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  • Methamphetamine, or meth, is a highly addictive drug. In the United States, the most common forms of meth are powdered meth, crystal meth, and meth pills. As a central nervous system stimulant, the drug causes a surge of euphoria (intense happiness), energy, and confidence. 

    However, it also poses serious health risks, including meth addiction. Addiction is a serious disease that makes you feel unable to control your drug use. The more you understand this disease, the more you can help your loved ones who struggle with it. 

    Why Do People Start Using Meth?

    Meth can make you feel intensely happy. That’s why the drug often entices people who are experiencing stress, sadness, or mental illnesses like depression, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

    In addition, some people, especially college students and people with demanding jobs, use meth to get an energy boost. While high on meth, you feel extremely energized and may go days without sleeping. 

    Other individuals start using the drug to promote weight loss, as it suppresses appetite, or to have better sex, as it increases libido. 

    What Does A Meth High Feel Like?

    Along with euphoria, energy, and confidence, common effects of meth include:

    • sweating
    • nausea and vomiting
    • high blood pressure
    • increased heart rate
    • hyperthermia (increased body temperature), which may cause the user to faint
    • confusion
    • dry mouth
    • teeth grinding
    • severe dental problems due to dry mouth, teeth grinding, and sugar cravings (also called “meth mouth”)

    Another common side effect of meth is emotional blunting. That means users can’t experience emotions like they normally would. With fewer emotions, someone who struggles with meth abuse may fail to understand how their behavior is negatively impacting their loved ones. 

    Meth Psychosis

    Methamphetamine use can also cause psychosis. This condition makes you feel disconnected from reality. It causes symptoms such as:

    • paranoia
    • delusions (beliefs that aren’t based in reality)
    • hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that aren’t there)

    Psychosis can make you feel extremely threatened and scared. That’s why people who experience it may engage in bizarre behavior. 

    For example, many methamphetamine users hallucinate that bugs are crawling on or under their skin. They then scratch and pick at their skin excessively, leaving marks known as “meth sores” or “meth scabs.” 

    Tweaking

    Meth-induced psychosis often occurs after a meth binge (a period of time in which someone uses a large amount of meth). Alongside psychosis, they may experience twitching, fidgeting, mood swings, and anxiety. These post-binge symptoms are sometimes referred to as “tweaking.” 

    What Does Meth Addiction Feel Like?

    Methamphetamine abuse often leads to methamphetamine addiction. That’s because meth increases the amount of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) associated with pleasure. 

    With continued meth abuse, a person’s brain starts relying on meth for dopamine and produces less dopamine naturally. The person then has trouble experiencing pleasure without meth. That’s why many meth abusers lose interest in activities and relationships they once enjoyed. 

    Since addicted individuals see meth as their only source of joy, they’ll do anything they can to get the drug. They may even steal from, lie to, or manipulate people they love, without realizing the harm this behavior causes. 

    Tolerance & Withdrawal

    Addicted individuals also experience tolerance and physical dependence. Tolerance means the user needs increasingly higher doses of the drug to feel the desired effects. 

    Physical dependence means they can’t function normally without the drug. If they stop using it, they may experience withdrawal symptoms like:

    • extreme exhaustion
    • intense cravings for meth
    • psychosis 
    • anxiety 
    • depression

    How Long Do Meth Addicts Live?

    Many people suffering from meth addiction face early deaths due to meth-induced health problems such as:

    • liver, kidney, and lung damage
    • high blood pressure that causes heart attack or stroke
    • HIV/AIDS from sharing drug paraphernalia or having unprotected sex while high
    • suicidal ideation due to side effects like psychosis, anxiety, and depression
    • overdose

    Fortunately, a person who is addicted to meth can recover at a drug abuse treatment program. These inpatient and outpatient programs provide supervised medical detox, mental health counseling, support groups, and other services to help people stop meth use for good. 

    If you or someone you love struggles with meth addiction, please contact an ARK Behavioral Health specialist to learn about our substance abuse and addiction treatment centers

    Written by Ark Behavioral Health Editorial Team
    ©2024 Ark National Holdings, LLC. | All Rights Reserved.
    This page does not provide medical advice.
    Sources

    National Institute on Drug Abuse - Signs of Meth Use
    National Institute on Drug Abuse - What are the immediate (short-term) effects of methamphetamine misuse?
    National Institute on Drug Abuse - What are the long-term effects of methamphetamine misuse?
    Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Know the Risks of Meth
    U.S. National Library of Medicine - Mortality, causes of death and health status among methamphetamine users

    Medically Reviewed by
    Lauren Weinand, M.D.
    on March 15, 2022
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