What S Speed Got to Do with It

WHAT’SWHAT’S SPEEDSPEED GOTGOT TOTO DODO WITHWITH IT?IT?

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS

Speed, whizz, sulphate; the drugs speed. Other illnesses, including The immediate effects of ecstasy that hype you up and give you a Obsessive Compulsive Disorder include: rush. They include Amphetamines (OCD) and Post Traumatic Stress  A feeling of tranquillity and Cocaine and are called psycho Disorder (PTSD) can also be made  Increased confidence stimulants because they speed up worse by speed.  Raised blood pressure messages going through your  Increased heart rate nervous system. They can reduce DEPRESSION AND SPEED  Feeling close to other people tiredness, increase endurance and All the good effects that go with  Jaw clenching, grinding teeth help you stay awake. using speed have a down side.  Dry mouth and throat Feeling full of energy and self-  Nausea and loss of appetite Amphetamines usually come as a confidence easily becomes out of  Anxiety and paranoia smelly white, yellow or brown control, hyperactive behaviour. powder, but you can also find it as Speed is often linked with Larger does cause: tablets, capsules, crystals or red aggression and violence.  Sweating liquid. It can be smoked, swallowed,  Hallucinations inhaled through the nose (‘snorted’) It is very common to become  Irrational behaviour or dissolved in a small amount of depressed after using speed, or  Vomiting water and injected. even suicidal. This is part of the  Convulsions withdrawal effect and while it Because they don’t have many normally wears off in a few day or The next day a severe hangover medical uses, most amphetamines weeks, that’s not always the case. may leave you feeling ‘burned out’. are crudely made in backyard There is a special kind of depression Symptoms include: loss of appetite, laboratories, often mixed with other caused by speed and cocaine, which insomnia, depression, aching substances, which means they can can last for months. muscles and difficulty in have very unpredictable effects. concentrating. Speed or uppers make people feel STIMULANTS AND MENTAL good by flooding the brain with a Too much ecstasy results in very HEALTH chemical called serotonin. Ecstasy high blood pressure, body People who have emotional or releases even more serotonin than temperature and racing heartbeat, psychiatric problems are worse off if speed. It makes many people feel which can lead to heart failure and they use speed. While open and warm towards each other. stroke. amphetamines can make someone But regular use damages your feel full of energy and confidence, in brain’s ability to handle serotonin, SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SPEED a person with a mental illness it is and the long periods of depression All the symptoms of schizophrenia more likely to set off a major that follow can last for ages, even can be caused by speed:, delusions, breakdown. needing psychiatric treatment to help paranoid thoughts / feelings, the sufferer cope. It takes many hallucinations and badly scrambled Speed is one of the few drugs that is months without speed before this thinking. The illness (often called a thought can actually cause mental condition starts to get better, and for drug-induced psychosis)) is treated illness. Some drugs can trigger a some people, it never does. like schizophrenia usually in a hidden illness, but anyone who takes psychiatric ward, and can take a few speed long enough or in large ECSTASY (MDMA) weeks t bring under control. Once a amounts can become mentally ill. Methylenedioxymethamphetamine person has had one drug induced Even small doses can cause people or ‘ecstasy’ is an unusual stimulant, psychosis, they may be more likely to experience the symptoms of bi- because it also acts likes a to have further episodes, and a small polar illness, so people who already hallucinogenic (hallucinogenics are number of people will continue to have schizophrenia or bipolar drugs like LSD). experience these symptoms even if disorder should think about avoiding they stop using stimulants More importantly, stimulant use can Depressants (alcohol, Benzos and altogether. come to have such an important opiates) work on different parts of place in a users life that it interferes the brain, giving your body For people who have schizophrenia, with relationships, education, work, conflicting signals, which disrupt or who have a relative with the friendships and family life. Health is many functions. Depressants can illness, speed is a very risky drug to often neglected and people do some slow your breathing reflex which use. It will make the illness worse very risky things to ensure their results in less oxygen at the time and prevent medication working supply is not interfered with. your racing, irregular pulse is properly. demanding extra. It can be a fatal IS SPEED A DANGEROUS DRUG? combination and the risk grows as The earlier schizophrenia starts, the Speed is currently one of the most you get older. harder it can be to treat, many young widely used injecting drugs in the people use speed and because it UK. Speed & Medication may be a trigger for the first episode Some HIV / AIDS drugs can lead to in people who are vulnerable to the Because of the way it is liver damage if taken with speed. illness (E.g. If a close family member manufactured, people who use Medications for mental illness won’t has schizophrenia) it may be worth speed have a higher chance of work properly if you are on speed, avoiding. contracting HIV / AIDS, hepatitis and but the side effects will actually get other blood borne diseases. Using worse, and antidepressants are BIPOLAR DISORDER AND SPEED speed is also associated with violent ineffective while you are taking Speed does more than mimic mania; or aggressive behaviour. You might speed. The combination of speed it triggers manic episodes in people injure someone else, or you could be and antidepressants increases the who have a bipolar disorder. In the the victim! risk of having an amphetamine same way, the ‘crash’ that follows psychosis. Some drugs, like speed use can result in a severe SPEED AND OTHER DRUGS anticoagulants (for stroke, heart depressive episode in someone who Speed & Cannabis disease and blood clots) can has a bipolar disorder, leading to Cannabis starves your body of become fatal if used with speed. feelings of suicide or hospitalisation. oxygen and increases the amount of The effects are usually worse with poisonous carbon monoxide in your OTHER ISSUES cocaine and crack cocaine. bloodstream. Speed pumps up your Users often take other drugs to heart and makes sure this poison counter effects like insomnia, leading DEPRESSION AND SPEED gets to your brain and to all the to polydrug use. Stimulants are If you are depressed it seems logical organs of your body. That’s not appetite suppressants, and loss of to take a drug like speed that makes good. Cannabis will also make many weight; poor nutrition and neglect go you feel happy, high and confident. people paranoid at times and that along with using. So does becoming But there is a catch: two catches increases the chance of triggering a vulnerable to infection and disease. really. The first is that what is true for schizophrenic illness especially bipolar illness is also true for when you use stimulants on top. If you want to know more about depression. When you come off, you They shouldn’t be used together, or speed and your mental health or are likely to be far more depressed even within a few days of each want a fact sheet on another than when you took it. The other other, because the active part of substance call Manchester Dual catch is that taking speed or cocaine cannabis stays in your system for a Diagnosis Service on 0161 720 over a long period ‘burns out’ certain very long time after you take it. 2005. parts of the brain (serotonin receptors), leading to chronic Speed & Alcohol Acknowledgements: depression, which does not respond Speed increases your heart rate to D. Rich, SW Sydney Area Health Service. well to treatment with medication. 120 beats per minute or more. At the S. Bazire, Psychotropic Drug Directory. Drugscope, Drug Abuse Briefing. same time, it increases your blood Manchester Dual Diagnosis Service: A IS SPEED ADDICTIVE? pressure, and makes the heart beat Collaboration between Manchester Drug & Some speed users find that they irregular and erratic. Add alcohol, Alcohol Strategy Team and Manchester need increasingly larger doses to get which also interferes with circulation Mental Health & Social Care Trust. the effect they are looking for from and blood pressure and the the drug. This increasing “tolerance” combination is pretty dangerous. is an indication of physical addiction.