Good dental hygiene is critical to the overall health of the human body. Don’t believe me? Google it!

As reported in the Post and Courier, The destruction of the oral cavity is just one of the many harmful and lethal effects of methamphetamine. One of the visual signs of a meth addict is the destruction of the teeth and gums.

The nasty-looking tooth decay known as "meth mouth" is a strain on recovering addicts and on the budgets of the of prisons and state governments across the country.

Meth use, combines with poor dietary habits and self-neglect contribute to patients' stained, rotten and crumbling teeth.

How does this happen? Research indicates meth abuse alters the level of acidity in patients' saliva, a factor that compounds their often severe dental problems.

Poor personal hygiene, teeth clenching and grinding and excessive cravings for sugary drinks accelerate decay among meth mouth patients.

Why is a lot of saliva important? Because saliva can wash away harmful bacteria that causes decay. Lack of saliva means bacteria remain on the teeth. And saliva that is too acidic fails to adequately "buffer" or protect teeth from decay.

A pair of studies have shown that meth addicts had less saliva than the non-addicts. The drug users' saliva was more acidic and their ability to neutralize acid in the mouth "was significantly less" than the control group.

If continued studies reveal similar results the net effect could be great as health providers eventually could incorporate them into treatment plans by prescribing medications that make saliva less acidic. Doing so could make standard reconstructive treatments, such as bridges and crowns, less likely to fail.

Meth is a horrible, horrible drug. As a recovering drug addict who suffers addictions to a variety of drugs, I can attest that this one is one of the worst. If you or someone you care about has a meth problem, please seek help ASAP. If you prefer to maintain anonymity, there are online drug classes too.

In case you were wondering, crystal meth is a very bad drug. It ruins lives and kills people. Some of the victims are completely innocent.

Back in the 1960s people learned it may be bad to smoke cigarettes while pregnant. That proved to be true. How do you think doing meth affects a fetus? Of course, that question was rhetorical.

Meth is a stimulant drug that wreaks havoc on the nervous system, causing brain changes that could cause anxiety, mood problems, and violent behavior. CBS news reports of a new study that says pregnant moms who use meth can pass some of these behavioral problems onto their kids.

It was the first study to examine meth use and its impact on a pregnancy. It followed 330 youngsters ages 3 through 5 who hailed from areas of the West and Midwest where meth use is most common.

The Study

Mothers were recruited shortly after giving birth in Des Moines, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Tulsa. All had used meth during pregnancy. To test for evidence in the babies, the facility used stool samples. Effects in children exposed to the drug were compared with those whose mothers didn't use meth through behavioral checklists filled out by moms or caregivers. Both groups were high-risk children, with many living in disadvantaged homes.

The study revealed that by age 3, scores for anxiety, depression and moodiness were slightly higher in meth-users' children, with differences persisting at age 5. The older children who'd been exposed to meth also had more aggression and attention problems similar to ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

It is sad to say that more than half of the meth-using moms in the study also used the drug after giving birth. These women were also more likely to use other drugs during and after pregnancy and to be single mothers.

Currently there are about 1.2 million Americans age 12 or older saying in 2009 that they had abused meth at least once in the previous year.

Methamphetamine has stronger effects on the brain so it may be more likely to cause lasting effects in children. It is estimated that fewer than 1 percent of pregnant women are users.

This is a perfect example of why some people should have to have a license to procreate. How can anyone knowingly take such strong drugs and substances knowing there is a good chance it will affect their unborn child? The answer is someone who is extremely self-involved and selfish – AKA an addict! Perhaps these women need California Drug Classes?

Despite little if any crackdown on the illegal drugs already popular, makers of synthetic drugs seem to create a new one every day. The dangerous thing about these drugs is parents are the last to learn about them. These drugs are hitting hard as early as 5^th and 6^th grade!

Last week I blogged about a number of horrific cases involving crystal meth. I also blogged about the dangers of all the new synthetic drugs flooding the market. The latest scare is called “shake and bake.”

The science involved in creating the chemical compound continues to evolve, including an easier recipe called "Shake and Bake" that is available on the Internet.

More Horror Stories

Last month, an Oklahoma woman was arrested as she walked around a Wal-Mart store — for six hours before she was noticed — mixing ingredients for Shake and Bake.

In one of the recent attacks by meth users, Danielle Mailloux received a nine- month sentence in Bakersfield Tuesday for stabbing her 6-week-old infant in the back and cutting her along her abdomen, jaw and neck during a binge. The baby survived.

In Oklahoma, authorities charged Lyndsey Fiddler with second-degree manslaughter after an aunt found her infant daughter in a washing machine thudding off balance in the spin cycle. The aunt told authorities that Fiddler had been up for three days using meth.

In Albuquerque, N.M., last month Liehsa Henderson, high on meth, claimed to be God and told police God wanted her son to die after allegedly stabbing him in the neck with a screwdriver. The boy survived.

Perhaps the most gruesome story was when Fresno police found Aide Mendez dead on the bathroom floor of her home. Her children — 17-month-old Aliyah Echevarria and Isaiah Echevarria, 3 — were in the bathtub. Mendez's cousin was dead in the kitchen. She had shot each in the head. The children's father remains hospitalized with stabbing and gunshot wounds.

Police recovered 10 grams of meth, $8,000 and scales — and the iPad the young mother used to videotape herself smoking meth.

These stories are things that are not created by Hollywood. These happen every month, every week, every day. There needs to be more education, drug classes and counseling. The drugs produced today don’t ruin days or weeks, they ruin lives.

Source: CBS News

A day does not pass where a horrific tale of drug abuse wrenches my heart. If you are weak and cannot handle extreme stories of sadness, read no farther. Should you care to glimpse yet another tragic situation in the capital of crystal meth, read on. Trust me these are disturbing.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Let’s begin by stating this is a story from CBS News about the dangers of crystal meth. That was the drug responsible when a 23-year-old Fresno, California woman fatally shot her two toddlers and a cousin, critically wounded her husband then turned the gun on herself. It turned out the mother had videotaped herself smoking meth hours before the shooting.

In family photos, the children are adorable, the mother pretty. They lived in a large apartment complex near a freeway with neatly clipped lawns and mature trees. The father was recently laid off from a packing house job.

Less than two days later a Bakersfield mother was sentenced for stabbing her newborn while in a meth rage. An Oklahoma woman drowned her baby in a washing machine in November. A New Mexico woman claiming to be God stabbed her son with a screwdriver last month, saying, "God wants him dead."

The Central Valley of California is a hub of the nation's methamphetamine distribution network, making extremely pure forms of the drug easily available locally.

This is an extremely addictive and dangerous drug. I am sure you have been told this before.

Chronic use of the harsh chemical compound known as speed or crank can lead to psychosis, which includes hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations. The stimulant effect of meth is up to 50 times longer than cocaine so users stay awake for days on end, impairing cognitive function and contributing to extreme paranoia.

Most law enforcement agencies don't keep statistics on how many homicides, burglaries and thefts are meth-related, but those responding to the National Drug Intelligence Center's 2011 survey said the drug is the top contributor to violent crimes and thefts.

Authorities say the science involved in creating the chemical compound continues to evolve, including an easier recipe called "Shake and Bake" that is available on the Internet. Last month, an Oklahoma woman was arrested as she walked around a Wal-Mart store — for six hours before she was noticed — mixing ingredients for Shake and Bake.

In one of the recent attacks by meth users, Danielle Mailloux received a nine- month sentence in Bakersfield Tuesday for stabbing her 6-week-old infant in the back and cutting her along her abdomen, jaw and neck during a binge. The baby survived.

"It's not illegal because we don't want people to feel better. It's illegal because it makes good people do crazy things," said Mailloux's defense attorney, Mark Anthony Raimondo.

These stories are absolutely sickening. This is one of the worst drugs because it is so easy to manufacture and is so inexpensive. More drug classes are needed to keep kids from ever starting this junk!

If you needed one more reason not to start taking crystal meth how about this – it can increase your chances of suffering from schizophrenia.

According to psychcentral.com, researchers in Toronto, Canada have found evidence that heavy methamphetamine users might have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia.

This finding was based on a study comparing the risk among methamphetamine users not only to a group that did not use drugs, but also to heavy users of other drugs.

Methamphetamine and other amphetamine-type stimulants are the second most common type of illicit drug used worldwide.

People hospitalized for methamphetamine dependence that did not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychotic symptoms at the start of our study period had an approximately 1.5 to 3.0-fold risk of subsequently being diagnosed with schizophrenia, compared with groups of patients who used cocaine, alcohol or opioid drugs. 

They also found that the increased risk of schizophrenia in methamphetamine users was similar to that of heavy users of cannabis (marijuana).

Researchers examined California hospital records of patients admitted between 1990 and 2000 with a diagnosis of dependence or abuse for several major drugs, including methamphetamine, cannabis, alcohol, cocaine or opioids. They also included a control group of patients with appendicitis and no drug use. The methamphetamine group had 42,412 cases, while cannabis had 23,335.

There has been a longstanding debate as to whether there is a connection between methamphetamine use and schizophrenia. In Japan, experts believe that methamphetamine might cause a schizophrenia-like illness, based on their observations of high rates of psychosis among methamphetamine users admitted to psychiatric hospitals.

Drugs are bad. Nothing good can come from the use of illicit drugs. If you or someone you care about has a drug problem, please seek help. If you prefer to maintain total anonymity, there are online drug classes too.

Modern medicine is a great thing. While many of today’s prescription medication can be abused, the majority, however, still serve the greater purpose of making life better! Now comes the revelation that an antidepressant drug may help curb meth abuse.

The antidepressant mirtazapine may help some methamphetamine addicts curb their use of the drug -- at least in the short term, a small trial suggests.

Right now, no medication is approved for treating dependence on methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that can be snorted, smoked, injected or swallowed.

That's in contrast to other abused substances, like heroin and alcohol, for which there are medications that can help addicts cut down.

For their study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Colfax and his colleagues looked at the effectiveness of mirtazapine (Remeron) among 60 gay or bisexual men who wanted treatment for meth dependence.

Methamphetamine abuse is considered a particular problem among men who have sex with men, because among the drug's effects are "disinhibition" and sexual risk-taking. And meth use among gay and bisexual men has been linked to an increased risk of contracting HIV.

Colfax's team randomly assigned their patients to either 12 weeks of drug counseling alone or counseling plus mirtazapine. By the end of the study, those on the antidepressant were less likely to test positive for recent meth use.

After 12 weeks, 44 percent of those taking mirtazapine had a positive urine drug test, versus 73 percent at the study's start. In contrast, almost no change was seen in the counseling-only group: 63 percent had a positive test after 12 weeks, versus 67 percent at the outset.

An encouraging finding, according to Colfax, was that men on the antidepressant also cut down on their risky sexual behavior.

Among mirtazapine patients, the number of male sex partners in the past month declined from an average of almost 12 to three by the study's end. The men also reported fewer instances of unprotected sex.

A number of studies have tested different antidepressants for treating meth dependence, since the medications act on some of the same brain chemicals that meth does to produce its "high." But so far, none have panned out.

Colfax said his team chose to study mirtazapine because it acts on more than one brain chemical implicated in methamphetamine's effects. "Mirtazapine works on both dopamine and serotonin," he noted. "We know both of those (brain) pathways become disrupted in methamphetamine dependence."

Like all antidepressants, mirtazapine can also have side effects. One of the main ones is weight gain -- and the risk is higher compared with some of the more popular serotonin-targeting antidepressants, like fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft).

In this study, three of the 30 men assigned to the medication gained a substantial amount of weight: anywhere from 10 to 27 pounds. But none of the three stopped taking the antidepressant, Colfax noted.

Drowsiness and increased appetite, which are known potential side effects of the drug, were also reported by some of the participants.

Future studies, according to Colfax's team, need to look not only at the long-term effects of using mirtazapine to treat meth addiction -- but also whether any successes translate into a lower risk of HIV infection.

Figuring out how long people need to stay on the antidepressant to stay off of meth is also important as far as determining treatment costs. The average monthly price of mirtazapine ranges from about $45 to almost $200, depending on the dose and whether you use the brand-name or generic.

Overall this is a major positive finding. Curbing meth addiction would be tremendous for society. If you or someone you care about is addicted to meth please seek help immediately. If you prefer to maintain total anonymity there are online drug classes as well.

Meth use is no laughing matter. But there is a very funny show called Breaking Bad that makes a good try at meth related humor. See the following infographic for more information

Via: Nursing Schools Site