Meth Abuse May Cause Functional Abnormalities in the Brain
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, have found more evidence that methamphetamine abuse may cause alterations in the brain. The researchers used a highly sensitive technique called quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) to assess electrical activity in the brain, or “brainwaves,” of recently abstinent methamphetamine abusers and nonusers. Excess amounts of slow brainwaves—delta and theta—have been associated with head injuries and memory problems.
For the study, Dr. Thomas Newton and colleagues recruited methamphetamine users who reported using at least one-half gram of the drug per week for the previous 6 months. After four days of methamphetamine abstinence, the researchers obtained QEEG recordings of the users’ brains. The scientists also obtained QEEG recordings from healthy nonusers. The researchers found that methamphetamine users had increased delta and theta brainwave activity compared to nonusers.
This study, funded by NIDA, was published in the March 2003 issue of the journal, Clinical Neurophysiology.
More: More About Meth | Methamphetamine FAQs
Source: NIDA NewsScan
Comments
I am an ex user. I have been clean for almost 2 years. I used the drug on and off for about 6 years, and hardcore for 2 years before I quit. Everything I read on meth is wrong. They need to get someone who has done it, and lived that lifestyle to write these damn things.
THANK YOU, Melissa! I agree so much. Some of the crap they write is ridiculous. People with experience, could tell you how it REALLY is.
Brain damage for sure … the current and recovering tweekers I now are about half retarded … LOL
Hi Melissa
I’ve quit meth for 5 months. I took it a gram weekly for several years. I’m struggling to concentrate on my work as a computer programmer. Will things get better or should I just go on Welfare now. I don’t want to lose my job, family or house. I’m doing it by will power now but takes all my effect to keep it together. Much appreciate your input
P.S. I will never go back there. My friends have been fab and don’t seem to notice any brain damage. I notice my memory is a bit stuffed but it always was as I am so dizzy. I struggle with full on programming, the lighter stuff is ok. Will my concentration come back or is this permanent brain damage.
i am a previous meth addict who had gotten high pretty much every day for about 12 years. have been clean now for almost 5.. i have been suffering from involuntary movements in my hands and feet ever since i quit and had an mri done and found that i had permanent damage to my brain. people talk so lightly about meth and make smarty pant cracks about it, and it really worries me. it is nothing to joke about. i have lost about 70 percent of the function in my limbs and have extreme headaches everyday and my thinking is alwaya fuzzy. To lara, gratz to you keep it up. trust me its not worth the hell you can end up going through the rest of your life.. im going to have to be on sedating meds for the rest of mine just so that i can function and take care of my daughter as much as i can…
I used meth every day for 1 year, a year full of paranoia, sorrow and loneliness.
I’ve been clean for over 4 years now.
I certainly have some damage done: Stretch Marks from gaining weight when I went off meth, brain abnormalities resulting in skull protrusions, the list goes on…
I’m glad I’m off, but I’m so sorry I was so bad to my body for so long.
Been clean for 3 yrs both Meth and drinking.
So I thought damaged brain cells would be healed by now. NOPE…. Can anyone relate to me saying my brain is like a seive ( have a bitch of a time retaining information)About 100 yrs ago at age 17 before I started using heavily I had a reading comprehension of a senior in college with a bachleors degree in lit now I feel as dumb as a box of rocks try to read a book and by the time I get to the next page I have forgotten everything I just read. YEAH METH IT MAKE YOU SMERT AN STUFF
I used meth for 18 years and have been clean 4 3 years 3 months. I believe it sure effects your memory and your ability to retain things. I am wondering if long term use will contribute to Alzheimers ? i”m telling you I forget things all the time let alone be able to remember things that have gone on in my life for the past 20 years. I feel horrilble for my 4 grown children,but thank God I can be here for my 11 grandkids!!!
I ve been clean for 7 months now from using meth almost every day for about 2 yrs. When i was using i was very friendly out going full of life and fun to be around but now im always in a bad mood i hardly leave my house i dont want to be around people i have gain alot of weight so that has me real sad im just not the same person i used to so i dont know what to do.
I Get Brain freezes all the time. I Just got ninety days clean and my memory and motor functioning is not good.
I used meth intravenously every day for a few years. I currently have been clean for 3 years. the side effects from using meth for so long are still with me today, but not as strong. When putting such a dangerous chemical in your body you cant expect to ever be better. you will always have memory problems (sometimes gets better over time) as with tremors, irritability, tooth decay etc. we have damaged parts of our brain and depending on the length of use, also damaged central nervous system.
its just like if you cut yourself deep enough; your body heals most of it but you will always live with the scar and it wont ever look the same again.
Well I think everything they said about meth is true! I used it for a year I have been clean for 2 years. I have loved ones who still use and they are seriously messed up now. this stuff is the devils tool and will destroy you.
I agree with Melissa that these stupid people who’ve never used shouldn’t do studies. Unless the researchers are geniuses, they never see all the probable causes that can affect studies.
They tested users, and non users. But did they test people who had the same kind of physical problems the meth users had BEFORE they started using? I see a LOT of women who have chronic fatigue, FMS, etc who have started using meth just to be able to do normal everyday activities. I know many women who have used the same amount of meth for the past 5 to 10 years. They’ve never escalated, never changed intake methods, never had any personal or social problems, etc. The only problem they seem to have is that the doctors they went too BEFORE they started using meth either said there was nothing wrong with them, or that they had a psych problem that, for some reason, never seems to show up on any psychological testing.
I have felt for many years now that the continuous low levels of exposure to bug spray, work related chemicals, and plain old pollution is making most of America just sick enough to function moderately well. And what symptoms do these toxins have? Alteration in Theta and Delta waves. Go figure…
P.S I had three complete tests of my cognitive abilities before I ever started using meth. I took them because I felt I was having trouble with my memory and concentration after a long term exposure to insecticides and oil fire smoke. They found that all my abilities were NORMAL. After I had been using meth for 5 years, I had two more complete tests of my cognitive abilities.They found that all my abilities were NORMAL.
You all would probably test normal now, as well. I think that the tests can only detect catastrophic changes in the brain (trauma), not the problems that arise from disease or drug use. People who have chronic fatigue also have changes in their delta and theta brain waves. Many people have changes in their delta and theta brain waves after they eat a carbohydrate loaded meal. Those brain changes don’t mean anything other than the researchers get a grant to keep doing useless research.
I used every day all day to escape the physical pain my ex had put me through and i did that for awhile till i seen the pain i caused to my 2 young kids who didnt have a full time mother in theyre life and from that day on ive been clean for 4 1/2yrs.Now days i cant function as i fully did ,before i could remember the exact place things were now im lucky to remember old friends names or even try to do things that i used to do.In the long run its not worth the pain u put people through or the hell it does to you.And everyone who has stayed clean all them years my hats off to you your an inspiration to the rest of us.
I’m an ex-user of meth. Was used for a year, wet cold turkey to have a baby and used for another 2 1/2 years after. My first year was tough, I didn’t have the supply that my body and mind craved for…that was a good thing. For the other 2 1/2 years, it was like a buffet…the supply was endless. I had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and inbetween. I smoked it and did lines. Though I went cold turkey to sober up, I was also depressed and suicidal.
I have been sober for 7 1/2 years and still waiting for some of the effects to fade away. I often catch myself clenching my jaws and sucking in my cheeks until my mouth is totally dry. My toes and my fingers often twitch, especially when I am focused on something like the computer, TV, writing, reading, etc..
I found that I now suffer from memory loss. There are a lot of things from my past that I don’t remember. At first, I thought maybe it is because it wasn’t important, but there are things that I’m often reminded of that I would never want to forget. Some childhood memories…gone. Some memories of my children…gone. Til this day, I still suffer from a bad memory. I forget things easily…my memory is like packed. My reading has slowed down and so has my comprehension and reaction time. I’m often in a daze and I suffer from extreme migraines…something I never experienced before using.
Oh, and my teeth. I thought that after the drug wore off, my teeth would stop decaying. My teeth are weak, sensitive and decaying continues.
I just praise God that I have been given a chance to go sober and though I have to live with the result and consequences…I am grateful for His grace and mercy.
For all of you who have chose to sober up…I wish you well. It is not easy but it is very possible. Don’t let anything get you down and don’t reminisce about your past…it will eat you away. Look forward and keep moving. It took me about 2 years before I was strong enough to handle being sober and run from temptation. Unfortunately, after 7 years, I still have occasional dreams about it and it seems so real. Stay busy and away from those you know use it, has it or can get it. And stay focused on why you quit in the first place.
Meth is the devil’s tool to bring us all down and I have been a victim. It is no joke.
May the LORD strengthen you and carry you through this challenging time of your life.
Im the wife of an ex-user. While I dont at all try to claim that “I know how you feel” or that I know how is, I would like to post somthing on the more possitive side. Insperational I hope. My husband used for almost ten years on and off, mostly on, and has been clean now for coming up on 7yrs. He has not had one relapse, and NOBODY ever thought he would go to rehab and get clean. But he did. Sure he suffer’s some after effects but after only making it through the 9th grade and all these years of drug abuse I am happy to report his success. He went to school and became a state certified Electrician graduating with High Honors. He has been able to hold down a job immediatly following recovery. He has built himself up in the work world and a great Husband and father of our two kids. All I can say is, “if he can do it, so can you!”
I have been clean since july of 2000. It was for the 1st few years an uphill continuous battle. I just want to say for those who are only a few months to a couple of yrs clean…hang in there it is worth it to stay clean. The longer and harder you used the longer it will be for things to return to normal (or as near as they will get) like enrgy, feel good feelings (thought mine would never come back and that i would just be unhappy feeling for the rest of my life – but i have great happy feelings now…not all the time and i can still tell the difference a little but noone else can), you will eventually get out of your house and begin to socialize again (only it will take longer to have the courage to make friends or open up for fear of what? anything.), your mental alertness will get sharper, your ability to habdle emotions will improve, and focus and concentration will improve and go back close to normal – but that depends on how much and how often yo used and aslo how potently clean the stuff you used was as to how long this will take….I find that i have motor skill problems…like muscle twitches in head, neck, hands mainly sometimes legs espescially after i have been under extreme stress or fatigue…seems to be worse…there are days that i joke and say wow damn i am not just having a blonde moment my whole damn day has been blonde! lol brain farts here and there but I am functional, I am clean, I am happy (some of this you will have to seek out and actually CHANGE the way you act, react and feel about things in life..how should you feel and kinda let those new feelings develop…you are in reality redevoloping your cognitive skills, motor skills, brain functions like memory and focus may always AT TIMES be a challenge, being happy no one is born with you learn how to be by what makes you happy and how can you ever expect to “feel good or happy” about anything again if you dont open up your senses to the natural healthy things around you, watch more comedy stuff, find the irony in things, laugh instead of beibng angry….it could be worse and if you are a formwer addict you know this beyond a shadow of a doubt…find ways that are of interest to you; do soul searching on who you are and hey if you dont know thats fine even better now you can be whomever you want to be you just teach yourself how to live again and without the meth. I want to just say that I am the 2nd in command over a big department in an important job and have done very well although it took a lot of reaching out to my inner self confidence and reading and researching to be able to attain and keep the position i have and all its responsibilities…there is life after meth…i know i used every all day until passing blacking out for being up for toomany days in a row and would wake up and start over again for 2 years straight…I also was on coke, hash, pot, valium every day and denerol whenever i could get it. Before i used meth i was a frequent weekly user of all the others listed…i have OD’d on coke and had alcohol poisoning yeras before i was ever intoduced to the evil meth madness. I still have problems and some undiagnosed but i know something is wrong..no need to diagnose unless there is actually a cure for brain or nervous system damage as i dont want to be on other drugs until or unless i absolutely have to in order to function daily. I do often wonder how much damamge has been done that i couldnt reverse or repair or re learn…and what that may leave me looking forward to (NOT) in my later years…I am 39 now with 2 kids and a failed marriage which ended b4 the meth use