Medical complications of prescription drugs

Addictions and medical complications

Part 4 

Methamphetamine: Managing the Medical Complications of Addictive Drugs

Methamphetamine is easy to manufacture and highly addictive.  This drug was one that we only had limited exposure to for the early years of our treatment center (in the mid 1980s) but throughout the 1990s and new millennium this drug has become an incredible destroyer of lives.
Methamphetamine’s appeal is really widespread across society. The drug is popular with bikers and in poor rural areas, and also abused in high schools and colleges in the upper middle class parts of society.  Also, we see a lot of older meth users as well as teenagers who experiment with it.

Methamphetamine in recent years has really become commonly ingested as crystal methamphetamine or “crystal meth”(pictured).  But in past years there was a wider variety of forms including pills (like “black bennies”), and “crank” – a whitish-yellow version of the home made drug.

Poisonous and Dangerous

The mental effects of recovering from a speed addiction are extremely numerous and warrant an entire article unto itself.  Treating patients who are dependent on stimulant drugs often requires psychiatric medication and close supervision to manage their moods which can be extremely low due to the unbelievable surge of dopamine that the patient is accustomed to experiencing.

This article will focus on the physical damage and symptoms that we look for in meth addicted clients. There are plenty of dangers and this is only a partial list.  The drug is utterly destructive to the human body.  Every part of the body it touches it destroys.  Since the drug is often snorted intranasally, the nasal membranes (and the brain) are corroded by it.  Speed can also be “shot” intravenously and smoked (causing tons of damage to the lungs and heart).

Stimulant Side Effects

Our previous article about cocaine outlines many of the side effects and medical complications of stimulant drug.  Effects include:

  • Hypertension
  • Tachyucardia
  • Arrhythmias
  • Stroke
  • Cardiac valve sclerosis
  • Pulmonary hypertension

Dental Complications

The phenomenon of “meth mouth” is caused by the decreased production of saliva while the user is on the drug.  This is a result of sympathetic activity, lack of food intake, and increased caraving for sugary drinks and snacks (and poor oral hygiene).

Neurological Damage

Methamphetamine users end up suffering from poor cognitive functioning and emotions such as paranoia and depression.  These symptoms are believed to be caused by neuropathologic changes in the brain.

List of Symptoms Screened for in Methamphetamine Patients:

Cardiovascular Symptoms:

  • Cardiomyopathy
  • TachyCardia
  • Arrhytmias
  • Hypertensive crisis
  • Myocardial infarction

Pulmonary Symptoms:

  • Respitory Failure
  • Pneumonia

Gastrointestinal Symptoms:

  • Tooth decay (meth mouth)
  • Hepatotoxicity
  • Bruxism
  • Xerostomia
  • Hepatitis infection
  • Neurologic
  • Cerebral infarct
  • Seizures
  • Blurred vision
  • Obtundation

Other Symptoms of Meth Addiction:

  • Jaw Clenching
  • Aplastic anemia
  • Hyperthermia
  • Excessive Sweating
  • Muscle cramping