Watching a friend on a downward spiral of drug abuse can be harrowing. You may know that they are on drugs but cannot tell if they are abusing methamphetamines as you suspect. This is common, but each drug, as well as meth, has its own telltale signs. So you need to know the signs of meth use to help your friend.
Crystal meth is destructive in many ways. It is not just damaging to the person abusing it, who could very well die from their addiction. More than that, meth affects entire families and communities.
Where meth exists, crime rates skyrocket. There are major increases in burglaries of pharmacies and theft of all sorts. To make matters worse for the community, those who produce meth “hide in plain sight,” brewing public health crises as they create meth in their hidden home labs. Communities are heavily damaged by meth, just as your friend may be suffering damage right before your eyes.
Meth was once a problem confined to pockets of activity within the United States. But now, meth addiction is everywhere. People from all walks of life abuse meth and suffer the ravages of this dangerous drug.
According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, almost 900,000 people in the U.S. admit to being current users of meth. Although you want to believe your friend has not been abusing this particular drug, you may well already know the truth. The numbers don’t lie and meth has now infiltrated all communities in the country.
Signs of Meth Use
There are well-known tell-tale signs of meth use that you can use to identify your friend’s drug problem. These signs are so extreme in many cases that people using meth become unrecognizable. In fact, there are entire photo galleries on the web dedicated to showing the changes in meth users’ appearance from before their drug use to the present day.
Signs of meth use that you should look for include:
- Extreme weight loss
- Dilated pupils
- Decaying teeth and disregard for oral hygiene
- Obsessive behaviors
- Borderline psychotic behaviors
- Hyperactivity
- Erratic sleep patterns
- Major fluctuations in energy levels
- Unkempt appearance
- Poor personal hygiene
- Scabbed areas from “picking” at the skin.
There are few drugs as physically damaging as crystal meth. This particular drug wreaks havoc on users’ mental and physical health. There are complications that are not just suffered by long-term users, but that affect people even after their first few doses.
Using meth destroys lives while also causing major deterioration of an individual’s outward appearance. Sadly, as meth shows itself to be destroying physical attributes, it is actually doing far more sinister damage. That permanent damage is to the brain. People who abuse meth suffer long-term brain damage and major changes in their personalities.
The United Nations World Drug Report has been clear about the problems of meth. In 2006, this organization called methamphetamine the most abused drug on Earth. They published claims of 26 million meth addicts in the world at that time. Unfortunately, this number has likely increased dramatically throughout the world, just as U.S. meth users are on the rise.
How Meth Use Affects the Brain
Methamphetamine is not a drug to which anyone wants to become addicted. But once it has been tried for the first time, meth users want the drug’s instant feelings of pleasure and prolonged euphoric state so much that they disregard risks. Signs of meth use include boosted energy, a sense of confidence, sexual desirability and focus. The reality is not like these feelings, in that users suffer terrible degradation of their appearance.
Crystal meth is like other drugs, in that it causes a surge of dopamine to be released in the brain. Dopamine is the brain chemical that makes us feel pleasure. But meth causes so much dopamine to be released for so long that it is unparalleled in its high. People using the drug can feel a pleasurable high for as much as twelve hours.
Also like other commonly abused drugs, tolerance to meth builds quickly. Each use results in less of a high that the user seeks. In order to recreate their first high with meth, users start increasing their dose.
When effects wear off, they only want more of the drug to take them back to their artificial bliss. Even worse, the effects of meth on the brain cause an extreme crash of severe depression which could be a co-occurring mental health diagnosis.
When Meth Is Used for Long Periods of Time
As meth is abused for long periods of time, the drug changes user brain chemistry. It destroys critical pathways in the brain’s pleasure center, causing great difficulty in finding pleasure in any aspect of life. Research shows that people with a history of meth abuse can improve over time after they are clean. But the brain never fully rebounds and many capabilities of this vital organ are lost forever.
Along with lost feelings of pleasure and the difficulty former users have with depression comes other signs of meth use. Cognitive ability is damaged, causing problems with thinking. Former meth users suffer a loss of memory, motor skills, and judgment that are never fully regained.
Hyperactivity, obsessive behaviors, and violent aggression are other meth addiction symptoms. As a stimulant, the drug causes the brain to create bursts of adrenaline, leading to anxiety problems and hyper-focused attention. Commonly referred to as “tweaking,” these meth addiction symptoms are grouped with additional problems from meth. Those include extreme paranoia, psychosis, aggression, delusional behavior, hallucinations, and other frightening mental problems.
Seeing Meth Addiction Symptoms? Your Friend Needs Help.
If you are seeing the signs of meth use in your friend, you should try to help them before it is too late. Meth is a dangerous drug and abuse will not end on its own, particularly if your friend is in denial about having a methamphetamine addiction.
Important to note when trying to get your friend into drug rehab in TX is the reality that drug abuse does not just begin without reason. There is likely a foundation of pain or trauma that your friend has suffered. People who go through trauma often self-medicate when they do not know how to help themselves.
Do not hold this against your friend. Instead, be compassionate and help them get the healing they need. That necessary healing should be a “whole person” approach to wellness. Drug abuse is not the only problem in your friend’s life and a truly whole person treatment model will help them get back on track.
Healing Springs, A Leader in Addiction Treatment
Healing Springs Ranch in Tioga, Texas uses a whole person approach to help patients addicted to meth get back to healthy living. In fact, this approach can help your friend be even healthier in all ways than they were before picking up their first dose of meth.
Healing Springs Ranch is a relaxing environment in a peaceful, natural setting. There, patients are treated using therapies and methods that encompass all pillars of physical, emotional and chemical well-being. Healing Springs Ranch uses a holistic approach combined with chemical studies, lifestyle training, healthy nutrition and components of 12-step programs.
To help your friend start healing from meth addiction, call Healing Springs Ranch now at 866-656-8384. You now know the meth addiction symptoms that your friend shows. It may be up to you to be the friend they need, to help them turn their life back around by suggesting they check out our therapies for recovery.