Meth, or methamphetamine, is a highly addictive, artificial stimulant. It is a type of amphetamine but is created to be stronger. It will affect the person’s central nervous system and make all their senses alert, and they will remain awake while on it. The CNS gets overloaded when a person uses meth. As a result, their thoughts, memory, overall focus, and physical aspects like breathing, body temperature, movement, and balance are all affected poorly when under the influence. Meth is famous for causing mental health illness because of the way it disrupts the normal function of the brain and other organs. Meth can be smoked, snorted, swallowed, or injected. Meth is a highly addictive drug that requires long-term treatment to stop using it. Among people aged 12 or older in 2020, 153,000 people used meth for the first time in the past year. (SAMHSA)
How To Identify Someone Using Meth?
When someone is using meth, they will remain awake for many days in a row. As a result, their behaviors will seem hyper, and they will be engaging in compulsive projects or interests that they never had an affinity for in the past. Meth addiction will also cause severe paranoia, and people on it often believe the police are watching them. Another common trait for meth users is staying inside the home for extended periods. They may also block or cover up windows. The other signs of meth use include:
- Drastic weight loss
- Dehydration
- Panic attacks
- Hallucinations
- High blood pressure
- Manic Depression
- Psychosis
- Cavities, rotting teeth (meth mouth)
- Skin rashes, acne, swelling, and redness
When Does Meth Wear Off?
The effects of meth last for six to 12 hours. The effects of meth will also be more powerful if the person smokes it or injects it. Even though snorting or swallowing meth also has lasting effects, inhaling or shooting meth up goes to the brain and CNS faster and more intensity. This means the route of use is relevant to how long the ‘high’ will last. It is also important to understand that meth addicts will continue to snort, smoke, or inject meth and stop with just one hit, line, or shot. If a person only uses it once, they will eventually ‘come down.’ But since meth is very addictive, it is unlikely to find a meth addict who only uses it occasionally- but possible. For oral administration, peak methamphetamine effects are seen in 2-4 hours; snorting, smoking, and injecting peak effects occur within minutes. (NIH)
Does Meth Damage Health?
Meth is one of the most toxic drugs that exist. Not only is it illegally made, but the drug cartels who create meth don’t care what type of chemicals they add to the batch. The National Institutes of Health write what meth can do to the human body.
Acute and long-term methamphetamine use may lead to Hypertension, Intracranial hemorrhage, Seizures, Ischemic stroke, Coma, Hyperthermia, Heart failure, Arrhythmias. Methamphetamine has also been associated with the formation of ulcers and ischemic colitis. Other findings include delusions of parasitosis, and chronic skin-picking may result in neurotic excoriations. Injectors frequently present with abscesses and cellulitis. Dental examination usually reveals severe caries, especially of the maxillary teeth termed “meth mouth. (NIH)
Start Your Drug Addiction Treatment at Riverwalk Recovery Center
Since meth use causes many mental illnesses, anyone addicted to meth must receive in-depth behavioral therapy and emotional support from an experienced meth addiction therapist. The delusions that meth addicts experience seem very real to them, and they must be treated with compassion and understanding. Behavioral therapies such as dialectical behavioral therapy and trauma-based counseling can help them become stable. In addition, Riverwalk Recovery provides expert psychiatric evaluations and mental health assessments in our meth addiction rehab programs. Call now for a same-day discussion about our evidence-based rehab programs for meth addiction. We have the expertise and the experience to help meth addicts get clean and remain clean.