Meth abuse , how often and frequent will causes long term effects

[NINDY]

Nindy It depends alot on your own genetic makeup Tolerance rates and the way you treat your body on a day to day basis You also need to factor in what gear your using.. eg is it shards (ice traditionally higher quality/ strength - although not always thanks to dealers greed and fucking msm.. I digress powdered or street speed( see msm cutters) will be heavily cut.. maybe 10% meth or less plus ur body has to deal with all the foriegn matter (evil cutters)

Obvoiusly if ur at the high end of the market, you would be hoping for better gear, but being stronger than cut shit, It does more damage to the brain in the short and longterm.

Although I consider myself to be of "reasonable"intellect.. I have been using meth since I was 17. I'm 38 this yr.. I know There are certain attributes I have lost throughout this time frame. meth being purely responsible eg simple things like lack of enjoyment over basic things, lack of patience, and on some days if I'm really lucky.. this amazing fog in my brain that seems to affect cognitive thinking.. I would be scared witless to get a c.t scan on my brain..for fear of what I am already missing.

Wow, I saw my name and realised I must have posted a question ages ago...last October. Talk about a kick up the arse out of the blue (deliberately mixing metaphors). So, thank you for the answers and thank you to Bluelight: this brings home to me the value of this sort of forum.

I feel I have just been visited in black and white by my earlier self: then I had been using for six months and had fallen into near weekly use. From there, my use didn't slow, the dosages kept getting larger. At that stage, I had missed out of most of the negative effects except sleep deprivation and "meth dick" (still NO ice sex!!!!...shit!)

Now, I have pulled back substantially in both dosage and frequency but I too have been thinking just this week about how scary it would be to have a cat scan now.

It is bad enough that I have a permanent "bruise" on my right arm but now I CAN definitely tell it has affected my mental acuity. Not sure whether that is accumulated tiredness, or a brain impact but I do feel it is the latter. And I have increasing difficulty hiding it from others.

It is only occasionally that others can see it, usually because my periods of forgetfulness (names and faces especially) and relative lack of mental agility contrast so starkly with occasional periods of my former level of drive and intellectual strength. I am certainly more cunning though; I lie to cover my tracks or my sudden loss of my train of thought really quite well.

My lifelong ability to get to the root of an issue quicker than anyone else, and find a solution better than anyone else, and sell it as well as anyone else, is clearly diminished. I certainly don't absorb new information or skills as quickly as I used to...sometimes...Then there are other shining moments when the old fire, the old intelligence is there in spades.

And, then, when the adrenalin eases, I sink back again....So I think I can now answer my own question now...all it took was another nine months. And Garrygofast expressed my sentiments so accurately, it is scary.

Maybe others: just remember the point where you realise you must pull back usually (always?) comes at a time long after you reached that point.

 

[TaSiPtR]

spot on

Most def see a doc or whatever re: xanax as I just found out the hard way thought I'd tapered fast but enough still had horrific seizure in front of my 8 y/o son after coming off the xanax.

 

[Sustanon]

Id say that it will take a long time to recover and to be "normal" again, depending on the amount, person, frequency and so forth. The human brain is a very unique incredible thing and within time it will be back to normal. I wouldnt say that it wont change you in a psychological way as it definitely has its toll on one. Meth is prob the one of the most hardest thing to come off clean as there are very limited treatment options, not saying it cant be done as I have been down that road many many years ago.

Anxiety keeps me from using any stimulants these days, guess it comes from abusing so much / many substances over time that this is a permanent effect. I really look down on meth because it just causes so many problems in the end it aint worth it. Dont substitute one drug for another, just slowly taper off it thats how I managed to do it. Its not physically addictive so it can be done with tapering then cold turkey. I found quitting opiates and benzos to be a lot harder. Hmmm I wonder how the OP is doing now? Managed to quit or at least cut back down on usage?

 

[anti-down]

Different for everyone, but it depends on how you want to define your new "relationship" with the shard. As in no relationship/completely off it, or tapering, or reduction and occasional use. It also depends on your individual brain chemistry, your own original dopamine and seratonin makeup, your personality, your circumstances, your family, friends, job etc etc etc... The physical signs fade really quickly. You put on weight, get that healthy glow, and look alive. It also depends on any underlying mental health issues and of course on what kind of mess it might have got you into financially, socially etc..

It can be a very isolating and lonely experience at the time. Its like being stuck in limbo.. Between crackland and straighville! Non-users are prone to being judgmental and so are other users. So lets not say its a walk in the park, but speaking from experience, the really horrid physical fatigue and mental exhaustion take a good week or two to clear totally. Sleeping patterns are up the shitter for a while, but just letting your body do its thing is the best/only way thru to the other side. I rely heavily on good espresso coffee, panadol (or of I'm feeling like treating myself, I'll hunt down some original pseudo cold & flu tabs!)

Im in the position now where I let myself get fucked up for a few days every now and again, thrash myself silly, and smoke the lot in one session. That way im all out and forced to return home.

Cant really comment on the xanny's, although they say there's a jail sentence in every bottle, which scared me off it somewhat. Personally I try and avoid coming down and I fight and fight it, so xanny's have never appealed to me.

I wonder how OP is too... Addiction takes so many forms and it can be the most brutal thing you'll ever have to deal with, and its so stigmatized and misunderstood. Wishing you all well xxx

 

[anti-down]

I am certainly more cunning though; I lie to cover my tracks or my sudden loss of my train of thought really quite well.

My lifelong ability to get to the root of an issue quicker than anyone else, and find a solution better than anyone else, and sell it as well as anyone else, is clearly diminished. I certainly don't absorb new information or skills as quickly as I used to...sometimes...Then there are other shining moments when the old fire, the old intelligence is there in spades.

And, then, when the adrenalin eases, I sink back again....

I relate to this totally. My old self returns with brilliance in flashes of awesomeness, and then picks up and vacates just as suddenly. I am not the same person, but its not all negative. I've had a wild time, and I've survived. Hmmm... the craving never totally disappears though. It'll be a part of my life forever after because I love it, but to own in and manage in a way that's acceptable has taken years. And pain, plenty of pain...!

 

[laugh]

some good compassionate advice here!

one day at a time, good luck franky friggs!!!

another great name btw

 

[thestudent14]

I relate to this totally. My old self returns with brilliance in flashes of awesomeness, and then picks up and vacates just as suddenly. I am not the same person, but its not all negative. I've had a wild time, and I've survived. Hmmm... the craving never totally disappears though. It'll be a part of my life forever after because I love it, but to own in and manage in a way that's acceptable has taken years. And pain, plenty of pain...!

This hits way to close to home right now, one of my best mates has abused Meth for the last few years, but heavily abused it for about 18months. The man had a brilliant brain, but now his brilliance is hidden behind paranoid thought and conspiricy theories, most times I see him, he has "flashes of awesomeness" as you put it, but it's outweighed by the amount of abuse he has done. Like you he feels it's not all negative, wild times, massive amounts of fun but coupled with pain.


It's ironic how I believe if the drug had been legalised he would've never abused it to the amount he did, firstly because availability was no issue as him and his mates were dealing at the time, but more importantly the stigma around drugs ostrasized him from some of the people closest to him. Doing this is not being a good friend, stating you don't support his life choice is one thing, but cutting ties with an abuser is just gonna throw them into it more, because the people who aren't are normally the people doing the same thing. It's a vicious cycle, the pattern I've seen is that when it comes to abuse, it needs to wait until things get really bad before someone wants to stop. It's only then that they start to realise their level of addiction. I still believe he is capable of great things, but I have no doubt he has greatly damaged his potential.

 

[WarChild]

Some first hand stories -

ME: 3 years of use 3 times a week followed by about 9 years of use about once every 5 weeks on average - I am now on anti-psychotics, anti-depressents and benzos and i have NO short term memory left at all (I need to writer EVERYTHING down), and I also need 11-12 hours sleep a night to wake up resetd. and i'm basically an alcoholic

MY FRIEND WHO I PARTIED WITH for the above 3 years, followed by use every couple of weeks for 7ish years: Also on anti-depressents and benzos, major alcohol use too

ANOTHER FRIEND: 3 years of DAILY ice use, a gram a week plus for 3 years!! Kicked habit, now totally sober drug wise, has a mortgage, is married, drug free and very happy.

So my stats indicate 2 out of 3 seemed to have bad long term results.... even though person 3 went harder in a shorter period of time, perhaps it the long duration of my use that caused my mental state. My other acqaintances over the years have shown differnet results, although there are a few clear trends:

1) Get some sleep. Don't go for days and days. Know when to call it a night, and just get some fucken sleep. Sleep dep is just as harmful as the drug itself
2) Eat well, diet, and vitamins. Your body needs fuel. Nourish it and it will thank you
3) Dont use on weeknights
4) Avoid the needle. And avoid junkies. Avoid using Heroin to come off meth, i've seen a lot of smackheads start that way.
5) Get yourself some Valium or Xanax for your comedowns if you can. The long you use the worse your comedowns will become, and the less 'magic' the high will become. Fact!

Anyway last words is despite all this shit and my fucked up brain chemistry, I had a fuken ball and would do it all again! Im atually pretty happy in life so its all good


WC

BUT I LOVE THE SHIT AND CANT GIVE IT UP! But thats another thread...


WC