Stimulants Hard breathing on meth and other stimulants?

[Jabberwocky]

Ive been having this last night and into this morning now. Its been getting to be more and more for awhile that I have some times where it feels Im not breathing well when I am using. Last couple days I have been running out of breath entirely and have to breathe hard to catch up. Its when I have anxiety more though. Thats been on the up and up for a few days now. This new batch I have is potent but theres something about it thats driving me up the wall even more than usual. A friend of mine whos smoked with me has felt physically ill after using it a couple times.

Any thoughts?

Did you wash it?

 

[Joey]

Did you wash it?

No and I probably should. Ill figure out where to get some acetone in this town.

 

[Jabberwocky]

No and I probably should. Ill figure out where to get some acetone in this town.

Hardware store I expect. Just make sure it’s 99.5% pure acetone. Seriously, from crushing to washing to smoking is 10 minutes tops if you have a fan or heat lamp to speed the drying.

 

[Riplak]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but while meth is a bronchodilator, it is also a vasoconstrictor, raising your bp and stressing your heart and circ. system. So while your lungs are opening up better, your arteries are still delivering less blood overall, and thus, less oxygen. You yawn because your brain is trying to get you to catch up on oxygen intake.

However, while you said that this happens at first effect/very small doses, which could be explained by a sensitivity to amphetamines, you also said this happens with any stimulants. Caffeine in particular, shouldn't cause this, as it's a fairly potent vasodilator.

Edit: Forgot the relevant part! Because of these things, I'd say pretty confidently that what you're experiencing is psychosomatic in nature.

 

[crOOk]

Ive been having this last night and into this morning now. Its been getting to be more and more for awhile that I have some times where it feels Im not breathing well when I am using. Last couple days I have been running out of breath entirely and have to breathe hard to catch up. Its when I have anxiety more though. Thats been on the up and up for a few days now. This new batch I have is potent but theres something about it thats driving me up the wall even more than usual. A friend of mine whos smoked with me has felt physically ill after using it a couple times.

Any thoughts?

Tell him nothing. You may find he tells you that you stop breathing entirely in between those deep breaths. It may be more difficult to notice for yourself, since it happens when you are not focussing on your breathing.

Also, definitely the most important thing, see how things are developing when you are running, walking stairs and the like. If the problem is exacerbated, go see a doctor asap. Especially if this happens with a new batch. In that case, do yourself and everyone you'd give it to a big favor and flush it!!

If the issue can not be triggered by exercise, it should be a psychosomatic issue and therapy should focus on the psychological side of things, since there isn't anything to do about the somatic implications.

Read my prior post right above yours for more detail.

Also, it's always better to quit speed than to take GABAergics and stimulants simultaneously. I understand this can be very difficult to see, feel and admit to oneself at times, especially if sedatives relief you entirely of your symptoms. They'll only fuck your life up even more thoroughly than it has been fucked already.

 

[Joey]

Tell him nothing. You may find he tells you that you stop breathing entirely in between those deep breaths. It may be more difficult to notice for yourself, since it happens when you are not focussing on your breathing.



Also, it's always better to quit speed than to take GABAergics and stimulants simultaneously. I understand this can be very difficult to see, feel and admit to oneself at times, especially if sedatives relief you entirely of your symptoms. They'll only fuck your life up even more thoroughly than it has been fucked already.

I dont understand these two paragraphs. Especially the first one makes zero sense. The second one is just.... yeah. Please clarify.

 

[Dead But Smiling]

Bit late to reply, but people might be looking for this information.

What you are experiencing is called sighing dyspnea and is usually exacerbated by amphetamines. Sure it won't hurt to see a doctor, but what you are describing is very very specific to this syndrome and I am convinced enough to take the risk of telling you there is nothing to worry about on the somatic side of things. This is not medical advice, but most medical advice I got wasn't worth shit and this sure the fuck is more hard information than you could squeeze out of most doctors:

Firstly you should try running to (almost positively) rule out cardiovasular/pulmonary issues. See if running...
a) triggers your symptoms when sober or...
b) exacerbates them when you're on speed.

If so, go see a doctor. If not, then here is the good news:

1) Your symptoms pose no imminent threat to your health.
2) If things gets worse, it will surely keep you from doing speed, since this yawning desire (which may not sound like much of an issue to most people) can be become quiet anguishing.

Many patients experience these symptoms 24/7. There's no easy way to get rid of it for them. You on the other hand got it all laid out for you.

Of course you could instead of not doing stimulants try stacking GABAergics. Benzos, barbs, G or booze. Pot can be very very helpful if you are not prone to become anxious under it's influence.

Opiates can help some people. Others will see no benefit. I couldn't tell you how you're gonna react. It shouldn't be as effective as the other drugs listed and will probably rebound even harder than the others.
Many will get these issues when withdrawing opiates. Naloxone can trigger them in opiate naive people.

Your oxygen saturation may indeed be lower than usual when your symptoms occur. Ask your friends if they could watch your breathing (or get an app for that if there is one ).
They may tell you that after you take those very deep breathes while getting angry for not getting past that yawning turn-around point, your breathing actually becomes more shallow.

In consequence your oxygen levels will diminish until you get the desire to yawn/sigh/breathe until you feel your stomach will burst any second.
It's the up and down that is distressing you and it may take quite some time until those levels actually stabilize which is part of why breathing exercises won't bring immediate relief, but it will after a while, just like running for an extended period of time. Try both.

It's generally a bad idea to combat side effects of one recreational drug with another. This class of drugs (stimulants) is just not made for you. Maybe that's a good thing. Not sure if it will cheer you up: Some people get every single of the worst side effects listed in the books for every drug single recreational drug available. For you it's just speed. That shit will only make you less likeable in the long run anyway.

So your options in short:
- Breathing exercises/physical therapy
- Psychotherapy for what may be occult anxiety issues
- Whenever you do speed, keep enough booze, benzos and pot around for you not to run out mid-session

First line treatment would imho be to do acid instead though and sort through those issues in your life. Get your shit together and stop doing fucking speed. Drugs are supposed to enrichen your life, not make it even harder than it already is!

Another thing I forgot to mention is that hypertension of the pulmonary artery - while a very rare disease - can be caused by stimulant abuse. Amphetamine is not known for this, but - and this is one of the many reasons why taking rc's is so risky - other stimulants your speed might be cut with are not only known to fuck up that intimidatingly big artery, but may in fact very well be responsible for half the cases out there. The other half of patients is probably just lying to their doctor about abusing stimulants.
However before anyone gets even more anxious than they already are: Pulmonary arterial hypertension may not be curable, but it can be managed very well these days and people to grow very old with it.

Plus, which is why I recommended running earlier: Pulmonary arterial hypertension will always be exacerbated by increased oxygen demand.

If you came here due to experiencing breathing issues not unlike the OP's issues and only read these last lines, please do read the rest too, since these last ones could be misleading. The OP most likely just has functional, not organic issues underneith that yawning desire.

Much

You’re good we just get a hella heavy hb when we’re on it, it feels like I’m climbing a mounting

 

[Asante]

It could be that your heart beats too fast or, ineffectively, making you out of breath.

As said before, bad sign.

 

[TheFrogEffect]

If you have a hard time breathing when doing stimulants you should definitely not do them. Might also be a sign of some underlying health condition that you aren't aware of, possibly?