Meth Detox
Detox is the first step in meth addiction treatment. This is usually handled as a medical matter on an inpatient basis. The physical symptoms of withdrawal will gradually resolve after about a week. Because meth addiction produces such strong cravings, and because withdrawal can be difficult, medical supervision in a rehab center is necessary.

Detox will certainly result in depression and deep feelings of helplessness. A marked inability to enjoy pleasurable activities is common. Suicidal thoughts may occur along with irritability and aggression.

Therapy
As the patient progresses through detox, they are able to accept some help with their problems. Meth addiction isn’t a standalone condition. Drug use will almost certainly have ruined relationships and financial status. Counseling directed at staying off the drug is important, but a full assessment and course of therapy is best.

Therapy is usually a combination of individualized sessions and group meetings. Psychologists recognize the value of sharing meth experiences and stories about recovery. Many will incorporate a 12-step program into a larger course of treatment.

A common approach is cognitive-behavioral therapy. This attempts to teach useful life and coping skills to head off drug use. Patients are taught to view their drug use in a fuller and more realistic fashion and are educated on the physical and psychological effects of addiction.

A newer form of group therapy is called witness group. This approach invites loved ones to share their stories along with addicts and is meant to help both the addict and their significant others. In this practice, therapists ask questions to direct a group conversation, allowing the members to come to their own answers naturally. The purpose is to treat the larger social sphere instead of just the addict.

Hygiene
Serious health and appearance problems can be caused by unsterilized needles, lack or ignoring of hygiene needs (more typical on chronic use), and obsessive skin-picking, which may lead to abscesses.

Increased risk of sexually transmitted disease
Men who use methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, and ketamine are twice as likely to have unprotected sex, according to British research. American psychologist Perry N. Halkitis performed an analysis using data collected from community-based participants among gay and bisexual men to examine the associations between methamphetamine use and sexual risk taking behaviors. Methamphetamine use was found to be related to higher frequencies of unprotected sexual intercourse in both HIV-positive and unknown casual partners. The association between methamphetamine use and unprotected acts were also more pronounced in HIV-positive participants. These findings suggested that methamphetamine use and engagement in unprotected anal intercourse are co-occurring risk behaviors that potentially heighten the risk of HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men. Methamphetamine allows users to engage in prolonged sexual activity, which may cause genital sores and abrasions. Methamphetamine can also cause sores and abrasions in the mouth via bruxism (teeth clenching and grinding), which can turn typically low-risk sex acts, such as oral sex, into high-risk sexual activity. As with the injection of any drug, if a group of users share a common needle without sterilization procedures, blood-borne diseases, such as HIV or hepatitis, can be transmitted. The level of needle sharing among methamphetamine users is similar to that among other drug injection users.

Use in pregnancy and breastfeeding
Methamphetamine passes through the placenta and is secreted into breast milk. Infants born to methamphetamine-abusing mothers were found to have a significantly smaller gestational age-adjusted head circumference and birth weight measurements. Methamphetamine exposure was also associated with neonatal withdrawal symptoms of agitation, vomiting and tachypnea. This withdrawal syndrome is relatively mild and only requires medical intervention in approximately 4% of cases.

Public health issues
Short-term exposure to high concentrations of chemical vapors that may exist in methamphetamine laboratories can cause severe health problems or even result in death. Exposure to these substances can occur from volatile air emissions, spills, fires, and explosions. Methamphetamine labs are often discovered when fire fighters respond to a blaze. Methamphetamine cooks, their families, and first responders are at highest risk of acute health effects from chemical exposure, including lung damage and chemical burns to the body. Following a seizure of a methamphetamine lab, there is often a low exposure risk to chemical residues, however this contamination should be sanitized. Chemical residues and lab wastes that are left behind at a former methamphetamine lab can result in health problems for people who use the property, therefore local health departments should thoroughly assess the property for hazards prior to allowing it to be re-inhabited, especially by children.

Withdrawal symptoms of methamphetamine primarily consist of mental fatigue, mental depression and an increased appetite. Symptoms may last for days with occasional use and weeks or months with chronic use, with severity dependent on the length of time and the amount of methamphetamine used. Withdrawal symptoms may also include anxiety, agitation, akathisia, excessive sleep, vivid or lucid dreams, deep REM sleep and suicidal ideation. (via wikipedia)

Treatment for meth withdrawals usually involves in-patient detox. With a medical professional on hand to assist the addict in dealing with a detox. After detox, meth addicts should consider long-term in-patient rehab, that includes behavior therapy as well as group sessions.

Major Symptoms
These are a list of symptoms that all addicts will feel as they withdrawal from meth addiction.

Dysphoric mood
A generally ‘crappy feeling’.

Depression
A worsening of mood along with feelings of hopelessness. Ideas about suicide may arise. Depression is a hallmark of meth withdrawal and strengthens as the addict realizes the extent of their problems with the drug.

Anhedonia
An inability to feel pleasure in normal pleasurable activities. Along with depression, this shows up as unwillingness to engage with others or their own lives.

Hypersomnia
Extended periods of sleep. Although this is also associated with depression, it first arises as the body tries to recover resources depleted by meth use.

Insomnia
This may be related to depression also, but can be the result of unpleasant and vivid dreams. In some addicts, they will dream about taking the drug to relieve cravings or have paranoid-type nightmares linked to their drug experiences.

Increase in appetite and rapid weight gain.
This is something like a replacement addiction – eating can be an outlet for pent up energy.

Strong drug cravings
This may be a primary reason to detox as an inpatient. Addicts often underestimate how much their personality has changed and how powerful drug seeking behavior will be.

• Violent Mood Swings
• Nervous Energy
• Extreme Fatigue
• Irritable

Harder to spot is the occasional user who takes meth for parties or raves. This group can hide the effects along with those of alcohol withdrawal and claim a hangover. In fact, using methamphetamine this way is particularly dangerous, because users can drink large amounts of alcohol without passing out. The result is someone who is completely drunk but still awake enough to do damage to themselves or others. Sometimes, this can lead to a fatal alcohol poisoning as a user continues to drink.

Over time, meth addicts gradually lose their ability to feel pleasure in normal activities. Only more of the drug will help the condition, called anhedonia. Users will cycle through periods of ever deepening depression and an unwillingness to participate in their own lives. Job loss and ruined relationships are the common result.

• Job loss
• Unwillingness to participate in life
• Lose of ability to feel pleasure

Explosive violence and aggression may also emerge as the addict’s personality begins to change in response to chronic use of the drug. Irritability is common, as well as an inability to deal with the normal setbacks in life. They come to realize they are addicted, and this, combined with the depression that comes with meth addiction, can drive them to seek out more opportunities to use.

• Explosive Violence
• Personality Changes
• Unable to deal with normal life setbacks

The vicious cycle continues as the only good feelings the addict ever gets are from meth. Extended binges start to occur and these are followed by long and difficult recovery periods.

Methamphetamine is not expensive, but users will turn to illegal activities when they are no longer able to hold down employment and have exhausted their family’s resources. Theft, prostitution, drug dealing and other crimes are associated with meth addiction.

We understand that taking the first step is the most difficult. Our center serves local as well as national clients 365 days a year. Let us help you begin your road to recovery today by calling our toll free 24 hour helpline for a free confidential discussion with one of our caring counselors.

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Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant drug that strongly activates certain systems in the brain. Methamphetamine is closely related chemically to amphetamine, but the central nervous system effects of methamphetamine are greater. Both drugs have some medical uses, primarily in the treatment of obesity, but their therapeutic use is limited.

Street methamphetamine is referred to by many names, such as “speed,” “meth,” and “chalk.” Methamphetamine hydrochloride, clear chunky crystals resembling ice, which can be inhaled by smoking, is referred to as “ice,” “crystal,” and “glass.”

Health Hazards:

Neurological Hazards
Methamphetamine releases high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, enhancing mood and body movement. It also appears to have a neurotoxic effect, damaging brain cells that contain dopamine and serotonin, another neurotransmitter. Over time, methamphetamine appears to cause reduced levels of dopamine, which can result in symptoms like those of Parkinson’s disease, a severe movement disorder.

Addiction
Methamphetamine is taken orally or intranasally (snorting the powder), by intravenous injection, and by smoking. Immediately after smoking or intravenous injection, the methamphetamine user experiences an intense sensation, called a “rush” or “flash,” that lasts only a few minutes and is described as extremely pleasurable. Oral or intranasal use produces euphoria – a high, but not a rush. Users may become addicted quickly, and use it with increasing frequency and in increasing doses.

Short-term Effects
The central nervous system (CNS) actions that result from taking even small amounts of methamphetamine include increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, hypothermia, and euphoria. Other CNS effects include irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, convulsions, anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness. Hyperthermia and convulsions can result in death.

Long-term Effects
Methamphetamine causes increased heart rate and blood pressure and can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes. Other effects of methamphetamine include respiratory problems, irregular heartbeat, and extreme anorexia. Its use can result in cardiovascular collapse and death.

Source- National Institute on Drug Abuse

The meth rehab and recovery programs at our facilities are covered by most insurance programs. Call 1-866-925-4035. We can help.

When you’re tired of other programs that don’t give you results, its time to call our rehab center for methamphetamine (meth) addiction recovery that really works. Don’t give up hope. We’re just a call away.

Our rehab center offers a combination of both individual and group programs to help those individuals who are addicted to meth quit their addictions.

We offer:

Meth addiction treatment
Meth addiction counseling

Call our caring counselors today to get help and get control of your life again. Whether you personally have a problem with meth or have a loved one that needs help, our rehab and recovery center can help.

The meth rehab and recovery programs at our facilities are covered by most insurance programs. Call 1-866-925-4035. We can help.

via MethProject.com

If you or a loved on has an addiction to Meth, please get the help you deserve: 866-925-4035