Any experience with amphetamine psychosis?

Hi, I'd really appreciate anyone who can share their experience with having someone close (my partner in my case) to them having amphetamine psycosis. Any suggestions on ways to handle it would be fantastis!!! Thanks.

^ Yeah it's extremely straightforward actually! Stop the amphetamine , or get a script for a reducing dose if straight quitting proves impossible.
Oh perhaps if you feel that they're in danger of hurting themselves or others then you may have to consider the option of section. Personally I would attempt to do this whilst distancing yourself from it. One of the rare times I think deceit could be advantageous.
Does your partner still trust you ?

There is not really much you can do, unfortunately, other than do your best to try and get them to sleep. This can be extremely difficult, depending on how much they have consumed. You may also try and convince him to eat, which will also go some way to get him to sleep. Don't underestimate just how much sleeping/eating can help with a tweaker.

Other than this, i recommend you judge for yourself and see whether he might be harmful to himself or others. There is psychosis, and then there him screaming that he is a KGB spy and that anyone who gets close to him is going to get stabbed If it is more the latter, and it is safe to do, i would recommend taking him to an ER room. It may be overreacting. But who knows? It may save his life or someone elses.

Oh, and i am working on the basis you do not have any benzo's/sedatives at home. IF you do happen to be so lucky , try and get him to take some. They are a tweakers best friend.

They are a tweakers best friend.

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Yeah BUT sometimes they just delay the inevitable don't you think?

^ no i think they will force you to comedown, even if you don't want too. And then you will wake up after a few hours, be really hungry and then go back to a proper sleep. Or that has been my experience anyway.

Xanax work a treat!

^ Hmmm I think that then one can think " Oh well I just need benzos and my problems will go away! I for one would iundoubtedly have been forced to confront my insanity much earlier had it not been assuaged with opiates so often!

^ yes of course. But i didn't think that the OP was requesting info on "the long term, and fundamental, issues contributing to my husband's sustained amphetamine abuse."

I thought she was meaning more how to deal with amphetamine psychosis, in which the psychotic episiode is usually always assuaged with sleep, food and normal activities. I know i have been awake for 3 days before, starting to see the shadow people, crying because i cannot find my other thong (shoe) and as soon as someone has given me a xanax i almost go straight to sleep and then sleep/hunger takes its course.

So, if we are talking about the short term symptoms of a psychosis, i still think those are the best things. Then again, i do pass out on half a valium, so my experience may not be the same as others

"

the long term, and fundamental, issues contributing to my husband's sustained amphetamine abuse."

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Quite , it is not clear either way is it ?

Actually with our opposing interpretations we are probably giving a good overall response , dontcha think ? :D

MR Candyslut said:

They are a tweakers best friend.

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I thought speed was a tweakers 'best friend'? Spent a long time mixing uppers & downers. One gives psychological addiction, the other physical dependance. Try sorting that lot out. If you fall fast asleep on 1/2 a valium, your lucky... just watch it isn't creeping up dose-wise.

I would NOT suggest introducing benzos or any other drug to a psychosis situation, that's the job for a doctor. OK, if you can ONLY get them to the doctor with a valium inside them, well it's the lesser of two evils. I would be very careful that the doctor doesn't hand out too many downers. Anything that is handed out I would keep hidden to be doled out on schedule. Even then, knowing that the downers are about might make this person carry on MORE. Specialist treatment is the best option, then a plain doctor, then I suppose somewhere like BL.
Can someone critique my statements sensibly please?

H-)

^ Sensibly ?? Here ?? Come on LOL it's 4 in the morning !

For what it's worth I am siding with you , I guess you guessed that anyway assuming you read the previous posts (which I am certain you did)

I'm just calling like I see's it Zoph. One tweeker & 1 non-tweeker both make good points (and sensibly!) but with serious mental disturbances due to drug intake, more intake seems... counterintuative.

I will LOL at dawn, when we have left this person with reams and reams of stuff to wade through A definitive statement is what we need... so back to you...

haribo1 said:

I would NOT suggest introducing benzos or any other drug to a psychosis situation, that's the job for a doctor. OK, if you can ONLY get them to the doctor with a valium inside them, well it's the lesser of two evils. I would be very careful that the doctor doesn't hand out too many downers. Anything that is handed out I would keep hidden to be doled out on schedule. Even then, knowing that the downers are about might make this person carry on MORE. Specialist treatment is the best option, then a plain doctor, then I suppose somewhere like BL.
Can someone critique my statements sensibly please?

H-)

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As i said, speaking from my experience, benzodiazepines are a very good solution to a speed psychosis. Given that they have a sedative effect and are specifically used to treat things such as anxiety and agitation, i highly doubt that would have a negative interaction with a person who has been wired on amphetamines for days on end.

And whilst i would normally agree that it is not helpful to deal with one drug by using another, in situations like this where sleep is the best cure, in my experience it has been extremely helpful to have any sort of sedative nearby. And i think most people who have actually dealt with psychosis would say exactly the same thing.

In relation to what you said, you would not wait to see a specialist for an amphetamine psychosis. At worst, you go to an ER. Otherwise, you manage it yourself at home. They are typically short-lived psychotic episodes that are caused by sleep deprivation (and not specifically amphetamine use). Thus, anything that induces sleep is going to go a long way to minimise the symptoms of amphetamine psychosis.

The 'mental disturbances' are not due to 'drug intake,' but rather the by-product of speed use - insomnia. Thus dealing with the sleep, and not the drug, is going to be beneficial.

You may find this helpful.

^ Personally I think it depends upon whether the psychosis is transient or has become a permanent (OK longish standing) mental state. Mine eventually lasted pffft months (six at least) and at times I was so fucking lost nothing helped. Opiated a la` intravenous route made no odds either, so I cannot see in that type of a situation that they would necessarily be of help. It is unlikely I agree that they'd be an overtly negative thing also. BUT I can only speak subjectively.

Six Months

Hhaha. Holy shit. I have never experienced anything that long.

My experience, and indeed understanding, of amphetamine psychosis is that they are episodes that last for a specific duration in which hallucinations, paranoia and general agitation occur.

If we are talking about an ongoing issue, then yes, i would definitely recommend seeing a specialist. Obviously just using other drugs to combat such extended symptoms is not going to be all the effective Although at this point, i wouldn't be describing it is a psychotic episode. But maybe that is my own misunderstanding of an episode.

Maybe sushii could spread some light?

Benzos carm, I grant you, but a neuroleptic may be required and having a benzo in the persons system may well interact....

Six Months

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Yeah really!!!!

You want a brief run down of some of the more lurid details?

By PM of course , don't want to litter the thread with incidental ramblings.

wait post here im interested to!

Yes, back when I shot dexedrine I would sit in my friend's basement for days on end and play guitar. I started to get really scared down there. I swore I was seeing shadows of little ghost chidren just behind the stairwell, and I was terrified. I just threw myself into my playing in an attempt to block out the fear. It was pretty nightmarish really. I truly felt an evil presence down there. I would fall into that self destructive obsessive addiction; and I felt as if any minute demons were going swarm on me. But I couldn't move from my spot. It was pretty scary actually.

wait post here im interested to!

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Maybe later ok .

ok amphetamine psychosis is sumthing that really a psych doctor nds to deal with - i wudnt hand out benzos liberally thats swapping one addiction for another
wen i was on meth i got addicted to opiates and benzos doing exactly that - and i still had the psychosis
in fact being 34 days off a 7-8 yr meth habit i STILL hear my name being whispered at times, i avoid public places because evryone seems to b watching me and sumtimes at night i see a little boy i call 'billy' that i have sumhow taken on as a ghost that lives at my support house
this is despite being on clonazepam and risperidone
i have had such bad psychosis in the past it has taken 4 cops to hold me down cos i thought they were trying to kill me
read my poem in words - 'the kingdom of burn' for details of a methamphetamine psychosis experience i suffered a few times
psychotic episodes require professional help, and remember to let ur partner know that once uve experienced amphetamine psychosis once, its fairly probable if he keeps using itll come back, and imo it gets worse evry time
detox using drugs a doctor has short-term prscribed is the best option, but hes gotta want it and maybe u shud hand out the drugs so they dont get abused
last thing u want is a speed addict turning into a valium addict