What is “Meth”?
Methamphetamine, or meth, is one of the most dangerous drugs out there. Meth is extremely addictive and can corner a user into addition quite quickly.
It’s also relatively cheaper than other street drugs due to the ease of making it. Makeshift meth labs can use a slew of household, over-the-counter ingredients to create the odorless, bitter, white crystalline powder.
Meth masquerades under the street names of speed, ice, glass, crank and chalk and can be taken using a number of methods.
It can be smoked, injected, snorted or ingested. Not only do users quickly need greater quantities of meth to achieve the same high they did during their earlier uses, but they also need more meth just to combat the agonizing withdrawal symptoms.
Signs of Meth Use
Meth produces an extremely pleasurable feeling, although the rush takes different amounts of time to surface based on the method of taking the drugs. Users who smoke or inject meth feel the pleasure as an immediate rush, although the effects wear off just as quickly.
Snorting or orally ingesting meth produces a pleasurable feeling without the rush, with snorting taking about five minutes for the drug to produce the symptoms and ingestion taking up to 20 minutes for the high to hit. The effects of meth are also long lasting compared to other stimulants such as crack or cocaine. A meth high can last up to 12 hours.
In addition to exhibiting euphoria, users can show increased energy levels and engage in intense physical activity. They may have no desire to eat nor sleep and may experience confusion.
Other signs of meth use include a rapid or irregular heart rate, elevated blood pressure, rapid breathing and heat stroke. More severe symptoms include confusion and problems with physical movement. They may start to function as if in slow motion or experience muscle tremors and rigidness.
Signs of meth around the house may be paraphernalia used for taking the drug. Smoking vessels may consist of small pipes with small bowls attached, tin foil shaped into a bowl or spoons heated from underneath. Needles for injecting the drug are also a possibility.
The Downward Spiral
Once users become hooked on meth, they start to experience withdrawal symptoms if they are unable to keep up their high. These include severe depression, anxiety and fatigue. The depression can be especially pronounced because meth destroys the dopamine receptors in the brain, leaving the user unable to express pleasure unless the drug is present.
Keeping up the high with repeated meth use opens the door to host of new side effects and risks.
Long-term meth users can suffer drastic weight loss or anorexia, loss of memory and impaired thinking, reasoning and learning. They may become aggressive, irritable and afflicted with bouts of paranoia and emotional problems.
Users may lose interest in activities they used to enjoy and exhibit other changes in personality. “Meth mouth” is a common side effect, a condition marked by severe dental issues. Meth mouth can include advanced tooth decay, discoloration, and teeth that turn black, crumble and rot right out of the mouth.
Other Side Effects
Other side effects of meth use include an increased libido as well as an increase in risky behaviors, particularly unsafe sex. Meth use also speeds up the progression of HIV for users who are HIV-positive. Hallucinations and delusions can come with extended use, both of which may last for years long after meth use has stopped. If meth use does not stop, its continued abuse can ultimately result in convulsions, heart attack or death.
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I’m a mother who is desperate to find help for my daughter and protect my grandson who is five.the law makes it so hard to help!!!!this drug is a family destroyer!I don’t know what to do!
Ronda… I hope you report it.
Nevermind… Read it wrong. Not sure what she means by the law makes it hard, though.
You are so right about this drug being a family destroyer. Yes, courts want children with their parents at all cost. I feel you as I am in the same boat only my grandson is 13 but has no language to tell what goes on in his home. He is also a diabetic and needs routine and good eating but she doesn’t cook. So frustrating.
I need some help. I have a fiance who has done meth in the past and I don’t know anything about what happens when a person is on meth. I know that he usually would smoke it and had also shot up with it a few times when he couldn’t get the high he wanted from smoking it. I’m really worried about it because I am 8 months pregnant and I’m being told by his family he’s showing signs of meth use again. He was clean for 2 years before I started dating him (he should be clean for 3 years now). I need to know how I can tell if he is actually doing meth again.
Tell your husband that a couple of your friends smoke it and they say it’s an incredible high. Then tell him you’re really interested and want to try it with him. If you’re convincing, he might show you his stash and admit to smoking a little bit from time-to-time.
I dated a girl that I had every intention of marrying but due to her hiding a meth problem from me I lost everything including a good chunk of my sanity. I have never seen a drug change the mindset of a person so much. The depth and amount of the lies she told was amazing. Still to this day she will not admit to me what she did or that she is on the drug. I beat myself up trying to help her snd make her confess so she could start getting clean. Her and her family say I don’t know what I am talking about and that I am a liar. I HATE this drug!!!
My sanity is on it’s way out as well.
I fell in love. We moved in together. Her quirky behavior, which I loved, got more and more .. strange. It also got aggressive and sometimes pretty abusive. I had no idea wtf was going on until I found the locked box after a few months. Until then I thought I was a shitty boyfriend and just was blaming myself.
She was really good at hiding her drug habit and beating me down was part of that.
I immediately moved out. She got clean and to my knowledge stayed clean. Her skin cleared up, she gained a bunch of weight, etc. Months went by, and I moved back in, completely expecting (again) to marry this girl.
She’s been both aggressive and illogical for the last three days. Her sleep patterns are all over the place. Tonight she fell asleep at 7:00PM. I later went and got soup from the local store as I’ve got a cold and came home to a complete spitting rage around 9:00PM as she was hungry and I was thoughtless and didn’t wake her. Then she was asleep again by 9:30. She was just vicious. She tore into my “shit job” (I make 5x her income!) and the like. Two nights ago she kicked my laptop off the bed and literally said, “I hope it’s broken!” before falling asleep. I bet you anything if I would have woken her to ask if she wanted anything tonight, then that would have been the issue.
The part that’s got me completely confused… is the sleep. When she was using before, she didn’t sleep. In fact, I’d sleep just to get away from her. She’s asleep right now in fact.
I haven’t seen any drugs. However, the aggression and paranoia are there. She’s accused me of talking trash about her around the neighborhood, etc. Nonsensical gibberish.
I’ve been trying to pretend that she’s got PMS or something. I need to stop that.
It’s a shame, as she’s really otherwise wonderful. I really pictured marrying her. She’s beautiful, kind, funny, and warm. She’s just not choosing me. She’s choosing poison. Such a shame.
You can’t change people, you can’t save people & when a drug user refuses to admit their addiction or get help there is NOTHING YOU can do.
The first thing I learned in Alanon, they have support groups for the significant others of drug abusers too, was that it is THEIR LIFE to enjoy or destroy. All the hope, love, prayers, tears fights, ect., will NOT change them or stop them.
Do yourself a HUGE favor, get some help for YOU. I did & I moved on, it was a good call for me.
Method alters the brain chemistry permanently unless the use of medication to balance it out. She will still be aggressive and maybe paranoid and even have low self-esteem for years after stopping the drug.
Meth ^
she is asleep because she doesn’t have any dope!!!
I feel for you buddy…Been there…It was hell…
My husband and I have been married for 12 years and here recently I have grown to realize that he has a severe meth problem. We have a 13 year old a 10 year old and a 8 month old daughter. My suspensions began when he was gone all hours of the night, he would tell me he was working but yet never had any money coming in. When he was home it was only for brief moments and he would then take off. I would come home from work to find my house a wreck with things he had taken apart all over the house and my kids would tell me he would tell them to stay in their rooms all day. When he could go find his drugs cause I would have the car and then he would sleep all day. I would make comments about the baby being dirty and not getting a bath. Not feeding the baby and the baby screaming over the phone anytime I would call. I got beaten up pretty bad and he got arrested and now he has been in jail for 3 weeks and he keeps calling trying to get me to drop the charges and take him back telling he’s sorry it will never happen again. But I ask if he is on meth he denies it and get extremely mad and I know he does because I have things all over my house and car every since he was arrested. How do I convince him that he has a problem before it is too late? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
As with all our request for help, I cannot offer advice or counseling through our website comment system. Please, call one of our qualified counselors at the numbers on this site and speak with someone who can really help. Call them right now.
Anyone convicted of selling any drug to a minor should be put to death. It works in Malaysia.
They call it DADA means death.
They give no leeway what so ever. We say zero tolerance. I say yes!
A couple Australian boys found out the hard way.
The Queen of England attempted to intervene saying they had on idea what the law was.
Also the drugs were found in the luggage of both.
One did not know the other had stashed half the junk on him.
The guilty party admitted he did it and begged the court’s for his friends life.
They both were hanged!
That’s a little harsh but they have a very small problem with the junk versus in previous history.
I’m for death to any dealer selling to minors.
Also I would say same for anyone dealing at any level who has been caught the third time selling or dealing at any level.
I also would call for public executions of dealers and require both previously convicted one or two time losers to attend all executions. Also all users who have convicted to attend executions.
It’s simple. Get rid of the dealers and you will be rid of the problem.
Well PETE I will say only being 19 years old I’ve been through a lot! All my life my mother has been on pills like lore tabs. I’ve never found a good use for them but I wanted a good high. So I went to meth. I am an ex-meth addict and very happy that I quit. I had my own house and was going to school and when I got hooked I lost everything but my car and my dog. I bought from older people and then I started selling. I quit without rehab and after 2 months of being clean I got pregnant. That’s why I never went back to it because I didn’t want to hurt my child. The older people that sold to me back then are actually clean themselves now. They have children and I don’t believe they should be put to death because even tho they sold to a minor they went to rehab and cleaned up and got real jobs and quit selling to minors. I think all people should be given a second chance no matter what they do. Death and violence is not the answer to ANYTHING and honestly your just a fucking ass for saying it is the answer. Those countries that do put people to death for that kind of stuff you need to also consider the corruption and other problems that they have. Why do you think the US doesn’t have all those problems and corruption? Because we don’t believe in that! It is very rare that we ever put anyone to death for anything. Now someone that rapes children or is a serial killer I can understand but when your on meth AND you sell it, you don’t think straight because your brain is so scattered!! Plus all these minors that want to get their fix, they do anything to get it even if it means lying about their age. They don’t know those young kids are just kids! Because I had to lie about my age because they did not want to sell anything to a minor. They weren’t THAT stupid. So before you post anything online to a public website, you really need to think about what your going to say before you say it and approach it in a very careful manner because people can be very sensitive about it like I am. Especially since I am an x-addict.
Hello i need some help my husband was telling me his using meth for almst a year.but he told me his not addicted he use only 2 yo 3 times aweek.and hes not heavy user.now he promise me he wont doit again and if ever e will let me know first.i believe on him and there our one time he ask me if he can. I said no and try not to use meth for a week and he pass the one week.but i got a feelinv that he still using it without lettingme know.and now sometimes i feel nervouse bcoz i feel sometimes his paranoid.what am i going yo do. I want to help him but i dont know where do i have to start.
I believe my ex husband is back on meth, he hasnt worked since January, I asked him for a UA in Feb but havent gotten results yet. When I last saw him, He lost all weight in his face, and he had meth bugs on his face, I am wondering if he is on meth or not. by facial pictures he lost a lot of weight. Any suggestions