A laboratory model of cocaine withdrawal in humans: Intravenous cocaine.

Abstract

Seven adult intravenous (IV) cocaine users completed a protocol investigating changes in behavior after the self-administration of cocaine. During sessions, the participants could self-administer up to 6 doses of IV cocaine (32 mg/70 kg) twice each day. Both 2- and 3-day binge conditions were tested. At 39 hr after the 3-day but not the 2-day binge of cocaine use, total Beck Depression Inventory scores were increased and participants reported increased ratings of Irritable and decreased ratings of I Want Cocaine. Exposure to stimulus cues associated with IV cocaine increased ratings of I Want Cocaine during periods of abstinence after both 2- and 3-day binges and increased ratings of Depressed only after the 3-day binge of cocaine use. The cessation of binge cocaine use produced modest changes in mood and cocaine craving that were related to the length of the binge and varied as a function of time since last cocaine use. Responsiveness to cocaine cues also varied as a function of the length of the previous cocaine binge.

Sleep quality deteriorates over a binge–abstinence cycle in chronic smoked cocaine users

“…Participants completed the 22-day in patient study under the direction of the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Substance Use Research Center (Foltin et al 1990;Foltin and Fischman 1997;Ward et al 1997a,b). The study consisted of 3 days initial abstinence, 3 days of "binge" smoked cocaine use (BI phase, days 4-6), and 15 days of abstinence (AB phase, days 7-21).…”

“…Subjective reports of poor sleep during cocaine abstinence abound (Gawin and Kleber 1986;Brower et al 1992;Cottler et al 1993;Foltin and Fischman 1997), although not all investigators have observed such subjective disturbances (Coffey et al 2000). In polysomnographic (PSG) studies of regular (or frequent) cocaine users, same-day cocaine use has been reported to significantly delay sleep onset (Watson et al 1992;Johanson et al 1999) and to decrease sleep efficiency (Johanson et al 1999).…”

Cocaine Users Differ from Normals on Cognitive Tasks Which Show Poorer Performance During Drug Abstinence

“…Five NY participants followed a standardized protocol consisting of initial abstinence and a smoked cocaine ''binge'' (three days each) followed by two weeks of complete abstinence (10,11). Six CT participants self-administered intravenous cocaine early in their hospitalization followed by two weeks abstinence (''early binge'').…”

Psychostimulant addiction treatment

“…Unlike opioids (and unlike alcohol or sedatives taken daily in large doses), psychostimulants do not generally produce withdrawal of such severity as to be among the main drivers of ongoing use. In fact, there is still some disagreement about the basic phenomenology of psychostimulant withdrawal—such as whether it can be divided into discrete phases in which the symptoms get worse before they get better (Foltin & Fischman, 1997; Gawin & Kleber, 1986) or whether the symptoms decline monotonically (Coffey, Dansky, Carrigan, & Brady, 2000; Weddington et al, 1990). Most current theories of addiction that attempt to account for psychostimulant addiction emphasize the primary role of conditioned craving, which can persist long after physiological withdrawal has abated (Robinson & Berridge, 2008).…”