Meth Addiction Treatment

What Is Methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine, commonly called meth, is a stimulant drug that produces rapid highs that end in extreme crashes. Raw meth often appears as a white powdery substance; it can also be distributed or taken as a pill, tablet, or crystal. It releases dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that produce pleasurable feelings in your brain and body.

When these chemicals occur naturally, they stimulate your brain’s reward centers and make you feel good. For example, dopamine is often released during exercise, which makes us feel motivated and happy after a workout. These chemicals are addictive because they produce a “high” of pleasurable feelings when they flood the brain.

Methamphetamine is most commonly injected so that it absorbs quickly into your bloodstream. Injections also provide the longest high, lasting as long as four hours. Serotonin and dopamine production escalate while the high lasts. Once it’s over, you experience intense fatigue and depression as these chemicals are processed out of your brain’s neural pathways.

be produced and abused in multiple ways. It can be smoked, injected, and popped depending on users’ preference and the form of the drug they purchase. Since this drug is absorbed relatively quickly into the bloodstream and body tissues, the most common form of use is through injection for the fastest high. Injections also provide the longest high, lasting as long as four hours. Since the production of serotonin and dopamine is escalated during the time the high lasts, once it’s over, there is an intense amount of fatigue and depression as these chemicals are processed out of your brain’s pathways.

Side Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse and Addiction

Your brain is your body’s control center, keeping track of your body’s processes, including sleep rhythms, heartbeat, hunger, and energy levels. Long-term meth abuse alters how your brain functions and impacts the rest of your body. There are several common signs and behavioral changes of methamphetamine addiction:

Hypersomnia and insomnia
Heart rhythm irregularities and hypertension
Change in appetite producing severe weight loss
Erratic behaviors
Paranoia and depression
Skin lesions
Dental decay
Dehydration
Malnutrition
Increased risk of hepatitis and blood-borne illnesses such as HIV

If you are suffering from meth addiction, reach out to a local addiction treatment center or a national help hotline today. For assistance with addiction treatment in the East Texas area, contact Cypress Lake Recovery at 409-407-4976.

Addiction and Meth

Any drug that alters our brain chemistry is highly addictive. In the case of meth, which releases high quantities of dopamine and serotonin, it becomes addicting to feel that high every day. With the inevitable crash, trying to counteract the lows by getting high again is natural. Unfortunately, our brains are not equipped to create and handle such high dopamine and serotonin levels. When you are addicted, you can’t get enough. Your need for these chemicals increases while your brain produces less and less of them, so you use more and more substances to try to recreate the same levels of high that you were first able to achieve. This is known as drug tolerance and is almost always a precursor to addiction.

Once you are addicted to methamphetamine, it can become incredibly difficult to enjoy other things, including activities you used to love. Addiction changes your brain in tangible ways that make you act, think, and feel differently than you normally do. When using meth, you are conditioning your brain to need them to function and become detached from the rest of the world.

For Family Members and Friends:

Methamphetamine is extremely addictive and has dangerous side effects. These include depression, erratic behaviors, skin lesions, dental decay, and more. The high lasts longer than other stimulants, but the crash is often harder. If you are concerned about your loved one addicted to meth, contact Cypress Lakes for resources and help.

Detox

Before beginning the therapeutic aspects of treatment, you will detox to ensure the drug has fully left your system. Methamphetamine is highly addictive, and the detox stage can be difficult. Some symptoms of meth withdrawal are seizures, heart attack, nausea, coma, vomiting, cold sweats, breathing issues, uncontrolled shaking, and death. It’s important to detox in a medical facility equipped to handle the side effects and ensure that you detox safely.

Dual Diagnosis

We work with you to treat more than the side effects of drug use and help you recover past the important step of sobriety. Many people use drugs and develop addictions to self-medicate the symptoms of mental health disorders. For example, if you are dealing with clinical depression, you could become addicted to the effects of methamphetamine as a quick and seemingly easy way to feel happy.

When we treat a dual diagnosis of mental illness and addiction, we individualize the care based on your experiences and diagnoses. We put together a treatment plan to help you heal from your addiction and manage your mental health. Through integrative and innovative therapies, we can help our patients find complete recovery without relapse. Some of our therapies include:

We know that treating everything related to addiction, including mental health concerns or traumatic events that led to addiction, is the only way to ensure you can live a life free from relapse. We try to understand what you have been through that led you to seek recovery with us, as well as any past events that led you to drug abuse. It is our goal to give you the tools you need to feel happy and healthy every day without depending on meth.

Mood, Mental Health, and Meth Addiction

At Cypress Lake Recovery, we treat methamphetamine addiction with a holistic approach because we know that abuse of drugs like this can deeply affect the whole person. The changes that occur in the brain and body over the course of methamphetamine addiction can result in deep-seated physical and mental health problems ranging from chronic malnutrition to clinical depression or anxiety. In other cases, traumatic events or preexisting mental health concerns can lead to drug abuse and addiction as a coping mechanism. For example, patients dealing with clinical depression often become addicted to the effects of methamphetamine because it is a quick and seemingly easy way to feel happy.

Contact Cypress Lake Recovery

Addiction affects every aspect of your life. By seeking treatment at Cypress Lake Recovery, you commit to living free of substances. Cypress Lake Recovery offers a full suite of treatment options from detox through outpatient therapy, and we will guide you through every step. To reclaim your life today, please call us at 409-407-4976.