DOSE:

smoked

Methamphetamine

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

Crank, tweek, speed, shit, dope, crystal. Call it what you will. I will not describe the mental effects of meth, as most other reports about meth do a fine enough job of that. All I will say is that it is a hell of a high, a high that I sought for years and only when I stopped using did I realize what a horrible substance crank is. That being said, it doesn't matter; I still battle the meth demon to this day, I miss the rush and euphoria with a passion. Weird huh?

Anyway, as the title of my story suggests, the effects that begin to materialize after years of chronic crank use are absolutely hideous.
My method of ingestion was smoking. Whether it was with a custom-made pipe, a gutted lightbulb or a scrap of foil, I LOVED smoking crank. For three years I smoked and smoked and smoked. It was an absolute blast being tweeked for a night while at a party, or just hanging with friends and playing endless card games and having conversations about gibberish (gibberish that seemed intellectually stimulating at the time). But soon one night turned into two or three nights, and that rapidly progressed to tweeking being a part of my everyday life. What was once just a party, a cheap thrill, became a way of living. When I finally had to stop (I became the father of a wonderful baby boy in 2003--so yeah, my tweeker days had to stop) I realized what the shit had done to my body.

First, we'll start with my lungs. Since I was a crank smoker, I was constantly bombarding my throat and lungs with millions of chemical by-products. After stopping use, I was constantly hacking up thick goobers of foul tasting sputum. Sometimes it looked as though there was a streak of blood in it, but that was probably my imagination. Keep in mind too, that I don't smoke cigarettes or cannabis, so my bronchial problems were a direct result of smoking meth.

Then, my appetite. Every tweeker knows that your diet isn't the best when you're on the stuff. When I was recovering, I was constantly eating, to bizarre proportions. Me and my girlfriend would sit down to a huge meal, I would devour it like a boar and then go to KFC for a bucket of fried chicken. Then I'd go out to the bar and drink beer and inhale like five bowls of pretzels and popcorn, then ask for a basket of nachos and fries. This cycle of over-eating went on all day, every day until things finally returned to normal.

Then there was the sex drive. Before ever trying meth, I had a normal, healthy sex drive. When I tried meth, my sex drive skyrocketed to the point where I was so horny, if a girl even massaged my shoulders I would start panting and trying my absolute hardest to get her to have sex with me. Sex on meth is fucking amazing and other-worldly; sensuality, response, drive, stamina and duration are all increased by a thousand-fold. When I stopped taking meth, sex didn't appeal to me anymore. Without crank, sex just seemed like a chore...

I was always looked at as a 'cute boy next door' when I was a teen. I had a clean-cut, babyface appearance, with a dark tan and blonde hair. After binging on crank for so many years, my boyish good looks faded to what looked like a weather-beaten fisherman. I had dark rings under my eyes from so much sleep deprivation, my face just looked beaten, tired and drawn out. My hair was scraggly and stringy. It took me about six months to get my regular healthy facial features back.

Lastly, my overall energy levels dropped dramatically. I was always fatigued. I would sleep 12-14 hours a night and wake up the next day feeling like I only slept for an hour. Sometimes I would wake up shaking like an alcoholic. I don't know if this was a withdrawal effect or not, but I can't explain it.

Stopping the cycle, the vicious meth cycle, was the best thing I ever did for myself, of course. To any addict out there who wishes to stop and recover: dig it, it's very tough and it takes a long time. But good things take time. Have patience and willpower and before you know it, you'll marvel at how great it is to have your body back to normal.
Peace.

Exp Year: 2000	ExpID: 36053
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 20, 2004	Views: 86,377
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Methamphetamine (37) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Addiction & Habituation (10), Post Trip Problems (8), Health Problems (27), Not Applicable (38)