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Crystal Meth Part Two: The Body Breakdown
by Juliet Eastland, 05.08.07
Imagine your teeth blackening, rotting, and crumbling. |
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If you're a typical teen, chances are you brush your teeth every morning. You eat several meals a day. You keep your room (relatively) clean. You care about yourself and your appearance. But for teens using crystal meth, it's a whole different story.
What Is It?
Crystal is a type of methamphetamine ("meth"), a dangerous and addictive stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, injected, rectally inserted, or swallowed. Also known as "crank," "ice," "glass," or "tina," crystal is manufactured using ingredients such as battery acid, antifreeze, and pseudoephedrine or ephedrine-based cold medications. Users ("tweakers") can experience euphoric highs for up to 12 hours, followed by debilitating crashes involving panic, sleeplessness, paranoia, hallucinations, and potentially suicidal depression. Because it damages brain cells and blood vessels, crystal can cause heart attacks, convulsions, stroke, or death.
These are the internal effects of crystal absorption. But crystal's effect on behavior has equally serious - and highly visible - consequences. "Crystal makes you feel like the Energizer Bunny," says Michael Siever, Ph.D., director of San Francisco's Stonewall Project. "You're so full of energy, you don't feel the need to eat, sleep, drink, or brush your teeth."
Toilet Trauma
If you've ever sat on the toilet trying, painfully and unsuccessfully, to relieve yourself, you have an inkling of life on crystal. Crystal is "notorious for messing up people's gastrointestinal systems," says Siever. It decreases appetite and slows or stops digestive-tract movement, leading to nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, and/or malnutrition. For former users Jared and Paula (not their real names), nutrition went out the window: Jared would lose his appetite and not eat for 12 to 36 hours after using crystal, while Paula wouldn't eat or go to the bathroom "for days" afterwards.
On crystal, Paula was the thinnest she'd ever been — "scary" thin, she says. Her face got so gaunt her co-workers began asking what was wrong. Other friends who use crystal, she says, have devolved from "young gorgeous bodies to skin and bones. Squeeze their arm and you can feel there's no muscle there anymore."
Scary Sex
Crystal tends to increase libido and lower inhibitions, making users likelier to engage in high-risk sexual behavior. Ironically, long-term crystal use can actually reduce men's sexual functioning. Users are also at higher risk than non-users of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Historically, meth has had a "high prevalence in the gay community," says Siever. One study found that gay men using meth were three times as likely to contract HIV as non-users.
Meth Mouth
Imagine your teeth blackening, rotting, and crumbling. Sounds like a horror movie, right? For heavy users, so-called "meth mouth" is a reality. Crystal reduces blood supply to oral tissues, causing them to break down and die. Crystal also reduces saliva in the mouth, enabling acids to erode tooth enamel. In an effort to alleviate dry-mouth, users tend to overindulge on sugary, carbonated drinks. Because crystal causes anxiety and paranoia, users may also grind teeth and clench their jaws until their teeth crack. Paula would chew gum maniacally when high; the next day, her jaw would ache, and the inside of her mouth would be "chewed up." Most of all, users may neglect hygiene, failing to brush and floss for days at a time.
Freaky Flesh
"You get obsessed with something on your face or body," Paula says, "and start picking, picking, picking at it." She also knows people who, after prolonged use, started feeling as if bugs were crawling on their skin. This sensation, called formication or "crank bug," is a fairly common side effect, and can cause crystal users to develop sores and lesions from scratching.
Scummy Space
"I met one addict who was living in piles of junk," says Jared. "We barely had a place to sit." Heavy crystal users often live in filthy spaces, neglecting not just their body but their environment, too.
Getting Help
If you or someone you know is using crystal, there's help. Paula and Jared kicked crystal. You can, too. |
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