How To Help Someone With Meth Addiction

Three: Seek Addiction Treatment For The Individual

Methamphetamine addiction treatment can be found in an inpatient and outpatient capacity as well as in long-term, short-term, and at free clinics. Fortunately, there are many resources for someone looking for methamphetamine addiction treatment, including directories such as SAMHSAs treatment facility locator.

According to the NIDAs Principles of Effective Treatment, treatment does not need to be voluntary to be effective. In the case that the individual cannot be reasoned into attending treatment, inpatient centers often allow others to make that decision. Sanctions or enticements from family, employment settings, and/or the criminal justice system can significantly increase treatment entry, retention rates, and the ultimate success of drug treatment interventions.

If you seek treatment for the individual and they either voluntarily or involuntarily attend, they will be given

• Medication to help curb the symptoms of withdrawal as well as any issues with stimulant-induced psychosis
• Therapy sessions that will teach them how to fight their cravings and avoid triggers
• Treatment for any co-occurring mental disorders as well as immediate treatment for any harmful physical ailments caused by the drug abuse
• A safe environment in which to heal
• The ability to see how their addiction is hurting them as well as you

Dedicated To You At Every Stage Of Recovery

Many of our founding staff members have dealt with addiction themselves. We understand that recovery is a process, not just a destination. When you turn to our team, we will be with you throughout every stage of your recovery.

Whether you are concerned about a loved one or family member, or you feel that you may need professional addiction treatment help yourself, you have already taken an important first step in visiting this website. We encourage you to reach out to us today to learn more about theadmissions process and how we can help you or your loved one begin healing.

Learn more about our family-focused addiction treatment programs when you call.

The Dos And Donts Of Helping A Loved One With An Addiction

Once youve noticed the signs of addiction in your loved one like an Alcohol Addiction or an Opioid Addiction, for example youll need to know how to talk to and treat them in a way that is positive and helpful. There are several ways to do this, some easy to practice and others that require a little more effort and understanding on your part. Here are a few dos and donts for helping a loved one deal with addiction:

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Do: Seek Counseling Or Therapy

Addiction affects everyone, from the person in treatment to their loved ones. Its important to ensure youre well enough to manage the potential stress of helping someone dealing with addiction. Acknowledging that you may be in over your head and in need of professional help is normal and healthy. Its also necessary for you to help your loved one to the best of your abilities.

Rehab For Crystal Meth Addiction

If youre ready to start the crystal meth recovery process or to help a loved one get help, you can prepare to speak with a treatment center admissions consultant by having the following pieces of information handy:

• How long you or your loved one has used meth
• How much meth you use, and how often
• Where you live
• You or your loved ones age
• Your health insurance info

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How To Help Someone Struggling With Meth Addiction

Seeing someone struggling with meth addiction is often a long and heartbreaking journey. While it may be difficult and oftentimes uncomfortable to confront a loved one about their struggles, it is important to know that doing so can potentially save their life. Your words of encouragement and concern could be the catalyst they need to finally seek help.

If your son, daughter, parent, friend, or loved one is abusing meth:

• Educate yourself as much as possible about addiction before you speak to them so you can better understand what they are experiencing.
• Be careful of your tone. Focus on compassion rather than being judgmental.
• Tell them about your concerns and offer your support in their journey to recovery. Do not wait for them to hit “rock bottom” before speaking up.
• Urge them to seek professional help. Be persistent about the importance of seeking treatment, but do not make them feel ashamed.
• If they enter treatment, stay involved and follow up with them regularly. Continue supporting them throughout every step of recovery.
• If your loved one refuses to acknowledge an obvious problem, consider staging an intervention with the help of a licensed professional.

Using Confrontational Or Aggressive Language

You probably feel scared, worried, sad, even angry or quite possibly all of the above.

Its helpful to keep calm when talking to your loved one, but you dont have to refrain from showing any emotion. Openness and honesty in both your words and feelings can show them just how important they are and how much you care about them.

That said, no matter how distressed you feel, avoid:

• shouting or raising your voice
• swearing
• threats or attempts to manipulate them into quitting
• closed-off body language, like crossing your arms or leaning back
• an accusatory or harsh tone of voice
• stigmatizing terms, including things like junkie, tweaker, or meth head

Try to keep your voice low and reassuring. Lean toward them instead of away. Try to relax your posture.

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How Is Meth Similar And Different To Amphetamine

Similarly, to amphetamine, methamphetamine caused the following symptoms:

• Increased talkativeness and activity
• Pleasurable sense or well-being or euphoria

The biggest difference between methamphetamine and amphetamines is that methamphetamine in higher doses, as the drug travels to the brain, becomes a potent stimulant. For that reason, an intervention crystal meth-related will be pivotal.

Getting Supportive Measures At Meth Detox Centers

After a day or two of detox, meth withdrawal symptoms can quickly drive even the most determined person back to using again without the necessary supports in place.

Meth withdrawal symptoms can be highly unsettling compared to withdrawal symptoms produced by other substances. Supportive measures can offer relief for physical and psychological symptoms.

Detox centers offer services that can help people safely recover from meth dependence. Medications and alternative therapies can help prevent discomfort during meth withdrawal. Inpatient detox facilities also provide 24-hour oversite and a controlled environment for recovery. These facilities help ensure patients can transition into a rehab center to follow up a detox treatment.

Treatment center programs employ a range of methods designed to motivate addicts throughout the recovery process. By combining therapy with ongoing guidance, treatment centers give the best chance at beating a meth addiction.

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Signs Of Meth Addiction

People who are addicted to meth will show signs of stimulant use disorder. These symptoms include:

• Taking larger amounts of meth or taking meth for a longer period of time than planned

• Unsuccessful attempts to cut down or quit

• Giving up activities that they once valued due to meth

• The inability to keep up with responsibilities at home, work, or school

• Spending significant time getting, using, or recovering from meth

• Using meth despite social and relationship problems

• Cravings for meth

• Using meth in risky situations

• Using meth despite it causing or worsening physical or mental health problems

• A need for more meth to feel the same effects over time

• Withdrawal

In addition to symptoms of stimulant use disorder, people who are addicted to meth often show changes in their behavior, personality, and appearance, such as:

• Meth mouth, which includes dental problems and jaw pain

• Skin sores due to excessive scratching

• Weight loss

People who use meth are more likely to be:

• Unpredictable

• Easily annoyed

• Aggressive or violent

Their behavior often changes depending on whether they are high on meth or recovering from using. While high, a person may appear energetic, restless, and euphoric. After they come down from the high, their behavior may shift dramatically, and they may seem more tired, irritable, and depressed.

People who use meth over a long period of time are also at risk of developing psychosis. This can include symptoms like:

Committing To The Decision

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Know The Warning Signs Of Meth Use And Addiction

Identifying harmful patterns of drug use is one of the first steps towards getting a person help.

When a person first starts taking meth, theyll likely go to great lengths to hide their drug use. In the beginning, they might succeed, however, as such a powerful drug, the toll of meth use can quickly become evident.

Major signs of meth use and addiction include:

• cravings: Overwhelming urges and thoughts of drug use become disruptive to a persons day.
• tolerance: A typical dose doesnt create the usual effect, which often leads to higher doses.
• dependence: A persons body is reliant on the drug and cannot function normally without it.
• withdrawal: Physical and/or psychological symptoms occur when a person stops taking meth.

A deteriorating physical appearance can also be a major sign of meth use. Use of this drug may result in meth mouth, or severe dental problems. A person may also have a poor complexion and skin sores. Many people ignore personal care and fail to bathe or wear clean clothes.

People who are struggling with meth use or addiction may also develop problems at home, work, or school and begin to ignore important responsibilities that relate to these things.

What Creates The Crystal Meth Addiction

Users typically inhale the drug in the form of smoke or inject it after dissolving it in alcohol. Much like cocaine, the high is short-lived, and people will binge-use to maintain or kick-start the effect multiple times. A crystal meth addiction takes hold when the drug begins to control the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. This chemical provides you with feelings of well-being.

Because the drug creates a glut of dopamine in the system, it leads to a heady rush that mimics bouts of euphoria. You feel more alert and energetic. Your breathing and heart rate speed up. For many, this is an added incentive to keep taking the substance.

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Meth Addiction Help At Gateway Foundation

Understanding the treatment options available for meth addiction can help your friend find the freedom they need. At Gateway Foundation, we curate our programs to the needs of the individual. Our meth addiction treatment services offer a highly personal approach to care that views your friend as an individual, not a statistic. If you would like to discuss your friends unique needs, please contact us today.

You Are Not Going Through Meth Withdrawal Alone

Many other people are also recovering from meth addiction. If you are in a treatment program, there will be a team of doctors and nurses there to help. After detoxing, you can find support groups, and connect with people who understand your hardships. You can also lean on others for tools, and strategies for a successful recovery. These individuals can join various support groups that connect them with others going through similar hardships.

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How Medicine Erased Black Women From A White Mans Disease

One of the challenges of using naltrexone to treat opioid addiction is that, because of the way the medication works in the brain, people cant have used opioids for several days before getting the injection. Otherwise, naltrexone can cause debilitating withdrawal symptoms.

But because methamphetamine interacts with the brain differently than opioids, people who use meth but not opioids should be able to be treated with naltrexone without having to wait, said Trivedi, who also consults for pharmaceutical companies, including Alkermes, the maker of Vivitrol.

Signs Your Meth Use May Be Out Of Control

It can be incredibly difficult to recognize or admit when your own drug use has spiraled beyond your control. However, acknowledging that you may be headed down a bad path is a critical first step in your recovery.

Below are some signs that you may be developing or experiencing an addiction to meth:

• Needing more meth to achieve the same effect
• Spending a significant amount of time thinking about, obtaining, or using meth
• Using meth for longer periods or in higher doses than before
• Lying to family members and loved ones about your meth use
• Prioritizing meth above other things, such as going to work or maintaining financial stability
• Neglecting important responsibilities
• Losing interest in activities, hobbies, and relationships you once enjoyed
• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms and/or cravings when not using meth
• Telling yourself you will stop using meth but being unable to do so

If you feel powerless to control your cravings and overwhelmed by the thought of quitting, know that you are not alone. With Tennessee Wellness Center, recovery and healing are possible.

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The Traditional Markers Of A Good Life Failed To Solve My Problems Therefore It Was Not So Difficult To Let Go Of Those Things In Favor Of Meth

For the next 20-odd years, drugs were not the only priority, but they were always number one. I took the college classes that were the easiest path to a degree, held down jobs that werent so challenging they couldnt be performed at an acceptable level while high or hung over, found as a soul mate a woman who loved to get wasted with me. I got a home, a car, and a motorcycle. Money came easy, mostly due to my privileged socioeconomic status.

Then meth became the drug of choice. The first thing to go away was the intimacy with a soul mate romantic relationships become superficial and centered on shared base desires. I started using meth every weekend. Then I started using it weekdays after work. Then I used it before work, then during work, then instead of work. There were two groups of people in my life: those from whom Id conceal my use, and those from whom Id conceal how much I was using.

After about six years of regular and increasing meth use, my life was a seesaw: on one side, the home, relationships and the rest. On the other side, the meth and its promise to make me a new person. Meth outweighed it all. It launched everything else off that seesaw and far into the distance. It wasnt the meths fault. I was always deeply unsatisfied with money, relationships, and status meth might, in fact, have saved me from finding a more permanent solution to the problem of being me.

Find An Approach That Works

There are a number of different treatment options that can be effective, so it is important to consider the options. Think about which approach might be best suited to you and your loved one’s needs and goals.

Depending on the nature of the addiction, treatment might involve psychotherapy, medication, support groups, or a combination of all of these. A few options include:

Other important factors that can affect a person’s recovery include family involvement and other social supports. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration suggests that family therapy is an important part of an effective recovery plan.

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How We Treat Methamphetamine Addiction

Meth addiction is a disease and, like any other disease, people who are suffering from meth addiction nearly always need professional help getting better. At Tennessee Wellness Center, we understand the complex nature of methamphetamine addiction. Our family ofdrug addiction treatment specialists provides personalized, whole-person meth treatment in Knoxville in a safe, supportive, and stigma-free setting. We address both the addiction and the underlying trauma and mental health conditions, such asdepression orbipolar disorder, that often co-occur alongside drug abuse.

We tailor our approach to each of our clients, but in most cases, our treatments involve the following:

• Aftercare and sober living
• Ongoing support after treatment

With our programs, you do not live full-time at our facility rather, you continue living at home and visit our center daily or several times a week to receive treatment. If necessary, we can provide recommendations for safe, supervised detoxing at 24-hour facilities in the area. This may be appropriate when someones meth addiction is severe enough that detoxing without medical supervision could be potentially dangerous.

We assess each of our new clients needs during the initial intake process and provide a personalized plan for moving forward and healing. Throughout the process, the Tennessee Wellness Center family will be there to provide you with the continuous support you need to succeed.