Meth is a highly potent illegal substance. It is highly addictive and a danger to those taking the drug as well as to their community. When someone who struggles with an addiction to meth takes the drug for an extended period of time the drug can have an affect on a person’s personality which can alter the dynamics in relationships and across the spectrum in their communities.
With long term use meth can cause violent outbursts, depression, paranoia, even psychosis in a person. The illicit substance can cause effects the user’s central nervous system, making their dopamine and serotonin receptors work differently. The devastating effects can take people by surprise if they are unaware that the addict is using meth.
Common Questions About Meth
Is My Child’s ADHD Medicine Meth?
Though ritalin and adderall are both amphetamines, meaning they share a similarity in chemical make up to meth, it is not the same drug at all. As long as your child, or whomever you know who takes these medications do so within the parameters of a physician’s instructions the medication used for ADHD should not cause a problem.
What are Signs of Someone Using Meth?
When someone uses meth they experience a suppression of their appetite. This often leads to extreme amounts of weight loss. The person struggling with the meth addiction will seem wide awake and will feel like they have endless amounts of energy. Their cardiac systems and respiratory systems work ramp up, working faster than usual. All of this leads to a higher body temperature.
What is Tweaking?
You may have heard of “tweaking”, or heard someone referred to as a “tweaker”. Tweaking is a phase that meth users go through after they have been binging the drug for a while, usually for days. Meth is a drug that hits hard and peaks early. Sometimes a user will use as often as every half an hour in order to maintain the peak effects of the drug. When a user does this over a long period of time, eventually the peak will be harder to reach. The user will furiously try to reach that peak, to get to the euphoria that meth usually offers them. This type of use can lead to a dangerous psychosis, including hallucination, near constant verbal output, days worth of sleeplessness, and severe itching all over the body.
What is a Crash Phase?
The crash phase is the phase after binging where a body can no longer keep up the use of the meth and “crashes”, causing the user to sleep for days on end sometimes.
Visible Symptoms of Meth Use?
- Scratching and picking at their skin
- Loss of appetite
- Extreme weight loss
- Facial tics, tremors
- Increased talking
- Mood Swings
- Dilated pupils
Finding Hope for Meth Addicts at Rehab in NJ Detox Centers
Even though methamphetamine addiction is such a devastating and detrimental disease, there is hope in addiction treatment. New Jersey offers many options for treatment. At Discovery Institute we offer a comprehensive approach to drug treatment, focusing on the individual challenges and needs of each patient who comes to seek treatment.
Call us today to learn more about our addiction treatment programs.
Dr. Joseph Ranieri D.O. earned his BS in Pharmacy at Temple University School of Pharmacy in 1981 and His Doctorate Degree in Osteopathic Medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1991. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine Addiction Certification. Dr. Ranieri has lectured extensively to physicians, nurses, counselors and laypeople about the Disease of Addiction throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 2012.
