A lot of people do not realize how Amphetamine abuse ruins health. As such, they allow themselves to slip into its abuse, dependence and addiction. They have come to depend on it so much to the point of addiction.
Amphetamine abuse is a big deal and a huge cause for concern because of its many adverse effects on a user’s health. Amphetamine abuse can lead to a lot of undesirable results. In the worst-case scenario, these results may be life-threatening. That will not happen to you if you know and avoid Amphetamine abuse.
Like many other prescription drug addictions, people tend to downplay its effects on the user’s health and life. But we shouldn’t downplay the effects of these drugs. You must know how Amphetamine abuse can ruin your health. This will help you to stay clear and avoid falling into the slippery slope that is addiction and eventual dependence.
What are Amphetamines?
Amphetamines are prescription drugs that stimulate the central nervous system of the user. You can also call them psychostimulants. Doctors prescribe these drugs for treating conditions like ADHD, Parkinson’s disease and obesity.
Amphetamines are products of the ephedra plant that’s native to China and Mongolia. The ephedra plant has been used as a stimulant for treating asthma in many cultures for a long time. According to the NCCIH, the plant contains nitrogenous organic compounds that cause physiological responses in humans. These organic compounds are the main ingredients of Amphetamines.
However, Amphetamines are only legal with prescriptions from a doctor. This means you can’t acquire them legally without a doctor’s prescription. This is because the drug is highly addictive, and you may end up abusing it. Possession of Amphetamine without a doctor’s prescription can result in a prison sentence of up to 7 years in Canada.
Furthermore, there are two types of Amphetamines namely: methamphetamine (Meth) and dextroamphetamine. People abuse both types of amphetamines indiscriminately. However, methamphetamine abuse is perhaps more common.
What leads to Amphetamine abuse?
Amphetamine is an addictive psychostimulant. The stimulating effects it has on the central nervous system will make you feel good. This is why it is quite easy to become an addict to the drug. Two major factors can contribute to amphetamine abuse.
The first major factor that leads to abuse of Amphetamine is dependency on the drug. If you have come to depend on the drug, you will find yourself taking more than you need. Even if it’s a prescription from a doctor, if you depend on it too much for any reason, abuse is inevitable.
The other major factor that leads to Amphetamine is addiction. We can relate addiction to dependency, but they’re a little bit different. Addicts will depend on their object/subject of addiction, but depending on a drug doesn’t make you an addict. If you’re an addict, you will abuse the drug.
Drug abuse in the family or by peers also increases the risk of Amphetamine abuse. People who have PTSD are also prone to abusing stimulants like amphetamines. Other factors that can lead to abuse of the drugs are usually user-specific. They may be the user’s body composition, health conditions, etc.
Signs of Amphetamine abuse
Often, Amphetamine abuse either leads to addiction or is a result of addiction. Either way, amphetamine abuse directly relates to addiction. So we can say the signs of abuse are the same as the signs of addiction or impending addiction.
There are different ways to identify Amphetamine abuse and how it ruins health. This includes physical symptoms, mental symptoms, as well as behavioural changes. This will help you know if you or some close to you have been abusing Amphetamines.
Below are some of the symptoms of Amphetamine abuse/addiction.
- You experience a lack of appetite. Amphetamines are appetites suppressant, so you will often find yourself not feeling hungry for long stretches. Users often forget to eat most of the time. If you follow a prescription dosage, it won’t be enough to make you forget to eat. But when you take more than you should, it will suppress your appetite.
- You prefer snorting or sniffing the drug rather than swallowing it. Amphetamines are pills or tablets. But most addicts prefer methods that’ll make them feel good faster. Snorting transmits the drug directly to the brain, so it takes effect much faster. If you find yourself doing that, you’re already abusing the drug.
Snorting can also cause nose bleeding. So if you find someone who uses Amphetamine with a nosebleed, they may have been snorting the drug.
- Injection signs are also indicators of Amphetamine abuse. Just like snorting, injecting the liquid mixture of dissolved Amphetamines makes it work faster. If you also prefer this method, it’s an indicator of Amphetamine abuse.
- People also smoke Amphetamines. They melt the drugs and inhale the smoke through metal pipes. If you notice an unusual smell of Amphetamine, dark glass pipes with burn marks in them, someone has been smoking Amphetamine.
Some of the other health symptoms of Amphetamine abuse include:
- Increase in heart rate and blood pressure
- Body temperature increase
- Dilation of the pupils
- Insomnia (inability to sleep)
- Euphoria
- Aggressiveness
- Restlessness and hyperactivity
- Anxiety or nervousness
- Paranoia
- Dehydration
- Chest pain
- Amphetamine induced psychosis
- Nausea
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Side Effects of Amphetamine Abuse
When you use Amphetamine in a way you ought not to, it will have some negative effects. Regardless of your reasons for abusing the drug, it has side effects that you will have to deal with. There are long term and short term effects that range from moderate to severe.
Amphetamine abuse affects you in two major ways. It affects your health and then your life generally. If you’re not careful, it can ruin one or both of these parts of you.
Let’s look at how Amphetamine abuse ruins health and its long term implications.
How Amphetamine abuse ruins health
Amphetamine abuse often leads to a slew of health problems. Even if you were using it to treat a condition, abusing it will create another health problem. Amphetamine abuse causes;
Hyperthermia
One of the effects of Amphetamine is an increase in body temperature. Abuse of the drug can cause your body temperature to go beyond healthy levels for a human. This can result in feverish symptoms and lead to other complications.
Heart complications
Consuming too many Amphetamines can lead to irregular heartbeat, which can trigger other cardiovascular issues. The drug stimulates the central nervous system (CNS). In other words, taking too much of it will cause your CNS to work faster.
This, in turn, makes your heart beat faster, pumping more blood and heating up your body. Your heart working faster than the normal rate is not good news.
According to a HealthDay news report, abuse of Amphetamine can cause the heart and arteries to age faster. This was discovered by a team of researchers who assessed arterial stiffening in 700 subjects. They discovered that most people who abused amphetamines had arteries worn with age.
Ageing also weakens the heart and the arteries. This can then lead to cardiovascular issues like heart failure, strokes and heart attacks. Ultimately, it can lead to life-ending results.
Brain complications
This explains a lot about how Amphetamine abuse ruins health. Amphetamines affect the brain more than every other part of the body that’s not part of the CNS.
So you’ll feel most of its adverse effects in your brain when you abuse the drug. In fact, most of the symptoms of abuse listed above are results of irregular brain activities.
An NCBI report says that chronic users of Amphetamines experience abnormalities in brain chemistry, structure and functions. It prevents sleep, causes paranoia, anxiety, and other things that can hamper your brain’s normal functioning.
Lung and throat complications
Depending on how you use Amphetamines, it can directly affect your lungs and throat. The practice of melting and smoking Amphetamine is becoming widespread due to its faster effects.
However, this increases the chances of health complications affecting the lungs. You risk damaging your lungs when you smoke Amphetamines.
According to NIDA, when you abuse Amphetamine (even by ingesting), it can conscript your blood vessels. Blood vessel conscription can damage the lungs, and the results may be fatal.
A report by the ERJ open research also ties Amphetamine abuse with high rates of lung infection. Some of those infections include acute respiratory failure and pneumonia, among others. Regardless of whether you’re smoking, swallowing or injecting it, abusing Amphetamine can mess with your lungs.
Contracting or worsening infectious diseases
If you use amphetamines via injections, you risk contracting diseases like Hepatitis and HIV. It’s easy to contract these diseases thanks to bodily fluid present on already used drug equipment.
Also, for people who already have existing health conditions like HIV/AIDS, Amphetamine abuse can worsen its progression. According to DrugAbuse.Gov, HIV conditions may get severe for people on amphetamines compared to others.
How Amphetamine abuse affects your life
When you understand how Amphetamine abuse can ruin your health, you can easily put the pieces together. You can already guess some of its effects on your life.
The effects of amphetamine abuse on life can be all or any of the following.
Addiction Problems
Addiction is a serious risk that comes with Amphetamines abuse. Addiction is less likely to occur from therapeutic uses. However, heavy recreational use will lead to addiction. It also contributes to how Amphetamine abuse ruins health.
The continuous recreational use of Amphetamine increases the level of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a brain chemical that makes activities feel good and satisfying. The ability of the drug to rapidly release a lot of dopamine in the brain reinforces addictive behaviour. It makes the user want to experience the feeling over and over again.
When addiction gets worse, you’ll start to exhibit some of the health problems we have described above. In situations like this, it’s best to get expert Amphetamine addiction treatment at a world-class treatment facility.
Recurring health and psychological problems
Some of the health effects of the abuse of Amphetamine may be lifetime health conditions. These health conditions then become a burden for life. This is a sad, life-changing result of Amphetamine abuse.
It can lead to brain damage, lung damage, heart ageing and many other irreversible conditions. Being irreversible, the victims will have to live with these conditions for the rest of their lives. These health conditions are terrible and can ruin anybody’s life.
Behavioural changes
Behavioural changes are some of the commonest results of meth abuse. It often leads to restlessness, hyperactivity, paranoia, anxiety, aggressiveness and many other issues.
If the abuse continues for the long term, these new behavioural changes can become normal for the user. If a seemingly gentle person suddenly becomes restless, hyperactive and very aggressive, it’s probably a result of drug abuse.
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Amphetamine Abuse: You Need Help
Amphetamine abuse is a big deal, and you cannot beat it on your own. Even with help, it will be quite challenging to deal with it. This is because chronic use of the drug changes the brain structure over time. And it often has severe withdrawal symptoms like depression and loss of pleasure.
Nevertheless, there are therapies that can help get you back on track. These rehab therapies will help you get your happiness back and set you on the road to recovery. Do not hide your addiction. Please seek Amphetamine addiction treatment in Toronto if you think you’re addicted.
Conclusion
Knowing how amphetamine abuse ruins health is important to discourage the abuse of the drug. It will help you be aware of how ugly things can get if you get into drug abuse. Now, you know better than to let yourself fall into it.
If you’re an addict already, there’s still hope for you. You can still get your life back with help. Here at Addiction Rehab, we offer you that help now.
Our Amphetamine addiction treatment programs are handled by professionals with multiple years of experience. More importantly, we can develop custom programs to help you get rid of your unique challenges. We care about you, and we will do all we can to help you recover. Get in touch with us today!
