Amphetamines (Symptoms)

Using amphetamines once is sufficient to induce some of these symptoms:

Short-Term Effects:

• Enhanced mood and body movement
• Increased wakefulness, physical activity
• Increased respiration
• Euphoria
• Insomnia
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Reduced appetite
• Cardiovascular collapse, death
• Dilated pupils
• Rapid/irregular heartbeat
• Hyperthermia

Long-Term Effects:

• Changes in brain structure and function, including damage to brain cells containing serotonin
• Weight loss
• Memory loss
• Confusion
• Tremors
• Convulsion
• Psychosis: Paranoia, Hallucinations
• Repetitive motor activity, Parkinson's-like symptoms
• Damage to nerve cells, causing strokes
• Cardiovascular collapse, death

Note that psychotic symptoms can sometimes last for months or years after methamphetamine abuse has ceased, and stress has been shown to precipitate spontaneous recurrence of methamphetamine psychosis in formerly psychotic methamphetamine abusers.

Complications

• Increased HIV and hepatitis B and C transmission are consequences of increased methamphetamine abuse, not only in individuals who inject the drug, but also in noninjecting methamphetamine abusers. Among injection drug users, infection with HIV and other infectious diseases is spread primarily through the reuse of contaminated syringes, needles, or other paraphernalia by more than one person. However, regardless of how it is taken, the intoxicating effects of methamphetamine can alter judgment and inhibition and lead people to engage in unsafe behaviors.
• Often pure amphetamines are mixed with other substances, such as sugar, glucose, bi-carb soda, and ephedrine, that can be poisonous, causing collapsed veins, tetanus, abscesses and damage to the heart, lungs, liver, and brain.
• Incessant use might result in addictions to other drugs such as benzodiazepines (an anti-anxiety agent) so the individual can sleep.
• Methamphetamine abuse may also worsen the progression of HIV and its consequences. In animal studies, methamphetamine increased viral replication; in human methamphetamine abusers, HIV caused greater neuronal injury and cognitive impairment compared with nondrug abusers.