Meth is unlike any other drug. Sure, all illicit drugs can be extremely harmful, but it’s difficult to put into words the destruction that methamphetamine has on your mind and body. I used crystal meth for seven years and by the end of my addiction, I was a walking skeleton. My teeth were rotting out of my head, I was covered in sores, and I was delusional and mentally gone. I’ve dabbled with plenty of other drugs, but meth was by far the scariest drug to be addicted to. Everything surrounding meth addiction is scary. From the people you associate with to the withdrawal symptoms. Constantly worrying about your next high can do a lot of damage to your mental health.
I became a meth addict because there was a lot of addiction in my family. My parents were drug users, and they were rarely actively involved in my life. I also have a family history of alcoholism. I became an alcoholic in my teenage years, but by the time I started using meth I was all about meth and meth alone. While my alcohol dependence led me to other drugs, there’s nothing quite like the power of meth. I didn’t care about drinking or any other drugs once I became addicted to methamphetamine. It became my whole life. Unfortunately, I never had much of a support system for most of my life. This can be a big factor in becoming an addict. If you don’t have the right people around you, you can quickly fall into a downward spiral.
Meth Withdrawal and Detox
How long does it take to detox from meth? There is no timetable that is the same for everyone. A medically supervised meth detox can make the process much easier, but the mental hurdles will still be there. When I arrived at All In Solutions, I had been up for multiple days and was hallucinating pretty badly. One of the things you will learn about staying up for days on end is that you begin to dream while you are still awake. The hallucinations feel so real. The paranoia that you will go through is extremely disturbing. The crystal meth detox symptoms that I experienced made me never want to even think of meth ever again. Just picturing it in my mind makes me feel sick to this day.
What is the Meth Withdrawal Timeline?
I went to All In Solutions because I had heard it was one of the best meth detox centers in California. I was terrified to go through the meth detox withdrawal symptoms, but I knew that there was no other choice for me to get my life back in order. I was going to have to face the withdrawal head-on. The first 24 hours were brutal. During these first 24 hours, you will most likely have intense feelings of anxiety and paranoia. I remember having the shakes and also feeling incredibly depressed off and on. The meth detox treatment features at All In Solutions really helped me get through that initial hell of withdrawal.
The first 24-48 hours of meth withdrawal are known as “the crash”. You feel an incredible lack of energy and have intense moments of fatigue, sweating, and nausea. I could feel every single hit of meth I ever took coming through my pores. It was extremely uncomfortable but I wasn’t even close to being out of the woods yet. While the first day or two is the most difficult for you physically, the next couple of days are extremely tough mentally. This is when the depression and anxiety really start to kick in. Your brain has been trained to operate a certain way with meth. Once you get it out of your system, you have to relearn how to function without it. It’s extremely rough, but it’s worth every minute of pain and discomfort.
Meth Detox Medications
The mental and physical discomfort you will experience while you detox may require meth detox medications. My depression was extreme during my recovery. It was something that I could always mask with the drugs, but once I didn’t have them, I had to finally deal with all of the pain and trauma my addiction had caused to my body. There are several anti-depressants that you may be prescribed while you are going through meth detox. Medications like Mirtazapine and Imipramine can help offset the imbalance in your brain chemistry during this difficult time.
As I found out, there are many vitamins and foods that help meth detox. The All In Solutions program did a great job of making sure I was getting the right amount of nutrition and also making sure I stayed hydrated. Dehydration is a very common symptom of meth withdrawal. When you are a drug addict, nutrition is not something you really consider. You barely eat, and whenever you do, it’s usually something cheap and sugary. Because a drug like meth causes intense sugar cravings, you will end up drinking a lot of carbonated beverages and bad food that can quickly lead to malnutrition.
It’s very important to get a good amount of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin C while you are going through meth detox. These vitamins improve the transmission of nerve impulses, which can help your body recover from the damage caused by meth. These vitamins can be a very natural detox for meth and will be a very valuable way to your overall recovery. There’s no telling how long it will take for you to detox from meth, but eating healthy can make the process much smoother. It’s also true that when you have a healthy diet, your brain is healthier. This will help you with your decision-making and help you not act as impulsively.
It’s hard to fully get across the damage that certain drugs can do to your brain. You essentially rewire your brain to need the drug to function. Everything else becomes secondary to your addiction. This is why so many addicts end up destitute or homeless.
When you are in the thick of your addiction, nothing else matters but that next fix. It’s easy to tell a homeless drug addict they should get help, but when your that deep into it, help is that last thing on your mind. You also have to really want to get clean for yourself. A lot of people enter recovery to fix their marriage or save their job. Unless you truly want it for yourself, it probably will not work.
Searching for a ‘Meth Detox Near Me?’
Finding the right detox facility can be time-consuming and stressful. It’s important that you do the research before making a decision. A quick internet search of “meth detox near me” will yield you a lot of results. The drug recovery community is much wider and more out in the open than it used to be. There is still a stigma that exists surrounding drug addiction, but there is much more information readily available to help guide you through it. I didn’t feel judged at all at All In Solutions. It’s important to remember that your addiction does not make you a failure. You have a sickness that needs to be addressed, and you can absolutely get better.
Like a lot of other drugs, meth can stick around in your body for a while even after you stop using it. Traces of the drug can be detected in your blood, urine, and hair. There are many ways to detox meth from hair follicles. There are detox shampoos that can speed up the process and get the drug totally out of your system. Meth doesn’t stay in your system as long as some other drugs, but it does take up to a week for your body to get rid of. This can be pretty tough if you are trying to get a job or go through parole or probation. The stress of worrying about whether or not it’s still in your body can be overwhelming.
Post – Acute Meth Withdrawal Symptoms
I still have nightmares once in a while that I relapsed. I wake up and the first thought I have is “I blew it!”. Even after I realize it was all just a dream, I still have feelings of guilt. I feel weak. It’s important to have a good network of other people in recovery so that you can help pick each other up during these moments of weakness. Just because you got sober doesn’t mean you’re never going to have cravings or impulsive feelings. I’ve been clean for almost two years and I am still terrified of relapsing.
No matter what route you take, getting clean from methamphetamine was the most rewarding feeling in the world for me personally. It can be for you too.
