Methamphetamine page 6

For a detailed look at how methamphetamine affects the brain, you'll find that in the specific section on the menu to the left. (Meth & The Brain). However in this section, we want to outline how meth is actually used, as well as some of the "results" and "outcomes" meth users achieve when they use it.

Unlike alcohol and certain drugs that tend to "down you out," meth is the ultimate stimulant. And methamphetamine puts your entire mind and body on high alert. Everything becomes sharper, inhibitions drop and fade away, and there's a sense you can do anything. To be perfectly honest, once you listen to people talk about their emotional experiences in the very early stages of using meth, you begin to appreciate why this drug is so profoundly addictive. One thing seems patently clear, and this is true of virtually all forms of substance abuse - The lousier you felt about yourself and your life in general before you used meth, the more incredible the meth experience will be for you. That's why drugs affect everyone differently - it depends on where you start.

Go to a couple of meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, or Cocaine Anonymous, and you'll hear people say "I was addicted from the very first moment I tried it." And they're not kidding - they were. For those people, the substance was so liberating for them, made them feel so much better than the way they normally felt, psychologically they were addicted instantly.

But clearly, not everyone who tries alcohol or cocaine is instantly addicted. If they were, 90% of everyone in the world would be in recovery. So contrary to popular belief, and a ton of propaganda and misinformation, not everyone is affected by methamphetamine in exactly the same way. And as a result, not everyone who tries methamphetamine once or twice becomes "instantly" addicted to it. There are far too many factors involved for that to be possible, not the least of which is that human beings aren't created out of a cookie-cutter and as we said, we all respond to drugs a little differently.

Having said that, we'll also stress that all other factors being equal, methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug because it is the king when it comes to releasing dopamine in the brain, which is the brain's "feel-good" chemical. So while some are able to dabble with methamphetamine, we don't know very many people that fall into that category. In our experience, for the vast majority of people, getting involved with methamphetamine is an absolute disaster. Not always in the short-term, but long-term, there's no such thing as a happy, contented, functional meth addict.

So make no mistake, methamphetamine is highly addictive. Some people back away from that first rush of meth euphoria and from a psychological perspective, they are completely and utterly addicted - bang - right off the bat. For this type of user, the euphoria they achieve in the early stages of meth use has lifted the equivalent of a two ton weight from their shoulders. It's made bad self-perceptions evaporate, it's made everything seem "perfect," and it's given them the feeling that they can do, be, or have anything. And you don't have to be an addictions expert to realize that achieving those kind of mental states is highly addictive.

So at least in the early stages of use, methamphetamine lives up to its advertising. If you're shy and have low self-esteem, you'll become outgoing, confident, and even cocky. If you suffer from a low sexual drive, or you have a high degree of sexual inhibition, there's a good chance that under the influence of a drug like crystal meth, (and perhaps some "piggy-backed" Viagra) you will become extremely sexual, and sexual inhibitions are gone. And if you have trouble concentrating and maintaining focus, your concentration and focus will increase and sharpen to the point of being manic under the influence of methamphetamine.

And if you need to do more and have more energy, you'll get it. And if you've always had trouble losing weight, you will lose weight, because once you're on "the meth diet," those time wasters like eating and sleeping are no longer a problem. In the beginning, meth delivers on every one of its promises. The bottom-line is that in the beginning, meth produces a pleasure in your brain quite unlike anything you've ever felt before.

But like almost everything in life, there's no "free lunch" with methamphetamine. In exactly the steep, exaggerated arc that meth takes you up, it brings you down in an equally exaggerated manner. And one of the most important things that people should know who are considering using meth is that when it's done with you, it doesn't leave you where it found you. It leaves you in a much worse place that will take tremendous effort to get out of.

And that's what we're going to discuss on the next page. We know what you "get" when you begin using methamphetamine. Let's have a look at what you lose when you use methamphetamine.