Crystal Meth Addiction
Like any other drugs, once abused, meth addiction could result to harmful effects towards the user’s body. Upon entering the brain, meth triggers the fast release of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine which regulate feelings of pleasure. It is highly active in mesolimbic reward pathways of the brain which causes intense euphoria.
Meth has a stimulating outcome on sex, mood, and energy. Methamphetamine may cause weight loss and appetite suppression. It also has positive effects on the body, like providing one to be alert and having the capacity to concentrate. Like any other drugs, tolerance develops overtime with continuous use of meth. It tires out the brain’s store of dopamine and destroys the wiring of dopamine receptors. The drug’s pleasurable effect is not everlasting. Negative effects on the body takes place once the user of meth takes increasing amount due to tolerance. Users usually elicit poor judgment and dangerous 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 destruction 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. In addition, physical effects of meth use are diarrhea, palpitations, and dizziness, jaw clenching and facial ticks. Meth can also lead to heart failure since it increases heart rate. Other consequences include bronchial dilation, dilation of the blood vessels to the skeletal muscles, dilation of pupils and the emptying of the bladder and intestine.
Meth addiction is prevalent in the United States. There are 1.4 million meth users in America, and it does not stop there. 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? Meth is easy to use, cheap, and could work as an energy booster. The immediate but temporary benefits of using meth is the once that greatly attract people to use this drug.
Methamphetamine addiction greatly damages a person’s life. Once addicted to it, the symptoms could lead to undesirable and unhealthy behaviors. Moreover, depriving the body from taking in meth 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. It is like pulling your hair on your head one by one until nothing is left. It’s that painful. It is not a one-time thing. Most of all, it wouldn’t work if it is a forced thing. The person addicted to meth should be first of all, be very willing and determined to battle the addiction and get rid of it for good. The motivation should not come from the people around the meth users. It should only come from the self. One should first accept the problem before doing something about it. Quite a number of meth-specific program solutions have been developed. The purpose of treatment is to train the addict 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 akin to letting go of a loved one, we know that letting it go is the right thing to do, but we find it hard to do it because we know it would hurt so bad. The determination to do should start within one’s self.
