Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Crystal Methamphetamine
What Are the Realities?
After a few uses, and while coming down from the drug between hits, the pain, depression, and drug cravings associated with withdrawal become more and more intense requiring more and more meth to feel even close to normal. Heart attacks, strokes, psychosis, tooth decay, body sores and a host of other health conditions occur as a result of the many toxins in meth.
According to Dr. Bill MacEwan, B.C., 10 – 20% of meth abusers experience psychosis.2 Two patterns of psychotic onset occur: either increasing in severity that eventually persists, how long is unknown at this time, or suddenly after minimal use.2 This is often due to a genetic predisposition, not always apparent, or for other reasons not fully understood yet. Mental illnesses such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and eating disorders often develop as well.
What is the prognosis for the addict?
Tragically, when a child becomes addicted to crystal meth the prognosis is not good. Their family, for several reasons can do very little to help no matter how hard they try. They eventually find they are forced to watch helplessly while their child’s health rapidly declines along with their ability to function. Here’s why:
- Statistics on the prognosis for recovery are not attainable at this time. However, from what we hear from professionals in the drug and alcohol field, and from what some of us have experienced, permanent recovery (lifetime) is estimated at below 10%.
- Voluntary abstinence and treatment is uncommon, especially the longer term the usage, as methamphetamine alters brain chemistry and function, usually resulting in a stubborn denial of addiction.
