|
CounselingSeattle.com
|
Acronyms used by Therapists
The
Consumer Questions
Site Map
RESOURCE INDEX
Health & Mental Health Alerts
|
Methamphetamines
February 2006: King County Health Department has established Meth Lab Cleanup Webpages. The purpose is to provide information about the health dangers that methamphetamine (meth) labs can pose to a community, and provide an opportunity for King County residents to get updates on the status of meth lab cleanups in their neighborhood.
Adapted from: Mind Over Matter
Methamphetamine Series
[ treatment outcomes ] [ newspaper articles ]
National Institute on Drug Abuse · National Institutes of HealthThe Brain's Response to
MethamphetamineSpeed, meth, chalk, crystal, ice, glass. These are all names for the drug methamphetamine. Methamphetamine comes in many different forms and is snorted, swallowed, injected, or smoked. The smokable form is known as "ice" or "crystal," due to its appearance.
Methamphetamine is a powerful drug. It acts by changing how the brain works. It also speeds up many functions in the body. Methamphetamine has a chemical structure that is similar to another drug called amphetamine. Methamphetamine can cause lots of harmful things, including inability to sleep, paranoia, aggressiveness, and hallucinations.
Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells (or neurons). Neurons come in all shapes and sizes, but most have three important parts: a cell body that contains the nucleus and directs the activities of the neuron; dendrites, short fibers that receive messages from other neurons and relay them to the cell body; and an axon, a long single fiber that carries messages from the cell body to dendrites of other neurons.
Axons of one neuron and the dendrites of a neighboring neuron are located very close to each other, but they don't actually touch. Therefore, to communicate with each other they use chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. When one neuron wants to send a message to another neuron it releases a neurotransmitter from its axon into the small space that separates the two neurons. This space is called a synapse. The neurotransmitter crosses the synapse and attaches to specific places on the dendrites of the neighboring neuron called receptors. Once the neurotransmitter has relayed its message, it is either destroyed or taken back up into the first neuron where it is recycled for use again.
There are many different neurotransmitters, but the one that is most affected by methamphetamine is dopamine. Dopamine is sometimes called the pleasure neurotransmitter because it helps you feel good from things like playing soccer, eating a big piece of chocolate cake, or riding a roller coaster. When something pleasurable happens, certain axons release lots of dopamine. The dopamine attaches to receptors on dendrites of neighboring neurons and passes on the pleasure message. This process is stopped when dopamine is released from the receptors and pumped back into the neuron that released it where it is stored for later use.
Usually neurons recycle dopamine. But methamphetamine is able to fool neurons into taking it up just like they would dopamine. Once inside a neuron, methamphetamine causes that neuron to release lots of dopamine. All this dopamine causes the person to feel an extra sense of pleasure that can last all day. But eventually these pleasurable effects stop. They are followed by unpleasant feelings called a "crash" that often lead a person to use more of the drug. If a person continues to use methamphetamine, they will have a difficult time feeling pleasure from anything. Imagine no longer enjoying your favorite food or an afternoon with your friends.
Methamphetamine has lots of other effects
Because it is similar to dopamine, methamphetamine can change the function of any neuron that contains dopamine. And if this weren't enough, methamphetamine can also affect neurons that contain two other neurotransmitters called serotonin and norepinephrine. All of this means that methamphetamine can change how lots of things in the brain and the body work. Even small amounts of methamphetamine can cause a person to be more awake and active, lose their appetite, and become irritable and aggressive. Methamphetamine also causes a person's blood pressure to increase and their heart to beat faster.
What happens if a person uses
methamphetamine for a long time?Scientists are using brain imaging techniques, like positron emission tomography (called PET for short), to study the brains of human methamphetamine users. They have discovered that even three years after long-time methamphetamine users had quit using the drug, their dopamine neurons were still damaged. Scientists don't know yet whether this damage is permanent, but this research shows that changes in the brain from methamphetamine use can last a long time. Research with animals has shown that the drug methamphetamine can also damage neurons that contain serotonin. This damage also continues long after the drug use is stopped.
These changes in dopamine and serotonin neurons may explain some of the effects of methamphetamine. If a person uses methamphetamine for a long time, they may become paranoid. They may also hear and see things that aren't there. These are called hallucinations. Because methamphetamine causes big increases in blood pressure, someone using it for a long time may also have permanent damage to blood vessels in the brain. This can lead to strokes caused by bleeding in the brain.
The Search Continues
Researchers are only beginning to understand how methamphetamine acts in the brain and body. When they learn more about how methamphetamine causes its effects, they may be able to develop treatments that prevent or reverse the damage this drug can cause.
Methamphetamine in Rural Areas
The government's methamphetamine website
For printed copies of this publication contact:
National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
P.O. Box 2345
Rockville, MD 20847
1-800-729-6686Mind Over Matter is produced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. These materials are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Citation of the source is appreciated.
NIH Publication No.00-4394. Printed 2000
"Rural areas struggle with epidemic of meth addicts--Washington had second-most lab seizures in nation, feds say" (article by Hal Bernton, Seattle Times staff reporter, September 9, 2001
(Methamphetamine) "...is a stimulant, once offered to World War II soldiers to keep them alert in combat. It was embraced by '60s motorcycle gangs, who marketed it as speed. And in small amounts--and in pharmaceutically refined form--it has prescribed uses to treat attention-deficit disorder, narcolepsy and obesity.
"But the home-cooked meth, sometimes rife with impurities, is consumed in prodigious amounts by the addicts, and casual use can quickly transform to addiction. It's a cheap high, with a line of meth--enough to produce a high for four to six hours--often selling for $15 to $20.
"Meth "tweakers" may binge for days or even weeks. They forgo sleep and food, and often become skittish, irritable or paranoid. Their teeth rot. And they often lose tremendous amounts of weight.
"Studies indicate that meth use also does less-visible damage. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, meth attacks the nerve endings of brain cells containing dopamine, a chemical messenger that plays a role in movement and pleasure.
"Human-brain imaging suggests that the damage persists for at least three years after people quit the drug and is similar--but less extensive--than that caused by Parkinson's disease...."
Methamphetamine Treatment Outcomes
A study conducted as part of the Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment--Methamphetamine Treatment Project-- found that half of the participants resumed methamphetamine use. 36% of these within six months following treatment, and 15 percent more within seven to 19 months. [Webmaster's interpretation: Half of the participants stayed drug free.]
Predictors of relapse were short length of treatment, older age of first substance use, involvement in selling methamphetamine, and previous treatment experience. [Brecht, Von Mayrhauser & Anglin (2001, in press). Predictors of relapse after treatment for methamphetamine use. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.] see also: RPT
Methamphetamine Resources on the Internet
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 2004, " Evils of meth abuse take grim toll on addict, society"
Injured methamphetamine users stay in the hospital longer and have higher hospital charges.
The Seattle Times, September 10, 2004, " Road to Recovery a Bumpy One," is the story of a man's recovery from methamphetamine addiction and his experiences with the Drug Court.
MethamphetamineAddiction.com has some excellent material, including the history of methamphetamine, methamphetamine information, and "ice" information (the potent, smokable form of methamphetamine which resembles rock candy or a chip of ice).
Links to National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) fact sheets, research and other publications on Methamphetamine. NIDA Research reports.
On the website for the "Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, " Volume 32(2) of the journal is devoted to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Methamphetamine Treatment Project. Copies may be ordered there.
See the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) Spills Reporting page for information about how to report a methamphetamine site and links to the DOE spills home web page for statistics about lab cleanup.
The Washington Department of Health Clandestine Drug Lab Program maintains an information page.
GayCrystalMeth.com - A good starting point for finding Twelve Step and othergatherings in different locations, all focusing on the needs of gay men and lesbians. Nationwide listing and links to gay, lesbian, bisexual, andtransgender CMA groups.
| | Drugs--Table of Contents | | To top | |
| | CounselingSeattle.com | | Counselor Initials & Acronyms | | Recommended Books | | Consumer Questions | | Government Sites | Consumer Alerts | | Site Map | | Links Central | | Professional Organizations | | Support Groups | | Client Problems | | Services for Disabled Persons | | |
|| To Top ||