Methamphetamine (N-methyl-1-phenyl propane-2-amine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is available as a white powder or a pill. The methamphetamine sold on the street appears as fragments of glass or as shiny blue-white rocks.
Methamphetamine is used medicinally in the treatment of narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. On the street, the drug goes by the names crystal meth, meth, crank, ice, chalk, crystal, and speed.
Because the drug does have some medical uses, it is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Abuse of the drug is primarily limited to privately manufactured crystal meth. For the most part, it does not involve pharmaceutical-grade methamphetamine that is used for medical purposes.
Meth Abuse
Since meth is a prescription and illicit substance, abuse is considered any meth use that isn’t prescribed by a doctor. It also involves using meth to achieve a euphoric high, using it in high doses, and taking several doses in a row.
Crystal meth is typically abused in several ways:
- Orally
- Snorting it
- Smoking it
- Injecting it
Meth is a very potent stimulant, but the euphoric effects are very short-lived. People who abuse the drug often take it in the binging fashion (often referred to as a “bump” or a “run”). When they don’t have any more of the drug, they go through a physical and emotional comedown, or crash, associated with the drug being metabolized and leaving their system. This cycle is often referred to as a binge-and-crash pattern.
Meth is processed more slowly than many other amphetamines and stimulants like cocaine. The crash can be lengthy for chronic abusers, and binging episodes can last for several days or longer.
What Is Meth and How Does it Work?
The central nervous system (CNS) is highly stimulated by methamphetamine, a potent, highly addictive stimulant. Meth is sometimes used as a prescription drug to treat narcolepsy and obesity, though its use as a prescription in the United States isn’t common. Meth is most commonly used as an illicit, recreational substance. Meth is often sold as a fine powder or in rock crystal form. Meth is closely related to amphetamines, which are commonly used as prescription medications today.
The effects of amphetamine are similar to those of methamphetamine. They produce euphoria and a decreased need to eat. Meth is able to reach your brain at higher doses than amphetamines can, even at comparable doses.
As a Schedule II stimulant, meth is legally available with a non-refillable prescription from a medical professional. It also means that meth is considered a controlled substance with a high potential for misuse.
As a central nervous system stimulant, meth primarily works with a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine is your brain’s main motivating chemical. It’s responsible for reward, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. It works with your reward system to encourage you to repeat important survival tasks like eating nutritious food.
Meth blocks the removal of dopamine from your system by stopping reuptake, a natural process by which excessive dopamine is taken out of the synapse and reabsorbed by the nerve cell that it came from. This causes a build up of dopamine, allowing more of it to bind with dopamine receptors. Unlike other stimulants, including cocaine, meth also increases dopamine release, making its effects even more powerful.
In medicinal doses, the drug can increase attention, reduce activity, and promote wakefulness. When abused in larger amounts, individuals are more likely to have feelings of euphoria, problems with judgment, issues with attention, and other significant problems, including potential psychosis.
What Are Some Signs of Meth Use?
Since meth is a prescription and illicit substance, abuse is considered any meth use that isn’t prescribed by a doctor. It also involves using meth to achieve a euphoric high, using it in high doses, and taking several doses in a row.
The overall general signs that someone is on a stimulant like meth include:
- Increased physical activity and, in some cases, hyperactivity
- Increased talkativeness and pressured speech
- Extreme elation
- An inability to relax
- Decreased appetite
- Inability to maintain attention
- Appearing overheated and sweating
- Increased breathing rate and heart rate
- Dilated pupils
People may also be distracted easily and suspicious of others. Some individuals tend to isolate themselves and don’t wish to interact with others.
Chronic Abusers
Chronic meth abusers typically will display characteristic signs that they are abusing the drug. These include:
- Skin sores that often lead to the person scratching or picking at these sores
- Having a constant runny nose or nosebleeds, most likely from snorting the drug
- Track marks from injecting the drug
- Rapidly decreasing dentition, including rotting teeth and teeth falling out
- Extremely bad breath
- Burns on the lips around the nose from smoking the drug
- Burns on the hands
- Significant loss of weight and a gaunt appearance
- Dark circles under the eyes
- A grayish appearance of the skin
- Dried and cracked skin
- Mood swings that range from extreme sociability to periods of isolation
- Periodic outbursts or aggressive behaviors
- Alternating periods where the person does not seem to need sleep for extended periods followed by periods where they are extremely lethargic and sleepy
- Nervous tics, jerky movements, or exaggerated movements
- A lack of attention to personal hygiene
- Significant impulsivity
- Psychotic behaviors, including hallucinations or paranoid delusions
What Is Tweaking?
Tweaking is a term often used for meth withdrawal and cravings. “Tweaker” is a common pejorative term for someone who appears to be under the influence of potent drugs. Meth withdrawal can come with exhaustion and simultaneous drug cravings. In many cases, meth withdrawal can make an individual desperate to find and use the drug again, if only to ease withdrawal symptoms. Tweaking occurs at the end of a drug binge when meth users are not getting the euphoric effects they seek. They begin to become apathetic, depressed, and express cravings for the drug. They may also display psychosis that can include paranoid delusions, meth bugs (the sensation that bugs are crawling all over the skin), other hallucinations, and extreme difficulty sleeping.
The crash phase occurs when the effects of the drugs have worn off, and the person suffers a significant depletion of neurotransmitters. During the crash period, the person will often become lethargic, may sleep for several days or longer, and be very irritable and depressed.
Many individuals will be motivated to seek out more meth during the crash period. They may express significant cravings for the drug.
How to Tell If Someone Is Tweaking?
Tweaking is one of the more significant signs of meth use. Tweaking can be caused by a meth comedown or meth withdrawal. A comedown indicates recent meth use or recovery from a meth binge. Withdrawal indicated chemical dependence on meth, which can mean a longer period of meth use in which the body has adapted to the drug’s presence.
A meth comedown can cause depression, fatigue, anxiety, hypersomnia, paranoia, restlessness, and other uncomfortable symptoms. Withdrawal can cause similar symptoms, but they are often more severe. Meth withdrawal symptoms can include severe depression, sleep problems, and powerful drug cravings. Meth sometimes floods the brain with so much dopamine that it damages dopamine receptors. That can make it more difficult to achieve pleasure sensations, especially from natural sources that aren’t meth. That can deepen your meth dependence, but it can also cause something called anhedonia, which is the inability to feel pleasure. Anhedonia can cause deep depression and even suicidal thoughts or actions.
Tolerance
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, (NIDA), a sign that a person is chronically using any drug is the development of tolerance. Tolerance for the effects of meth occurs very rapidly. Regular users find they need increasing amounts of the drug to get the types of effects they seek.
Very often, tolerance to meth leads to a decrease in overall feelings of euphoria, well-being, invulnerability, and other effects of the drug. Typically, users become more psychotic, irrational, and impulsive when they use.
Over time, changes in the central nervous system due to chronic abuse result in difficulty experiencing satisfaction and pleasure from events other than drug use. When significant tolerance to meth has developed, many individuals continue to use the drug to avoid the apathy, lack of motivation, and staleness they feel when they are not using it.
Loss of Control
Chronic abusers of meth begin to demonstrate problems controlling their use of the drug very early in their cycle of addiction. These individuals begin to spend more time trying to get meth, using meth, and recovering from the effects of use.
They begin to sacrifice activities that were once important to them to continue to use meth and even begin to ignore important personal obligations to engage in drug abuse. Very often, these individuals will begin to use the drug in situations where it is dangerous to do so, such as before driving a car or while caring for children. They may realize they are jeopardizing their health due to their drug use, but they continue to use the drug despite this.
In some individuals, this loss of control may be represented by selling items to buy drugs, engaging in criminal activities, or participating in other types of risky behaviors to get meth.
Meth Withdrawal
Chronic abusers of meth will develop some level of physical or psychological dependence on the drug. Depending on how long they have been using the drug and the amount of drug they typically use, these symptoms can be severe.
According to the APA, the symptoms of meth withdrawal typically include:
- Severe fatigue and lethargy
- An increased need for sleep, though some individuals may display insomnia
- Mood swings, particularly issues with irritability, anxiety, depression, and apathy
- Increased appetite and weight gain
- Very vivid and/or unpleasant dreams
- Intense cravings to use meth or bingeing on other drugs to offset the feelings of withdrawal
- Psychosis or other severe mental health issues
Usually, withdrawal symptoms from meth are not considered dangerous. However, individuals may become emotionally distraught, irrational, and even aggressive. This can lead to them harming themselves or others.
Avoiding The Negative Symptoms Of Meth Use
The adverse symptoms of meth abuse are best avoided by not using the drug at all. Individuals who regularly use meth will experience some level of bingeing and crashing, and they will experience unpleasant effects.
Meth Abuse
Crystal meth is typically abused in several ways:
- Orally
- Snorting it
- Smoking it
- Injecting it
Meth is a very potent stimulant, but the euphoric effects are very short-lived. People who abuse the drug often take it in the bingeing fashion (often referred to as a “bump” or a “run”). When they don’t have any more of the drug, they go through a physical and emotional comedown, or crash, associated with the drug being metabolized and leaving their system. This cycle is often referred to as a binge-and-crash pattern.
Meth is processed more slowly than many other amphetamines and stimulants like cocaine. The crash can be lengthy for chronic abusers, and bingeing episodes can last for several days or longer.
How Does Meth Work?
Methamphetamine use results in the release of several different neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Their release leads to significant euphoria, the rush of energy, feelings of invulnerability, decreased appetite, and the reduced need for sleep that the drug produces.
In medicinal doses, the drug can increase attention, reduce activity, and promote wakefulness. When abused in larger amounts, individuals are more likely to have feelings of euphoria, problems with judgment, issues with attention, and other significant problems, including potential psychosis.
