Initially, when methamphetamine (meth), also known as crystal, first started being abused, it was by white, male, blue-collar workers but this has changed and is now being used by our school children, as young as 13. The spread of meth addiction includes anything from the homeless to industries that require long hours of alertness and physical endurance, like long haul truckers.
Meth addiction is fast becoming a serious problem. Besides the obvious consequences of any form of addiction and the "need" for the addict to get his or her regular "fix" with its attendant potential for crime, there are the physical side effects that include some serious nerve damage.
The effects of methamphetamine are related to its action as a potent central nervous system stimulant affecting the body's mechanisms for regulating heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, appetite, attention, mood, alertness and alarm responses.

Meth alters the user's mood in different ways, depending on how it was taken. Smoking it, for example, gives a rush which only lasts for a few minutes while snorting or swallowing it will induce a high feeling, resulting in euphoria (a feeling of great happiness or well-being).

The pleasurable effects in meth addiction disappear so rapidly that increased and more frequent use is needed to maintain the desired effect in the addict. Meth addiction results in the user going on binges lasting for days at a time. They forego food, drop their hygiene and sleep as they pursue the "rush" of binging.

Long term use leads to brain damage as the nerve pathways ability to communicate throughout the body start to "die" off. It can be compared to someone suffering with a degenerative brain disease.

Side effects of meth overdose include brain damage, meningitis, neuro-toxicity, sensations of the flesh crawling with bugs, compulsive picking at infected sores, severe headache, muscle breakdown and kidney failure. There are currently no medications available to treat methamphetamine overdose.
So, after all these severe reality factors, is there anything that you can do to help a loved one out of the clutches of pending disaster?

Yes, fortunately, there is. Obviously meth addiction started off as a result of some inability to deal with a problem earlier and addiction became the solution to being unable to deal with a life situation. However, this aspect of the person's getting over the meth addiction cannot be addressed initially. In the same way you cannot reason with a drunk, you cannot reason with someone under the effects of meth.

The first step would be to rid their body of the toxins. Before you can even consider addressing the source of the problem you have to do this step. It has to be done completely naturally, without the use of further drugs. You don't want to replace one addiction for another!

A full detox program that consists of sweating out the toxic residues, along with an exercise, vitamin and mineral regimen and caring facilitators is the first step towards rehabilitating someone from the effects of meth addiction.
Once this has been fully accomplished, the next step is helping them to discover for themselves the reason they became addicted in the first place.

There are very precise steps for doing this. There is not another person in the whole world who can tell him why he did it. He is the only one who knows. This is a very important aspect for his recovery. He will get no evaluation from anyone as that is far more damaging for him than can be imagined.

The next phase is to get him to get through some simple training steps to provide him with the data he needs to handle his life and resolve his problems without the further use of drugs. Once this phase is over, he will undergo an apprenticeship before embarking on his new life.

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Steve Anderson writes online articles to help drug addicts. For more see Methamphetamine or Meth Addiction