Like any other drugs, once improperly used, meth addiction could result to harmful effects towards the user’s body. Upon entering the brain, methamphetamine triggers the fast release of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine which control feelings of pleasure. It is highly active in mesolimbic reward pathways of the brain which causes intense euphoria.
Methamphetamine has a stimulating effect on sex, mood, and energy. Methamphetamine can cause weight loss and appetite suppression. Also, it offers our body with alertness and the ability to concentrate. Like any other drugs, overusing meth develops tolerance. Methamphetamine exhausts the brain’s store of dopamine and destroys the wiring of dopamine receptors. The pleasurable effect of the drug is not eternal. As the user takes in an increasing amount of the drug due to tolerance, negative effects to the body begin to take place. Users usually elicit poor judgment and harmful behaviors such as committing petty and violent crimes. To maintain the pleasurable effect of the drug, the user is likely to take in increasing doses which in turn results to the damage of body organs, mental disorders, and even death. Long-time users of this drug have been known to develop symptoms of psychosis, like paranoia, aggression, hallucinations, and delusions. Moreover, physical effects of Methamphetamine addiction are diarrhea, palpitations, and dizziness, jaw clenching and facial ticks. It also increases the heart rate that it could lead to sudden heart failure. consequences include bronchial dilation, dilation of the blood vessels to the skeletal muscles, dilation of pupils and the emptying of the bladder and intestine.
In the United States, methamphetamine addiction is quite common. Statistics show that there are about 1.4 million users of methamphetamine in America and the number is increasing. With the number of meth users increasing, the government is quite helpless. While readily available, meth is very inexpensive. Meth’s key object is the youth most especially those problematic ones; ravaged by broken homes, neglect and little parental influence. A report from the National Association of Countries revealed that meth users comes from the different spectrum of the youth: from high school and college students to white and blue-collar workers.
What pushes people to using meth? Methamphetamine is easy to use, cheap, and could work as an energy booster. The attractive part of this drug is that it’s benefits even if temporary are very immediate.
Meth addiction destroys the life of a person. Once addicted to it, the symptoms could lead to undesirable and unhealthy behaviors. Moreover, depriving the body from taking in methamphetamine would lead to depression, aggression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, and intense craving for the drug.
Fighting addiction is such a hard and painful thing to do. You get the similar feeling from pulling your hair on your head one by one until everything is gone. Imagine the pain. It is not an overnight process. Most of all, things work if it is a forced thing. The person addicted to meth should be first of all, be very eager and determined to fight the addiction and get rid of it for good. The enthusiasm should not come from the people around the meth users. It should only come from the self. After accepting one’s problem, the desire to do something about it should come next. Quite a number of meth-specific program solutions have been developed. The goal of treatment is to teach the user new skills that will help cope with the user’s drug cravings and prevent relapses. Meth treatment therapies involve individual and small group approaches. Treatment allows the patient to see beyond the immediate positive effects of drug use and lead them to see the negative effects that inevitably follow. Moreover, recovered addicts are taught to manage their lives more successfully, increase their confidence and self-esteem, and set positive personal goals.
When you get addicted to something, it is difficult to veer yourself away from that addiction. Addiction is similar to letting go of a loved one, we know that letting it go is the exact thing to do, but we find it difficult to do it because we know it would hurt so bad. The determination to do should start within one’s self.
