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Abuse of methamphetamine

Getting hooked on Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine, like cocaine, is a powerful stimulant. It produces physiological changes similar to the fight-or-flight response — it boosts heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and body temperature. Some people use it for the brief, intense “rush” it produces when smoked or injected. Others use it for functional reasons — as an appetite suppressant to lose weight or as an energy-booster to enable them to work more. When snorted or taken orally it doesn’t produce an intense “rush” but rather a “high” that can last more than 12 hours.

Both cocaine and meth boost brain levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which causes feelings of euphoria and increased energy, but go about it in different ways. Cocaine doesn’t directly stimulate the release of dopamine; it prevents the normal recycling of the chemical messenger once it’s released. Meth goes a step further — it actually gets into the nerve cell where it causes the excessive release of dopamine. Meth users can quickly become addicted to the spike in dopamine.

Abuse of methamphetamine is linked to several serious medical complications such as heart damage, stroke and psychosis. But perhaps the most frightening side effect is long-term neurological damage unlike anything seen with heroin or cocaine.

While high levels of dopamine in the brain usually cause feelings of pleasure, too much can produce aggressiveness, irritability and schizophrenic-like behavior.

“Meth has more long-term, serious effects on the brain than cocaine,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratories in Upton, N.Y., who has studied the effects of both cocaine and methamphetamine on the brain for 15 years.

Labels: CrystalClear, CrystalClear™, Meth, methamphetamine, Methamphetamine Detox, withdrawal from speed