The fourth stage, tweaking, is the most dangerous for meth addicts. The syndrome sets in after a meth user has concluded their binge and the drug no longer provides the desired rush or high.
People may behave in an unforeseen manner during tweaking. They might have wandering eyes and behave violently. At this stage, they could experience meth psychosis and lose all sense of reality.
Strong cravings for more meth are common during the tweaking stage, but the high from using the drug begins to wear off. Tweakers frequently sleep for anywhere between 15 and 40 days at a time.
Learn more about tweaking and where to find rehabilitation centers for meth abuse.
What Does Tweaking Mean?
Following a meth binge, tweaking is a physical and mental state that can last for many days.
The user continues to use meth during a binge to postpone the “comedown,” which is characterized by the gradual loss of desired effects and ushers the user directly into the commencement of unbearable withdrawal symptoms.
Long-term users start “tweaking” as soon as they cease getting high. The person will be in a desperate state and experience strong cravings at this stage.
The user may now start exhibiting symptoms of psychosis, including delusions, hallucinations, and other altered perceptions.
Before seeking out and enrolling in addiction treatment programs, many users go through an experimenting stage. Because of their psychosis, patients may start their healing process in an inpatient mental health facility before enduring inpatient therapy or medical detox.
In the days that follow a tweaking episode, most people do little more than sleep after experiencing days of insomnia and a loss of appetite.
As the body tries to balance itself after taking the medication, the person will experience hunger, thirst, and weariness for a period following the crash. This window of time lasts for up to two weeks.
What Is Tweaking?
Tweaking refers to the changes that occur close to the end of a methamphetamine high.
Because your body is through rapid changes during tweaking, you can act differently.
What Are the Typical Tweaking Symptoms and Signs?
Your physical and emotional health is affected by using meth.
As a result, there are numerous varied symptoms. Some are obvious. The only person aware of others is the one who has been using meth.
Cravings
While you fiddle, the remaining medication is leaving your body. It no longer affects your brain, but your urine and hair can still show signs.
Methamphetamine is very addictive, so even if it’s your first time using it, you’ll probably experience some withdrawal symptoms.
Meth withdrawal symptoms start with intense cravings since your brain can no longer function correctly without elevated dopamine and serotonin levels.
Desperation
Cravings and desperation frequently go hand in hand. You are increasingly conscious that the effects of the meth are wearing off, even if the drug still impacts you.
Uncontrollable cravings might turn into dependencies and leave you feeling helpless. You could make errors.
Delusions
Psychosis risk is known to rise with meth use. Usually, it begins during the fine-tuning phase. In a meth-induced psychosis, paranoid delusions will certainly be present.
These illusions will convince you that someone is trying to hurt you. You might think it’s a friend, a doctor, or the authorities.
Each person is unique; therefore, you won’t be able to differentiate between your fantasies and reality.
Depending on the kind of hallucinations you have, you can behave violently.
Meth-related psychotic episodes are common in addicts and can be quite dangerous.
Hallucinations
Tactile hallucinations are common during the fine-tuning phase. Formication is the most frequent hallucination experienced by meth users.
Throughout these hallucinations, you feel insects crawling all over you. You’ll start to scratch as a result. You might scratch yourself so much that you bleed.
Pronounced Itch
Beyond formication hallucinations, there are other reasons for acute itching. Methamphetamine widens your blood vessels and strengthens your central nervous system.
Both adjustments may result in brief tingling sensations throughout your skin during the fine-tuning process.
The constant fumbling and scratching are where the word “tweaking” comes from. Scratching can also cause meth sores to appear on the skin.
What Drugs Cause Someone To “Tweak”?
Methamphetamine, popularly known as “meth,” is a strong and addictive stimulant that can harm a user’s health over the long run.
Meth is a synthetic substance rarely used in medicine to treat severe obesity and unusual forms of ADHD that are challenging to treat because there are so many safer, more effective prescription stimulants on the market.
Snorting or injecting crystal meth is less popular, a kind of methamphetamine that resembles a semi-transparent white or bluish rock and is heated for smoking in a glass pipe. Meth and crystal meth have advantages such as increased energy, euphoria, and hunger suppression.
Making the connection between tweaking and the meth comedown is difficult. Three things lead to tweaking.
Use of Medications
A meth binge is any period during which you ingest additional methamphetamine without waiting for its effects to wear off.
Once your binge is over and the drug’s effects wear off, the tweaking phase will start.
Meth Acceptance
Every drug addiction leads to a progressively higher tolerance. In other words, your brain adapts to the presence of methamphetamine and makes up for the abnormalities brought on by drug use.
You can no longer obtain the same high due to these changes. By raising the dosage or altering the manner it is administered, some people attempt to regain their tolerance to meth, but the brain will always adapt.
Your high will entirely or mostly be the product of the tweaking phase because frequent meth use alters how you react to the substance.
Meth’s Involvement in Vice
After your initial meth usage, you might not experience much tweaking, depending on the individual. Depending on your level of reliance on it, the amount of modification varies.
When tweaking and withdrawal become interwoven, meth withdrawal symptoms will worsen.
With sustained use, the meth hangover, known as the acute low following discontinuing the drug or the end of a meth high, will worsen.
How Long Does “Tweaking” Last?
While the rush from sniffing cocaine frequently lasts 15 to 30 minutes, the high from crack only lasts about five to ten minutes. But the euphoric effects of meth typically persist for eight to twenty-four hours.
It’s challenging to determine the precise duration of crystal meth high. Some researchers claim that the substance’s stimulating effects last six to eight hours.
According to a National Institute of Justice study, they can endure up to 14 hours. Other sites claim that the high could last up to 24 hours.
Can Someone Tweak Forever?
Unfortunately, a meth addiction could start after one complete cycle of peak, collapse, and withdrawal. After just one usage, meth is likely to cause addiction. A person will exhibit physical symptoms of long-term meth use if they consume the drug for an extended period.
Meth users can have severe dental issues, often known as “meth mouth,” and skin ulcers due to relentless scratching. Meth users frequently have extraordinarily low body fat levels because they skip meals.
These traits are a blatant sign that a person is “on meth” and has a meth use problem, especially in those who previously lacked them. There are a lot of rather obvious symptoms associated with meth use. They might still serve as a call to action, though. Meth can ruin a person’s life.
Recovery
Methamphetamine abuse can lead to several serious health problems, including heart, stroke, and mental health problems. Getting help as soon as possible is critical if you or someone you love is battling meth addiction.
Meth addiction treatment alternatives exist, and the ideal one for you will depend on your circumstances. You can recover from meth addiction through either inpatient or outpatient treatment, as well as various therapies.
Please seek assistance immediately if you or someone you know is battling meth addiction. Several drug rehab centers are available to help you get started on the road to recovery.
Conclusion
Methamphetamine addiction is a serious problem that requires professional help to overcome. However, there are things that individuals can do to help themselves recover from meth addiction. One important thing is to avoid triggers that can lead to a relapse. Another is to develop a support system of family and friends who can offer encouragement and help during difficult times. Finally, it is important to seek professional help when necessary to ensure that you are on the road to addiction recovery.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2883188/