challenging to manage alone. Understanding what to expect during cocaine detox and the long-term healing process can help you take the first steps toward breaking free from addiction and reclaiming control over your life.

What Are The Hardest Drugs to Quit?

If you’ve ever wondered which substances tend to take hold of a person and not let go, the answer is there are quite a few that are especially hard to quit, including the following:

• Opioids: This class of drugs is usually derived from the opium poppy plant, which is where the name comes from. Some examples include heroin, morphine, and fentanyl. These medications are classified as either Schedule I or II drugs, which means they carry significant risk for abuse and can be extremely dangerous. These substances are highly addictive because they corrupt the brain’s reward system to release dopamine and create pleasurable sensations in the body that combat pain. Due to this process, opioids are extremely difficult to quit as they can cause powerful and potentially life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.
• Stimulants: Cocaine, Adderall, methamphetamine, and even nicotine and caffeine are all considered stimulants because they increase activity in the central nervous system, causing increased alertness and energy, a faster heart rate, decreased appetite, and euphoria. Like opioids, these controlled substances affect the reward system in the brain, which makes them potentially addictive and dangerous. Stimulants are hard to quit because they alter brain chemistry and structure, making it difficult to regulate emotions, which can dramatically increase the chances of relapsing even after detox.
• Benzodiazepines: Popular medications like Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, and others are benzodiazepines, which are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, decreasing brain activity to help treat anxiety, sleep disorders, muscle spasms, and manage seizures. Prolonged use of benzodiazepines may lead to physical dependence, where the body adapts to the presence of the drug, making those bodily functions harder when absent. This mechanism makes quitting harder, as patients might find sleeping nearly impossible when they’re between uses.
• Alcohol: Not only is drinking a socially acceptable activity for many adults, but it’s also incredibly physically addictive. According to information found in the National Library of Medicine, quitting cold turkey can be dangerous and cause alarming symptoms like tremors, seizures, or even heart attack and death in extreme cases. Additionally, alcohol is legal and easily accessible, which means temptation waits around every corner.

Understanding the ways these powerful substances can rewrite the brain permanently is paramount when learning how to quit cocaine. Professional rehab treatment in Los Angeles for cocaine and other drugs can overpower the already corrupted system and help you regain control.

What Happens to Your Body When You Quit Cocaine?

Quitting cocaine can feel a lot like stepping off a roller coaster. Your body has been on a wild ride, and now it’s tasked with finding homeostasis again and adjusting to life without the drug. Here’s what to expect in the first few days of your detox and recovery program:

• Strong Cravings: As soon as you stop using the substance and start the cocaine detox process, it begins to deplete from your bloodstream as your body metabolizes the drug. This sends your brain on a mission to get more before it runs out, translating to extreme cravings and physical symptoms. Your mind will do everything in its power to try and convince you that one more hit is an excellent idea. Still, while another high may relieve withdrawal symptoms temporarily, it’s only prolonging the process of recovery.
• Fatigue: When your body has been running at full speed with increased alertness and a boost in energy, it’ll decide it’s time to start catching up on all that missed sleep as soon as the drug is out of your system. People who use cocaine regularly may find themselves incredibly exhausted.
• Depression: While actively using cocaine, individuals are constantly flooding their brains with extra dopamine. When drug use is discontinued, people can feel incredibly depressed as the body readjusts to normal levels of this mood-enhancing neurotransmitter. Don’t worry—this episode is only temporary.
• Increased Hunger: While under the influence of cocaine, the body doesn’t produce hunger cues due to unbalanced neurotransmitters that regulate appetite. This means that users often go without eating enough, leading to malnutrition, starvation, and a slowed metabolism. When cocaine use halts, the metabolism starts speeding back up, making people in recovery feel especially ravenous.
• Irritability: Cocaine changes the brain’s structure, which dramatically influences an individual’s mood. This fact, coupled with irregular sleep patterns, nausea and vomiting associated with detox, and all of the emotional turmoil that accompanies the recovery process, can make a person feel easily annoyed and irritable.

After the initial detox experience, people in recovery can expect to have conditions and symptoms related to their substance misuse for a long time after rehab. A study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment shows that it can take up to 24 months to feel completely normal again. Here are some of the side effects that are common during that time:

• Mood Swings: It takes a long time for the brain to get back to normal after intense cocaine use. Neurotransmitters responsible for mood regulation must balance back out, which can leave individuals swinging wildly between highs and lows.
• Disturbed Sleep: Falling asleep naturally is hard when you’re used to crashing after the high of cocaine use. Additionally, the brain chemicals responsible for rest can take some time to return to normal after detox.
• Continued Cravings: Throughout all stages of recovery, the desire to use cocaine again can be intense. While medical professionals can help curb these cravings and remove all traces of this stimulant from the bloodstream, the mental urge to use it again can continue for years after recovery.

Can Your Brain Recover From Cocaine?

Yes, the human brain is incredible at healing itself, but recovery takes time, as cocaine disrupts your ability to feel pleasure and hijacks the reward system. A study at PubMed Central reported that 60% of subjects achieved sobriety within three months!

When researching how to quit cocaine, it’s helpful to know what to expect after to provide a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Here’s what happens:

• Dopamine Levels Normalize: When these happy-causing brain chemical levels return to normal, the body will relearn to experience pleasure and joy again.
• Cognitive Functions Improve: As neurotransmitters return to normal, mental clarity, memory, focus, and decision-making skills sharpen.
• Mood Swings Stabilize: Once your brain can maintain appropriate levels of dopamine in the brain long term, the emotional roller coaster becomes much smoother, and genuine happiness returns.

How Long Is Cocaine Rehab?

Recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey—rehab length depends on your personal needs, history of use, and commitment to healing. The typical length is:

• 30 Days: Short-term programs provide a solid foundation for detox and therapy.
• 60 to 90 Days: Longer stays dive deeper to rewire behaviors and build lasting coping skills.

In addition to these traditional options, many treatment centers let you decide how to quit cocaine in the setting that’s best suited for your needs. For example, some patients with mild substance abuse might feel more comfortable in an outpatient program that allows them to sleep in their own homes while attending services at the facility during the day.

There’s also ongoing aftercare support that can last as long as you need. In short, cocaine rehab length varies, but it’s always up to you and your unique path.

Discover How to Quit Cocaine With Support From Muse Treatment

Choosing how to quit cocaine is a life-changing decision, and you don’t have to do it alone. Muse Treatment in Los Angeles offers expert care in a supportive, healing environment, with personalized treatment plans to help you achieve lasting recovery.

Whether you need inpatient detox, outpatient support, or ongoing aftercare, our dedicated addiction treatment center for cocaine is here for you every step of the way. Call us today at 800-426-1818 to take the first step toward a healthier future.

External Sources

• National Library of Medicine — Introduction to Alcohol Withdrawal
• MedicalNewsToday — Cocaine Withdrawal Explained
• PubMed Central — Recovering from Cocaine: Insights from Clinical and Preclinical Investigations