http://www.addict-help.com/crack-addiction.aspOther complications associated with crack cocaine use include disturbances in heart rhythm and heart attacks, chest pain and respiratory failure, strokes, seizures and headaches, and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Because crack cocaine has a tendency to decrease appetite, many chronic users can become malnourished. Different means of taking cocaine can produce different adverse effects. Regularly smoking of crack cocaine, for example, can lead to hoarseness, chronic coughing and lung cancer. Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene due to reduced blood flow.
Regardless of how cocaine is used or how frequently, a user can experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which could result in sudden death. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizure followed by respiratory arrest. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimated the number of current crack users to be over 1,000,000 in 2005.