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Drug Effects

Drugs cause changes in your body

Drugs affect many parts of your body. Many drugs affect the brain. The brain is the control center of your body. Drugs which are not considered medicines, such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol, will also change the way the body works.

These changes occur only while the drug is working in your body. Once you stop taking the drug, and after the effect wears off, your body returns to normal.

The changes that occur depend upon:

1. The drug
   dose
   type
   other drugs being taken
   speed of action
   


2. The person's
   experience - e.g., how often you drink alcohol and how fast you drink
   mood - how you feel
   health
   speed of action
   whether you are male or female
   size
   


3. The setting
   place
   time
   company
   food - how much you’ve eaten
   


4. You can control
   the kind of drug you take
   how much of the drug you take
   when you take the drug
   how often you take the drug
   

Once you have taken a drug, you cannot control its effects. It will continue to work in your body until the body breaks it down and removes it. For example, if you take a drug that makes you dizzy, you will continue to feel dizzy until the drug wears off.

Medicines cause changes in your body or body organs that help you fight disease and feel healthy again.

Medicines make the body work differently. Sometimes they make you sleepy or make a pain go away. Medicines that help to reduce pain are called anesthetics and are used during operations. They make the person unaware of the pain caused by the surgery.

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