It's hard to say that any individual medical/health issues are definitely attributed to meth use as there are other risk factors involved. I know plenty of people who have health problems they associate with their meth use: abdominal pain, kidney/liver damage, breathing problems, circulatory problems, peripheral vascular disease, erectile dysfunction, intestinal inflamattion/colitis...but these were all polydrug users who were also smokers.
It's generally acknowledged that meth's not great for your body, although I think the health risks are hysterically eggagerated by the anti-meth campaigns, which makes is more difficult to distinguish fact from fiction on the matter. It's best to refer to peer-reviewed scientific/medical journals rather than seeking anecdotal accounts which cannot establish causation as there are simply too many risk factors involved.
The scientific research on the subject is inconclusive, while its associated with a number of health problems its mechanism is not entirely understood, nor is a dose-response relationship established. Also many of the studies are of chronic high-dose users of street meth, and the purity of the meth needs to be taken into consideration. Contaminants would likely be responsible for many health problems, but pure methamphetamine is toxic to several organ systems. It is, however, a scheduled prescription medication in the US (desoxyn), while it carries the 'black box' warning that medical studies indicate it has significant risk of serious, or even life-threatening, adverse effects. This 'black box' warning also applies to dexamphetamine and adderall, and while desoxyn is rarely prescribed, many people take dexamphetamine at therapeutic doses with no adverse effects whatsoever. The physical toxicity of meth vs dexamph is pretty similar though as far as I'm aware, so I'd assume there's a 'safe' therapeutic dose of meth with less risk of adverse reactions or it wouldn't be FDA approved.
Amphetamines increase your heart rate and elevate blood pressure, so risk of heart attack and stroke is increased, to what extent is unknown. Chronic alcohol use also increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. Mixing the two is not good for your heart, as is mixing meth with any other stimulant including caffeine.
Much of the risk of toxicity and adverse reactions is due to its abuse potential, chronic use and overdose. Moderation is key, which is very difficult when you've really got no idea of the dose/purity of street meth. Oral ROA is considered safer than smoking.
Anyway here's an overview of meth's physical toxicity:
"Acute and long-term methamphetamine use may lead to abnormal findings on examination of the following organ systems:
* Cardiovascular
*Central nervous system
*Gastrointestinal
*Renal
*Skin
*Dental
Cardiovascular findings are as follows:
*Tachycardia and hypertension is frequently observed [43]
* Atrial and ventricular arrhythmias may occur [43]
*Chest pain from cardiac ischemia and infarction following methamphetamine use has been reported; patients are at risk because of accelerated atherosclerosis from chronic use; acute aortic dissection or aneurysm has been associated with methamphetamine abuse [30, 27]
*Hypotension may be observed with methamphetamine overdose with profound depletion of catecholamines [44]
*Acute and chronic cardiomyopathy results directly from methamphetamine cardiac toxicity and indirectly from chronic hypertension and ischemia; intravenous use may result in endocarditis; patients may present with dyspnea, edema, and other signs of acute congestive heart failure (CHF) exacerbation [45, 28]
Central nervous system findings are as follows:
*New-onset seizures may occur from direct CNS methamphetamine toxicity [34]
*Acute and chronic methamphetamine exposure has been associated with a jerking, choreoathetoid movement disorder; these repetitive movements, hyperactivity, and inability to focus thought have been referred to as "tweaking" [33, 35]
*Headache and cerebrovascular accidents with focal neurologic deficits may be caused by hemorrhage or vasospasm, cerebral edema, and cerebral vasculitis [31]
*Acute psychosis, agitation, violence, and paranoia frequently results from alteration in CNS dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate pathways [46, 13]
*Coma may result from depletion of catecholamine stores and/or concomitant ingestion of sedatives such as ethanol or narcotics [44]
Respiratory findings are as follows:
*Barotrauma, including pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, and pneumopericardium may result from forceful inhalation [36]
*Acute noncardiogenic pulmonary edema and pulmonary hypertension may result from acute and chronic use, as well as from adulterants introduced during intravenous use such as talc or cornstarch [36, 37, 38]
*Wheezing from reactive airway disease may be induced by methamphetamine [36]
Gastrointestinal findings are as follows:
*Hepatocellular damage has been reported with methamphetamine after acute and chronic abuse; direct effects such as hypotension, hepatotoxic contaminants, hepatic vasoconstriction, lipid peroxidation, occult viral causes, and necrotizing angiitis have been postulated [47]
*Severe abdominal pain may result from acute mesenteric vasoconstriction; methamphetamine has also been associated with the formation of ulcers and ischemic colitis. [40]
*Necrotizing angiitis with arterial aneurysms and sacculations have been observed in the liver, pancreas, and small bowel of methamphetamine drug abusers [31]
Renal failure associated with amphetamines has been related to the following [48] :
*Hypoxemia
*Rhabdomyolysis
*Necrotizing angiitis
*Acute interstitial nephritis
*Cardiovascular shock with subsequent acute tubular necrosis
Skin findings include the following:
*Delusions of parasitosis and chronic skin-picking may result in neurotic excoriations and prurigo nodularis ("speed bumps") [4]
*Methamphetamine injectors frequently present with abscess and cellulitis, which they often blame on a "spider bite" [39]
*Production workers in illicit methamphetamine laboratories may present with extensive thermal and/or chemical burns. [49]
On dental examination, severe caries, especially of the maxillary teeth, is commonly seen in chronic methamphetamine users ("meth mouth"). This results from maxillary artery vasoconstriction, xerostomia, and poor hygiene. [41, 42]
Pregnancy and lactation:
Methamphetamine use during pregnancy can be fatal to the mother and fetus. [50, 51] Methamphetamine has been shown to cause placental vasoconstriction and interfere with placental monoamine transporters resulting in spontaneous abortion. [52]
Methamphetamine is secreted in breast milk. A case of infant death from ingestion of methamphetamine-toxic breast milk has been reported. [53] "
from
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/820918-clinical#b4 direct links to the journal articles referenced on the medscape page.
