Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant that impacts the central nervous system, whether it’s smoked, swallowed, snorted, or injected. Crystal methamphetamine is a specific type of meth that looks like small shiny pieces of glass or bluish-white rocks.
How Meth Affects the Body
Meth causes more brain activity, which intensifies certain functions of the central nervous system. Once meth enters the body, heart rate, body temperature, breathing, and blood pressure increases until the high fades. While high, users feel more energetic, focused, and a heightened sense of pleasure and excitement. This happens due to the dopamine in the brain increasing while under the influence of the drug. Because the high is so intense, users often want to recreate the feeling by taking more meth.
Because coming down from meth causes a severe crash mentally, physically, and emotionally, users often choose to binge the drug by doing “runs.” Users will take small amounts of meth every few hours to maintain the high and avoid withdrawal symptoms. During this process, users are able to stay awake for days without the need to eat or drink any fluids. Binging is the fastest way to develop a dependency on meth that is hard to break away from.
How Meth Affects the Brain
Since meth causes an increase in dopamine levels, the brain receives a flood of neurotransmitters that makes it difficult for users to focus on anything else, ultimately disabling their ability to function normally in life.
Because users want to maintain the euphoric state they felt from their first high, they continue taking the drug. However, repeated use builds the body’s tolerance, which means users have to increase their dose each time to experience the euphoric feelings they crave. Eventually, it becomes difficult to be happy without taking meth, which often leads to depression, anxiety, irritability, and more. Once the mind and body become dependent on meth, the way the brain functions changes and so does its chemical makeup and circuitry. Once this happens, meth can completely take over a person’s life. They will eventually stop attending work or school, which could lead to homelessness since they tend to spend all of their finances on meth.
How to Treat Addiction to Methamphetamine
The government has yet to approve any specific medication to help treat addiction to methamphetamine. As of now, users are treated with behavioral therapies, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational incentives. Users often check into a rehabilitation center or an alternative treatment center depending on several factors, such as how long they’ve been suffering from addiction and whether or not they also suffer from mental health disorders.
Alternative Treatment Centers in Tennessee
If you have a loved one suffering from substance abuse disorder, checking them into an alternative treatment center is an excellent option for long-lasting results. At Discovery Place, we offer several programs to help our clients recover from drug addiction, which include a 30-Day Alternative Residential Addiction Recovery Program and a Long-Term Alternative Addiction Recovery Program. We are located near Burns, Tennessee. If you would like more information about our services, call us today to set up a free consultation at (800) 725-0922.
