The full impact of illicit substances, like meth, however, stems from a wider range of sources than just the substance’s chemical reactions. You’ll definitely want to consider consulting a medical professional first if you also intend to stop using other substances you’ve been mixing with meth. This is especially important for alcohol, GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), GBL (gamma butyrolactone), or benzodiazepines, as these can be dangerous to stop using on your own. When you stop using meth, though, your brain is left without enough dopamine or serotonin, causing withdrawal symptoms.
Is It Possible to Detox From Meth Without Rehab?
- When people think of “side effects” of something, they often think of the direct way that a substance or medication changes systems within your body.
- Appetite and sleep patterns usually return to normal after a few months without meth.
- Using meth is dangerous for your physical and mental health, and can lead to an overdose followed by stroke, heart attack, organ failure, and death.
- Meth addicts can often stay awake for days or weeks on end, and may crash for two to three days in between long bouts of awakeness.
- This makes it more and more difficult to simply stop taking the drug.
Some can affect your physical appearance while others can be fatal. If you use meth while you’re pregnant, you may give birth early or have a baby with a low birth weight. You may use meth to make sex more pleasurable or to lower your inhibitions.
What Does Meth Do To The Brain?
Since there are no approved medications for meth dependence, treatment during medical detox is supportive. Addiction specialists may instead use medication to provide relief of withdrawal symptoms from meth. Treatment may ease the mood symptoms and prevent short-term physical symptoms like tremors, nausea or vomiting. Crystal meth addiction differs from other substance addictions by how quickly it impacts the brain and how strongly the addiction develops for users.
- One of the most concerning psychological effects is methamphetamine-induced psychosis, characterized by delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, and extreme paranoia.
- Meth caused about 3,700 overdose deaths in 2014, and almost 4,900 overdose deaths in 2015 — a 30% increase from the previous year.
- First, those who have taken meth for longer periods of time will usually withdraw for longer.
- Meth users may see disturbing images and people who aren’t there, hear phantom sounds and voices, and smell odors that don’t exist.
- Unresolved trauma and stress are major factors that can make PTSD worse.
Now is the time to focus on your recovery.
- Methamphetamine use can eventually become so reinforced that it is involuntary.
- Meth reaches the brain quickly when smoked or injected and gives an intense and rapid high.
- In the past, middle-aged white people used this cheap drug most often.
- Common signs of meth addiction are organ failure — particularly of the liver, kidney, lungs, brain, and heart.
- This is a common method of meth use, as it delivers a quick and intense high.
While scarring won’t go away entirely, proper care of the site can help lessen the severity of the appearance. One of the most effective methods meth addiction is through regular hydration through unscented lotions. While these symptoms primarily affect the individual’s mind, they can lead to them hurting themselves and others during their moments of disconnect from reality. All of these factors compound into the way that meth impacts someone. Now that you have a better understanding of the different sources of “side effects” of meth use, let’s take a closer look at how these differ.
- Usually, people who use crystal meth smoke it with a small glass pipe, but they may also swallow it, snort it, or inject it into a vein.
- While medications can help with symptoms, they are usually most effective when combined with therapy.
- Methamphetamine has been referred to as the most dangerous drug in the world, and the abuse of meth still continues to climb at an alarming rate.
- The goal of treatment is to help you lead a healthy life without using meth.
- Addiction causes changes to the brain that make it difficult for a person to quit using meth.
Legal troubles are also common as meth use can lead to criminal activity like theft, assault, and drug trafficking. Researched, fact-checked and transparent articles and guides that offer addiction and mental health insight from experts and treatment professionals. In this stage, a person’s cravings fade, and symptoms start improving.
Physical Signs of Meth Abuse
Snorting meth takes slightly to give a high but still leads to addiction. Swallowing or ingesting meth in pill form has the slowest effect but leads to a strong dependency. Methamphetamine use disorder is one of the most challenging addictions to treat because of its intense neurological effects. Meth hijacks the brain’s reward system as it floods the brain with dopamine, creating a cycle of craving and use that quickly leads to dependency. Snorting meth can damage the nasal cavity and lead to chronic nosebleeds, in addition to many of the same health risks as other methods of use. This is a common method of meth use, as it delivers a quick and intense high.