Is Building a Tolerance to Meth a Sign of Addiction?

How Quickly Can Tolerance to Meth Develop?

To understand why methamphetamine is so addictive, it’s important to learn what the drug is doing to users’ brains to make them feel a rush of energy and euphoria, and how it can quickly hook them on this rush of feeling. Still, the common myth that only one use of meth will cause addiction isn’t true for everyone, and some people will use meth several times and then never use it again, while others will become completely hooked after just one or two uses.

Primarily, meth’s effects are understood as being caused by the way it releases and boosts the amount of dopamine, noradrenaline, adrenaline, and serotonin in a user’s central nervous system. This quickly leads to intense feelings, including euphoria, increased energy, decreased fatigue, increased alertness, and decreased appetite. People on meth will likely feel much more confident or have an elevated or almost manic mood, and they might speak or move around as the stimulant takes over.

These drastic changes to someone’s mood make the drug highly addictive because people quickly become hooked on this rush of dopamine, the “feel-good” neurochemical in the brain. In addition to that, each use of meth causes the person’s dopamine supply to be reduced, and that can make them feel crushing bouts of depression, anxiety, and fatigue that compels them to seek out more meth to feel better. While methamphetamine shares some similarities with the stimulating effects of cocaine, it takes much longer to metabolize, which makes its high last much longer and also increases the amount of time it stays in the body.

Meth tolerance develops as the drug is used more and more, meaning users will need to do even more of this deadly substance to feel the highs they’re chasing. One scientific study looked at how quickly this tolerance could build up in rhesus monkeys that self-administered meth for either 14 straight days, 5 days per week for three weeks, or three days per week for three weeks. 

As would be expected, meth had a powerful effect on the monkeys’ sleep and boosted their daytime activity. However, researchers found the monkeys that had meth for more than five consecutive days, unlike those with breaks in use, rapidly developed a tolerance to the effects of the drug—indicating that just a short period of daily use can lead to tolerance and, eventually, addiction.

What Are the Warning Signs That Tolerance Has Turned into Addiction?

An increasing meth tolerance to meth is indeed one of the significant warning signs of meth addiction, known clinically as stimulant use disorder. Other possible symptoms of meth addiction include:

• Using more meth than intended or using it for longer than intended.
• Trying and failing to cut down on meth use or regulate how much is used.
• Spending an increasing amount of time trying to get, use, or recover from meth.
• Intense cravings to use meth.
• Not living up to responsibilities at work, school, or home because of using meth.
• Using meth even though it’s starting to cause significant problems in relationships, success, or social networks.
• No longer doing things and activities that were once pleasurable to the user.
• Continuing to use meth even though the person knows it’s causing them mental or physical health distress.
• Suffering from withdrawal symptoms if they don’t use meth.

Methamphetamine is unique among many other illicit drugs in its withdrawal symptoms, which are mostly psychological rather than physical. Withdrawal symptoms of meth can include:

• Intense cravings to use meth that are so severe that the person can’t think about anything else.
• Fatigue and difficulty sleeping.
• Intense hunger.
• An inability to feel pleasure.
• Depression or anxiety.
• Feeling irritable, aggressive, or restless.
• Difficulty concentrating or focusing on things.
• Paranoid or hallucinations.
• Psychosis or feeling disconnected from reality.
• Hostility or even violent behaviors, including suicidal behaviors or self-harm.

While acute withdrawal symptoms will peak after a few days and last for about a week, people can still feel things like anxiety or depression and intense cravings to use the drug even months after they last took meth. These intense cravings can drive them to relapse if they don’t have the proper support and treatment.

What Are the Long-Term Effects of Meth Use?

There are many possible long-term health consequences of using meth, including:

• Addiction and tolerance
• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Insomnia
• Mood disturbances
• Psychosis symptoms, such as paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions
• Decreased cognitive function that makes it hard to learn new things or react quickly
• Increased risks of bacterial or viral infections if they share injection equipment
• Strokes
• Heart failure
• “Meth mouth,” or severe dental health problems and tooth loss
• Sexual dysfunction

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Is It Possible to Reverse Meth Tolerance and Addiction?

If you or your loved one is starting to develop a meth tolerance, it’s a significant warning sign of a growing addiction to this deadly drug, and it’s a clear signal that it’s time to seek out professional help at a meth rehab center. There are no FDA-approved medications to treat addiction to stimulants like methamphetamine specifically. Still, there are effective treatments that can help people get through the peak of withdrawal symptoms and then learn how to embrace a better future without this drug.

Behavioral treatments can be powerful tools to help someone overcome their meth addiction, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT. In this type of psychotherapy, therapists help patients identify and then correct flawed or incorrect ways of thinking about the world and responding to the daily challenges of life. 

Contingency management, another form of behavioral treatment, has also been shown to be effective in treating meth addiction by offering patients incentives like prizes, gift cards, or even cash if they continue treatment and don’t use the drug. Group therapy and support groups can also be helpful forms of treatment for those who are recovering from meth addiction.

Key Takeaways on Meth Tolerance

• Methamphetamine is an extremely powerful and highly addictive psychostimulant.
• Users can experience rushes of energy, euphoria, and confidence.
• With repeated use, meth tolerance can start to develop – and that means the user will need to take more and more of the drug to feel the intended effects.
• Tolerance is a major warning sign of a growing meth addiction, and someone who is addicted will struggle with mental distress and strong cravings to use more of the drug if they quit taking it.
• Behavioral treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy and contingency management can help people overcome meth addiction.

If you or your loved one is stuck in the pit of meth addiction, it’s time to reach out for professional help that can turn your life around and help you break the chains of addiction. Call Resurgence Behavioral Health at 855-458-0050 today to learn how we can help you get started on the road to recovery.

Resources

• National Institute on Drug Abuse – Methamphetamine
• National Library of Medicine – Assessment of Tolerance to the Effects of Methamphetamine on Daytime and Nighttime Activity Evaluated with Actigraphy in Rhesus Monkeys
• National Library of Medicine – Methamphetamine Use Disorder: The Next Addiction Crisis