Meth is known by various street names, including:

• Crystal
• Ice
• Speed
• Meth

It’s an addictive stimulant that users take to experience the intense euphoric high it produces. Whether it’s snorted, smoked, injected or taken orally, the drug has lead to countless methamphetamine overdose cases over the years.

How popular is meth usage? Probably more than most people think. In fact, meth is the second most consumed illegal drug around the world. One study indicated that in 2014, more than 12 million Americans 13 years and older had experimented with meth at least once in their lives. It’s no wonder that methamphetamine overdose remains an ever-present threat to our society.

Once people begin to use meth on a regular basis, it doesn’t take long for their bodies to develop a tolerance. With tolerance comes the need to take more meth to achieve the same high. Often, meth addiction quickly follows. As the amount of the drug consumed increases, so does the threat of a methamphetamine overdose.

An indicator of how serious methamphetamine overdose is, it’s only necessary to look at the number of emergency room visits that are meth-related. In 2011, for example, hospitals reported that more than 102,000 ER visits involved meth. Hospitals also indicated that more than half of these cases involved drugs like marijuana or alcohol being used in combination with meth.

If you’re addicted to meth or even if you only use it occasionally, you need to realize that methamphetamine overdose is always a possibility. It’s wise to gain a better understanding of what a methamphetamine overdose looks like. It’s also a good idea to start thinking about drug rehab treatment in a professional men’s or women’s rehab program before tragedy strikes you or a loved one.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Methamphetamine Overdose?

A methamphetamine overdose can be either chronic or acute. But what’s the difference between the two?

• Chronic overdose: the cumulative effect of ongoing meth abuse over a long period of time.
• Acute overdose: a person takes a large dose of meth at one time and experiences the inevitable results, which are fatal in some cases.

As dangerous as chronic overdose is, an acute methamphetamine overdose is even worse. Those symptoms include:

• Altered mental status
• Difficulty breathing
• High body temperature
• High blood pressure
• Enlarged pupils
• Irregular heart rate
• Agitation
• Paranoia
• Stomach pain
• Chest pains

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Kidney failure

When a methamphetamine overdose happens, psychotic episodes have been documented. In more drastic cases, overdose victims can fall into a coma or experience seizures.

Chronic methamphetamine overdose, which many people experience, can lead to the following symptoms:

• Sleep disturbances
• Extreme mood changes
• Anxiety
• Violent behavior
  

Chronic methamphetamine overdose can also bring about profound paranoia and hallucinations involving bugs crawling on the skin. As if this isn’t bad enough, long-term meth users can also expect to experience extreme weight loss, alarming dental problems and sores on the skin.

How to Survive a Methamphetamine Overdose

Never forget that a methamphetamine overdose can be fatal. Even a non-fatal methamphetamine overdose can cause long-term negative health consequences. Things like paranoia and hallucinations can last for as long as a year for many users.

Unfortunately, the damage left behind from a methamphetamine overdose can also be permanent if individuals suffer a prolonged seizure, kidney failure or experience heart problems. The risk of a methamphetamine overdose makes the case all that much clearer for drug rehab treatment.

Failure to pursue treatment means that you put yourself at risk every single day. Given that meth is illegal and there are no regulations for how it’s manufactured, your next dose could contain a dangerous chemical combination that could kill you. It’s better to seek rehab treatment now before tragedy strikes.

What Contributes to a Methamphetamine Overdose?

The possibility of a methamphetamine overdose is increased by the following:

• Mixing methamphetamine with alcohol and/or other drugs
• Injecting meth
• Taking ever-increasing amounts of meth to achieve a high
• Having a pre-existing health condition, such as high blood pressure or hypertension

The faster that emergency medical personnel can get to a victim, the better the chances of preventing a tragedy or serious health consequences. How healthy a person will be for the rest of his or her life may depend greatly on how quickly medical treatment was received.

Surviving a methamphetamine overdose should be a wake-up call that you need help and you need it right away. Remember that addictions don’t just go away. Usually, they just get worse. If you’ve gotten lucky and come through a methamphetamine overdose, don’t imagine that you’ll be so lucky next time. The truth is that you don’t want a “next time.”

Take this opportunity that you’ve been granted and seek professional drug rehab treatment before tragedy strikes. Methamphetamine rehab treatment is the most effective way to reclaim the life that meth has been taking from you.

Preventing a Methamphetamine Overdose

If you are pro-active about preventing a methamphetamine overdose, you can minimize the chances of serious health complications like heart attacks and strokes. You can even prevent a death. There are certainly some temporary measures that can be taken to reduce the imminent danger, including not injecting meth and avoiding the temptation to mix meth with other drugs or alcohol. In the end, however, the only way to truly protect your health and your life is to get off meth entirely.

If you’re abusing meth, or if a loved one is abusing meth, please seek help. Don’t wait and wind up in a methamphetamine overdose situation. You may survive it, but you may not. Many types of professional therapy exist to help you overcome a meth addiction, including:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This type of treatment enables patients to better understand how thoughts influence behaviors. CBT is very good for helping patients identify specific triggers, which makes relapse prevention a much easier process.
• The Matrix Model can be effective for meth addiction. This type of treatment brings together education, one-on-one counseling, family counseling, relapse prevention and drug testing so that patients experience the best possible chance for a successful recovery. Usually, it is recommended that patients also attend self-help groups like Narcotics Anonymous to help round out the experience.
• Contingency Management Treatment: This therapy is all about rewards for successful sobriety. This can provide much-needed encouragement when triggers and temptations are making sobriety difficult.
• Motivational Incentives for Enhancing Drug Abuse Recovery (MIEDAR): This approach combines rewards for sobriety with interventions that foster higher motivation to maintain a successful recovery.

No two meth drug rehab centers are exactly alike in how they develop treatment plans and what type of amenities they offer patients. Anyone who needs rehab treatment will encounter the following terms:

• Detox: This is actually the very first stage of recovery. All traces of drugs are cleansed from your body during this process. Withdrawal symptoms will invariably present themselves, and they won’t be easy to deal with. Fortunately, doctors and trained staff members will provide 24/7 monitoring to ensure that you stay safe and comfortable during detox.
• Inpatient treatment: If your addiction is more advanced or if you don’t have a stable family unit to support you, this will be your next destination after detox. The secure, drug-free environment of a rehab center means that no outside triggers or distractions are present and you can concentrate fully on rehab treatment. There are many restrictions in place during inpatient treatment, and for many patients, that is exactly what’s needed.
  
• Outpatient treatment: Patients will experience many of the same therapies that are used during inpatient treatment but in a less restrictive environment that allows you to fulfill family, school or work responsibilities as well as sleep in your own bed at night. It’s a good choice for patients whose addiction isn’t too far advanced and whose family unit is both stable and supportive.
  

To augment drug rehab treatment, you can also enlist the help of self-help groups like Narcotics Anonymous when you leave the treatment addiction facility. These programs are a good way to reinforce what you learned in rehab so that you can remain drug-free even when temptations present themselves.

Methamphetamine Drug Rehab: How Does It Work?

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has advised that the best treatment program is one that has been customized to the unique needs of each patient. A unique meth rehab treatment plan is especially important, given that meth users often experience short-term cognitive impairments that need to be taken into consideration.

One example of how a rehab center can deal with meth-related cognitive impairment is to use program materials that rely heavily on visuals rather than just language. Instead of words making all of the key points, visuals do. Emphasizing easier-to-comprehend visuals can help insure that key messages are getting through to meth addiction patients. A reputable drug rehab center understands the unique needs of patients suffering from a meth addiction and will take the necessary steps to create the most effective treatment plan possible.

What’s Stopping You From Seeking Drug Rehab Treatment?

People addicted to meth have a hard time seeking rehab help. For some meth users, it will take a methamphetamine overdose to realize the danger. For other meth abusers, it will take a brush with the law before they realize something must be done. In many states, drug courts order people to get drug rehab if they wish to avoid a prison sentence. Even though drug rehab wasn’t really their choice, individuals who enter drug rehab as a result of drug court usually do just as well as any other rehab patient.

Due to the intoxicating high that meth offers, many users are reluctant to go to rehab. For individuals like this, family support and family intervention can be crucial. If the family is close, it may be up to them to get a loved one into treatment.

For families who wish to help loved ones overcome a meth addiction, it’s a good idea to learn more about how addiction happens and what symptoms to watch out for. Researching drug rehab centers is important because the right center can make all the difference. If an intervention is necessary, a meth drug rehab center can help you make that happen.

Don’t Become Another Methamphetamine Overdose Statistic

     Meth addiction is serious, and a methamphetamine overdose can injure you for life, provided it doesn’t kill you. Now is the right time to seek effective methamphetamine drug rehab treatment so that a methamphetamine overdose doesn’t have to be part of your future. Call a reputable drug rehab center today and begin your journey to a life without meth addiction.