22 Things Meth Addicts Won’t Tell You About their Addiction

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22 Things Meth Addicts Won’t Tell You About their Addiction

Methamphetamine is a terrible drug, and the effects it has on people are very strong. Once addicted, it becomes normal for a person to lie about or minimize their drug use and its effects.

  

1. Many meth addicts suffer from skin issues and infections. Acne is common in chronic abusers of meth, and many individuals who abuse the drug regularly will get painful-looking sores all over their body and face. This can often occur because the individual is picking at their skin, a sign that they are experiencing a meth-induced hallucination called crank bugs.
2. According to CESAR, “Methamphetamine abuse can cause insomnia, anxiety, and violent or psychotic behavior. If this type of behavior is not typical for that person, he or she may have a drug problem.” Meth addicts will often not want to discuss the reason for this type of behavior.
3. Many people understand that “severe dental problems (‘meth mouth’)” are a sign of the abuse of the drug, but most do not realize why (NIDA). For the most part, meth mouth occurs as a result of severe jaw clenching when the individual is high. This can actually cause teeth to crack and decay.
4. There is a high correlation of meth abusers who are also HIV positive (from unsafe sex or sharing needles). According to the NIDA, “Methamphetamine use may actually worsen the progression of HIV/AIDS and its consequences,” as “HIV causes more injury to neurons and greater cognitive impairment in individuals who are HIV-positive and use methamphetamine.”
5. Many meth addicts like the way they feel on meth. The drug has extreme effects, and a large number of individuals who abuse it have become tolerant in the past to less intense drugs. However, a meth high can turn on an individual very quickly, from euphoria to irritability, paranoia, and even aggression and violence.
6. Seizures are possible when a person has been abusing a large amount of the drug. These seizures can actually be very dangerous and be a part of the sudden death syndrome that meth sometimes causes.
   
   

   Meth users often lie about how often they use the drug and what it does to them.
7. As stated by CESAR, someone who has been on meth for a prolonged amount of time (usually 3-15 days) is called a tweaker.In this state, a meth addict is very volatile and possibly dangerous. However, “a tweaker can appear normal.” They will often be well-spoken and clear eyed. This can make them harder to identify.
8. There are ways to tell if someone is tweaking though. Eyes that move extremely fast and a slight quiver to the voice are noticeable if you pay attention. A tweaker will also move very quickly and jerkily which might become more obvious and frantic the longer they abuse the drug.
9. Meth can cause homicidal and suicidal tendencies in chronic abusers, which is why there are so many crimes associated with meth abuse. Someone who is addicted to the drug will likely try to hide these issues because they do not want to stop abusing the drug.
10. Dry mouth is one of the most common symptoms of meth intoxication. Someone who does not want you to know that they are abusing meth will likely carry a water bottle or chew gum to try to offset this.
11. Meth abuse can cause extreme weight loss to the point of malnutrition and its consequences. If someone you know has suddenly dropped an extreme amount of weight and seems unhealthy, it may be a sign of meth addiction.
12. According to the NCSACW, meth addicts, as compared to cocaine addicts, are “less likely to use alcohol” in addition to meth but also “have a higher frequency of use.” They are often younger when they start out as well and “are more likely to be female and Caucasian.”
13. Smoking crystal meth and dissolving the drug in water and injecting it are two of the most common ways the drug is abused. According to the NIDA, “Smoking or injecting the drug delivers it very quickly to the brain,” making a person even more likely to become addicted.
14. Methamphetamine can be prescribed by doctors as a treatment for ADHD, but meth addicts are not normally abusing this type of the drug. Methamphetamine is also very rarely prescribed to treat anyone because of the addictive nature of the drug, so if someone is severely addicted to meth, it is unlikely that the drug was prescribed.
15. There is not a large amount of information about what issues meth can cause during pregnancy, but “the available research points to increased rates of premature delivery, placental abruption… and various effects on babies prenatally exposed to methamphetamine, including small size, lethargy, and heart and brain abnormalities” (NIDA).
16. “Methamphetamine users, like other drug users, are more likely than non-users to have experienced physical or sexual abuse as children” (NCSACW). This can also be highly dangerous to the children of meth addicts who are also more likely to be abused by the meth-addicted parent.
17. Many meth addicts experience a severe amount of unfavorable changes to the brain that affect the individual’s emotional responses and memory capabilities. These issues can actually persist even after the individual attends treatment.
18. As a part of the schizophrenia-like psychosis that often occurs in long-term meth abusers, self-absorption is common, often to the point where the individual is unable to see beyond getting their next fix or beyond themselves entirely.
19. Someone currently intoxicated by meth may give themselves away with a little-known sign of abuse. According to CESAR, “performing repetitive, meaningless tasks” is a short-term effect of meth intoxication that is easily noticeable.
20. The production of meth is actually extremely dangerous as many people know and can result in a fire or explosion. Also the hazardous chemicals which are used can produce toxicity that “can remain in the environment around a methamphetamine production lab long after the lab has been shut down, causing a wide range of health problems for people living in the area” (NIDA 1).
21. Meth abuse and addiction can cause damage to nearly all of a person’s organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, brain, and more.
22. Depression is common in meth abusers who are coming down from the drug. This is one of the reasons why meth abusers will continue to take more and more of the drug, binging on its effects in order to avoid the severe depressive result after the high wears off.

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