Amphetamine withdrawal, Abuse, Symptoms, Medical Detox & Treatment for Addiction

Are amphetamine withdrawal symptoms your biggest fear? Fearing these symptoms can keep you in addiction’s hold. However, the way out of these ill symptoms is through a quality detox and rehab treatment program.

Specifically, amphetamines are stimulants of the central nervous system. This means the drugs in the amphetamine category stimulate or speed up your body’s natural functioning, particularly when it comes to the brain and spinal cord. You can buy these drugs on the street or abuse prescription drugs, such as in the case of Adderall addiction.

You start feeling amphetamine withdrawal symptoms when you reach addiction. Moreover, your brain relies on having amphetamines in your system at this point to function properly. If you stop taking the drugs, you’ll feel the ill effects of withdrawal, which is your body’s cue to give it more of what it wants. It’s also the result of your brain and body trying to adjust to functioning without the drugs it became dependent on.

You fear these amphetamine withdrawal symptoms because they are unpleasant. Some of these effects include depression, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, concentration problems, and appetite changes. You oftentimes feel a crash after stopping your dose for about two days. However, these light symptoms soon give way to more intense amphetamine withdrawal symptoms by day two or three of detox.

Your more intense amphetamine withdrawal symptoms last around five days. During withdrawal, you need help from a quality detox and rehab treatment program, one able to provide safe and professional detox. In addition, this type of program also helps you get through the worst symptoms using helpful medications and other services.

Amphetamine addiction has become a major challenge facing the people of our nation. Prescription stimulants like Adderall and Dexedrine, along with illicit amphetamines like methamphetamine and ecstasy, are highly addictive and disruptive when used as recreational drugs. Understanding more about these medications and drugs and how they work in the body creates an ability to recognize the signs of addiction, so individuals can learn how to get help in treating this challenging issue.

Amphetamine is a central nervous stimulant. Its use results in an increase in certain types of brain activity, resulting in a feeling of higher energy, focus, confidence, and in a dose-dependent manner, can elicit a rewarding euphoria. According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research, amphetamine was first synthesized in Germany in the late 1800s; however, its stimulant properties were not discovered until about the 1930s, when it began to be used to treat nasal congestion.

As time went by, amphetamine began to be used to treat a variety of conditions, from alcohol hangovers to weight loss. It was also used to treat two conditions for which it is still known today: hyperactivity in young people (including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and narcolepsy, a condition in which people fall asleep suddenly. Occasionally, it is used to treat depression.

Amphetamine is abused in several ways. Of course, it is possible just to take the pills and experience a mild high that way. However, some people crush the pills and snort them, creating a faster, stronger high. One of the quickest ways to get high from amphetamine or methamphetamine is to dissolve the powder in water and inject it. This method gets the drug into the bloodstream and to the brain almost immediately, creating an intense high.

Students often abuse amphetamine through off-label use as a study aid. These individuals consider that the high energy and focus that result from using the drug can help them perform better on tests and in school. However, an article from TIME discusses a study that showed
students who use amphetamines do not perform any better; in fact, they often perform worse. Nevertheless, the drug does make people feel like they can focus more and do better even if the opposite is true. More significantly, this level of abuse can lead to more severe, illicit use of the drug to get high.

The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that about 4.8 million people in the US abused prescription amphetamine medications that year, equivalent to about 1.8 percent of the population that is 12 and older. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, on the other hand, reports that about 1.2 million people use methamphetamine; this is about 0.4 percent of the population.

• Visual, auditory, or tactile hallucinations
• Inability to keep up with work, school, or home responsibilities
• Much of the person’s time spent seeking or using the drug
• Missing pills from a prescription
• Changes in groups of friends and difficulties with relationships
• Loss of interest in previous activities

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Decreased appetite and weight loss
• Insomnia
• Digestive upset
• Mood swings
• Aggression
• Paranoia and anxiety

• Slow reactions and movements
• Aches and pains
• Agitation, irritability, nightmares, and depression

• Fatigue and intense sleepiness
• Increased appetite
• Twitches and other body movements

• Fatigue and/or sleeping for unusually long periods of time
•  Increased appetite
• Uncontrollable body movements and twitches
•  Slowed reaction and movement
•  Confused thoughts

• Body aches and pains
• Irritability and/or agitation
•  Lucid dreams or unpleasant dreams
•  Emotional outbursts
•  Depression

No medication has been demonstrated to be effective in alleviating amphetamine withdrawal, but some medications may be useful with some symptoms.

Antidepressants have been used for withdrawal-induced depression with some benefit, although the onset of action is delayed and relapse to use while taking antidepressants can result in hypertension or serotonin syndrome. Mirtazapine is used at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia and has resulted in some improvement in symptoms. It may be continued for depressive symptoms in the response to treatment is evident.

Short-term use of benzodiazepines (diazepam 5 to 10mg QID PRN) and antipsychotics (olanzapine 2.5-5mg BD PRN) for control of irritability and agitation can be helpful, particularly in the inpatient setting. Care should be taken to limit access to large quantities of medications and to avoid the development of benzodiazepine dependence. These medications should be prescribed for a maximum of seven to 10 days.

Modafinil is also used at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia and has been demonstrated to result in some improvement in symptoms, but this is not an approved medication for amphetamine withdrawal treatment.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for amphetamine addiction
• Motivational Interviewing
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy

• Family counseling
• Addiction education
• Peer support or 12-Step group participation