The prevalence of illicit use of the stimulant methamphetamine in the US has been increasing in recent years. In line with that comes the risk of a meth overdose.
Knowing what to do and when to seek help is crucial in maintaining the safety of the person who’s experiencing an overdose. Read along if you want to know more.
What is Methamphetamine?
Methamphetamine is a powerful, man-made stimulant drug. Its potent form is illegally sold on the streets. However, there’s also a weaker variation called Desoxyn. It’s often prescribed to treat people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The drug affects the person’s central nervous system (CNS), which contains the brain and spinal cord. When they ingest the stronger, illegal form of the drug, a surge of dopamine and norepinephrine occurs. This makes them feel euphoric, increases their energy, and makes them feel invulnerable.
However, the downside is it’s highly addictive. While the initial effects of meth cause euphoria, it’s often followed by severe depression, apathy, and hopelessness. Overall, it decreases their level of dopamine and serotonin.
What Causes a Methamphetamine Overdose?
Meth overdose can happen in an acute, short-term event. It could be that the person has taken the drug accidentally or has ingested too much.
Overdose can also occur as a chronic, continuing event. That’s because the drug, once ingested, can stay in a person’s system for a long time. If meth is taken on top of the remaining residue from previous sessions, this can also lead to overdose.
How Much Meth Does it Take to Overdose?
For a person to overdose on meth means they have gone over their threshold. However, that limit can vary from person to person.
The amount of meth ingested is important, but personal factors such as age, weight, and meth tolerance are also crucial. Mental and physical well-being, such as high blood pressure, are also considered.
Aside from personal factors, the dosage and method of ingestion are also important variables in whether a person will overdose or not. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, meth can be ingested orally or through smoking, snorting, and injecting. Smoke and injection are the most potent way of experiencing meth.
Some use meth with other drugs, such as opioids, which is also a significant factor in meth overdose.
Symptoms of a Meth Overdose
Signs of a meth overdose can result in hyperthermia, heart attack, stroke, seizure, and slow or no breathing.
Hyperthermia
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Intense headache
- Dark urine
- Dizziness
- High body temperature
- Red, hot, or dry skin
- Pale or clammy skin
Heart Attack, Stroke, or Seizure
- Racing heart rate
- Unable to walk or move
- Numb limbs or spasms
- Slurring or jumbling speech
- Intense headache
- Confusion
- Shaking
- Chest pain
Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Use Disorder
- Difficulty breathing
- Snoring or gurgling sounds
- Vomiting
- Unable to wake up
- Blue or gray skin or lips
How Do You Treat an Overdose of Meth?
Immediately call 911 and seek medical attention from a professional before you do any intervention on someone’s drug overdose. Although it’s relatively rare, meth overdose is life-threatening, so trusting a professional to take care of that person is important.
After you call for help, keeping the person safe while help is on the way is essential. Understanding that if someone is experiencing meth overdose, at the moment, they have momentarily lost their mental faculties, and stopping them from harming themselves is important.
If they’re having seizures, put them in a cushioned space to keep themselves away from injury. It’s also a good idea to keep sharp objects away.
If they’re nauseous or vomiting, keep their head and bodies sideways so they don’t choke on themselves.
Check their pulse for a beat, and if you can’t feel it, do chest compression.
If they stop breathing, it’s best to do rescue breathing or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). If you’re unsure how to do it, the 911 operator can guide you.
No medication can help alleviate meth overdose. However, if the person has taken opioids – commonly used with meth — administering Narcan (Naloxone) can help. This medicine can only reverse opioid overdose, but it doesn’t affect crystal meth overdose.
Administering Narcan, even though there’s no opioid overdose, is not life-threatening. So it’s a good preventative measure if you’re not sure if the person took opioids with meth or not.
Signs of Methamphetamine Addiction
Anxiety and Psychosis
Anxiety and psychotic ideation are relatively high in people who have an ongoing history of meth. Psychosis can include:
- Delusions: False beliefs in which the person that holds it can’t be convinced otherwise despite clear evidence of the contrary. It’s often accompanied by paranoia. The belief should not be a product of a person’s culture or religion.
- Hallucinations: False sensory experiences.
- Disorganized speech: A person’s speech doesn’t seem to follow logic.
- Disorganized behavior: Erratic behaviors that don’t seem to have a goal.
Anger Issues and Violent Behavior
Anger issues and violent behaviors are common symptoms of meth addiction. Although there’s a difference in how it’s manifested based on the person’s gender, it’s important not to fall into harmful gender stereotypes.
It’s reported that women struggling with drug abuse are having problems controlling their anger.
Men who are also struggling with addiction are reported to be more violent, but they tend to deny that anger is a factor. They often believe that their aggression and violence were justified.
Depression and Attempted Suicide
A period of anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure, is present months after the last methamphetamine use.
Aside from that, depression in people who are struggling with drug abuse tend to have recurring negative thoughts. They are often self-critical, blaming themselves for being failures. In reaction to that, they feel they deserve punishment and expect to be punished in some form in the future.
Crystal Meth Addiction Treatment
The two most promising treatment options for the substance abuse of meth are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and contingency management (CM).
Cognitive-Behavioral therapy
CBT, as a treatment program for meth addiction, is primarily used to help recovering people from abstaining and relapsing from meth.
The inference of CBT is that a person’s behavior is fueled by their mental processes, such as thoughts and feelings. A person’s stress, for example, might trigger the urge to use meth, and that process between their cognition and behavior can become automatic.
The therapist’s responsibility in a treatment center is to intervene and help the recovering person break the mental and behavioral cycle. The recovering person might still get stressed, but they are taught healthier ways of coping.
Contingency Management
CM aims to reward recovering people for being sober from meth. For example, incentives like food vouchers that can be exchanged for money are given if the recovering person presents a drug-free urine sample or any other relevant demonstration of being sober.
Withdrawal Symptoms of Meth Addiction
A person who wants to recover from meth addiction should expect the withdrawal symptoms to peak within the first 24 hours. However, it will start to decline during the first week.
First Week
It’s common for recovering people to eat and sleep more during this period. It’s also expected to have depressive and psychotic symptoms during the first week of abstinence. However, the good news is that it usually doesn’t last more than a week.
After the First Week
While the paranoia, psychotic, and depressive symptoms tend to disappear in the first week, the cravings usually last longer, at least five weeks.
Overcome Meth Use with Our Support at Luxe Recovery
There are effective ways of making sure that a person who’s showing signs of an overdose of meth is safe. However, the most constructive intervention is to quit ingesting the drug altogether with the help of a mental health service. Luxe Recovery can help you or someone you love who wants to recover from substance abuse.
