Posted by AMD on May 16, 2005, at 17:42:41
I am a bit worried I may have been exposed to methamphetamine last week when I snorted what I thought were (several) lines of cocaine.
My question is, exactly how bad is methamphetamine? I've heard some pretty horrible things about it -- first-time use causing permanent brain changes, impossible to cure addiction and depression: side-effects that are several degrees worse than cocaine in every measure, and things from which one can never recover.
For example: I'm reading this post and, in contrast to others I've written over the past two years, it seems clear there has been a steady, although subtle, dip in my linguistic acumen. Am I being paranoid? Can I expect this to improve with time?
Why, three days after my binge, is my focus still off -- and by off I mean, my head is unable to stay focused on a page, words tumble from my keys in a confused manner, causing me to ^H^H^H several times in order to fix trivial, yet easy-to-spot-the-first-time-around, errors.
Basically ... am I going to recover from all the toxins I put into my body? And if so, how long does this recovery take? I have heard ancedotal stories that one's "mathematics" abilities are diminished by meth' and cocaine, and will never return. Is this true? Even after just a few months of weekly (heavy) use?
The other thing I've noticed is that my spelling is off ... I will blank out when trying to spell words I used to spell with ease. (See "diminish" above -- that I blanked on this, and had to resort to m-w.com, is troublesome). Is this from the recent use, and if so, can I expect my skills in this area to recover with time? Or again, is this a permanent change?
Finally -- what can I do to proactively help myself feel better. I've been drinking lots of fluids, taking vitamin B supplements and fish oil, and trying to eat regularly. But I still feel horrible. Anything short of time I can do to get my head (and mood) back into place?
Well ... I'm working on N.A. meeting #2 tonight, shooting for 30-in-30. Wish me luck on my recovery.
amd
poster:AMD
thread:498612
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20050506/msgs/498612.html