Meth Kills



Methamphetamine (or Meth) is a powerful, addicting drug that stimulates the central nervous system and delivers an intense euphoria that lasts anywhere from an hour or two to 24 hours at a time.  Withdrawal from methamphetamine, though, is no easy endeavor.

What are Meth’s Withdrawal Symptoms? 

Withdrawal from methamphetamine causes long and short-term symptoms which may include:

 •Anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure)

 •Drug cravings

 •Irregular heartbeat

 •Extreme irritability

 •Depression

 •Sweating

 •Hyperventilation

 •Convulsions

 •Confusion

 •Nausea

 •Insomnia or excessive sleeping

 •Loss of energy

 •Tremors of the hands

Loss of Control:

When an addict gets to the point where he goes into treatment, it is usually because he has reached the end -- or his “bottom.”  He has nowhere else to go, and may even enter drug rehabilitation because he has been mandated there by the court system.

Why Enter Treatment?

The best way for a meth addict to withdraw from his drug is to enter drug treatment.  A medical-model facility is best because the withdrawing addict is monitored at all stages of his withdrawal.  Often a medical-model detox facility will provide a withdrawing addict with “step-down” drugs to make the withdrawal less painful.

After Detox, What Happens?

After withdrawal, the recovering meth addict should go directly to treatment, where he will learn strategies to help him cope with life as a thinking, feeling person without the use of methamphetamine to make it more tolerable.  This is the most difficult part of recovery from meth because many life skills must be re-learned, and this can be painstakingly difficult.

In rehab, the recovering addict continues to recover physically, as he learns more about the destructiveness and danger of his drug and assimilates into his life the new coping strategies he is being taught.

A Relapse Plan:

Before leaving treatment, the recovering meth addict will learn how to prevent relapse and develop a relapse plan where he contracts with his counselor to utilize his relapse plan, if he ever has a strong urge to resume using methamphetamines.

12-Step Program:

After treatment, every addict should enter a 12-step program, like Narcotics Anonymous, where he will find empathy and understanding from other recovering addicts.  Because it is one addict helping another, the 12-step support system is very effective in preventing drug relapse.  

Addiction is a Disease:

Both the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association classify addiction as a disease because it is chronic, progressive, and fatal, if not arrested.  But because of the behaviors associated with the Disease of Addiction, such as stealing and lying, along with the burden it places on families, it is difficult for an addict’s family to look at addiction as a disease.  This is understandable because they end up experiencing, sometimes, more pain than the addict.  Hence, the family of an addict needs to heal also.  Most treatment programs offer help for families of addicts.

How Do I Begin?

If you are an addict in the throes of methamphetamine withdrawal, take heart, because, as they say in Narcotics Anonymous, "This, too, shall pass."  You only have to stay off meth one day at a time.

If you are looking for help with a methamphetamine addiction, I have listed places and resources that will put you on the path of recovery.

Don’t let methamphetamine ruin your life.  Free yourself today.

Resources:

Help Finding Treatment:    http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/tx.htm

Narcotics Anonymous:  http://www.na.org/

Alcoholics Anonymous:  http://www.aa.org/?Media=PlayFlash

Al-Anon and Alateen:  (Organizations for Family Members of Addicts and Alcoholics):  http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/meetings/international.html

I'll Quit Tomorrow by Vernon E. Johnson.  Available at bookstores and on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Quit-Tomorrow-Practical-Alcoholism/dp/0062504339

** The author, Jenna Pope, is a Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor and has spent the last seven years writing about addiction and helping addicts to break free from meth and recover.