Stimulants Psychotic symptoms developing from stimulants (not from sleep deprivation)

[dthorse5]

so i have been using stimulants since i was about 14 and i am now 23. anyway they used to cause me no side effects like the ones i get now what so ever. Even if i take a small dose of methylone,meth,coke or adderall i start to hear voices and feel like people are after me/trying to kill me/poison me or arrest me. It happens suddenly on anything stronger than like 40mg of adderall and it started happening last year. I really like stims and i dont understand why this is happening and its very scarey when it does. Extreme obsessive compulsive movements also develop like searching for imaginery things and checking drawers and other nonsense. Just wondering if im heading towards schizophrenia if i dont stop using and i barley even use

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

We can't say whether or not you are becoming schizophrenic over the Internet but it's safe to say stimulants aren't helping your mental state. Take a break from them, at least for a year and see how you feel. It probably won't be easy but unless you want your mental health to keep deteriorating then you should stay clean.

 

[dthorse5]

well i know nobody can diagnose me. im more wondering is it common for peoples mental state to deteriorate over the years even if there not using heavy amounts. i use stims maybe 20 times a year more of a downer person but still like them. its just such and extreme reaction and im normally a very grounded person to reality

 

[MDPV_Psychosis]

The first time I experienced stimulant psychosis it took very heavy amounts of stimulants used over a very long time with no sleep.

Each time it has happened since the first time it has happened quicker and with less use and less sleep deprivation. It's as if stimulant induced psychosis follows a kindling effect for me.

Long tolerance breaks don't really reset this much either for me.

Basically I quit using stimulants except for very very rarely. And when I do use them, I accept that it'll very likely lead to things like hearing voices, experiencing delusions, etc. I have no choice but to accept it as part of the experience now.

I think you need to the same and either accept these as side effects or decide it's not worth it anymore.

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

I highly advise quitting stimulants before you get a bad psychotic break.

Dopamine plays a large role in the kind of symptoms that you're reporting but for most people its not as simple as "increase dopamine -> boom bang immediate psychotic symptoms". Usually it takes elevated dopamine a while (a couple days or more) to induce psychotic symptoms in normal people, but people who are already predisposed or who have never really taken a long break from their stim use can get such symptoms a lot faster. For whatever reason, you may be predisposed to developing psychosis with stim use.

There is evidence that amphetamine use speeds along the development of schizophrenia in those predisposed, but stim use can certainly cause the symptoms you report and this should dissipate with abstinence.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

well i know nobody can diagnose me. im more wondering is it common for peoples mental state to deteriorate over the years even if there not using heavy amounts. i use stims maybe 20 times a year more of a downer person but still like them. its just such and extreme reaction and im normally a very grounded person to reality

Yes it happens. I would stop using if you get psychotic symptoms.