KCI The Anti_Meth Site

A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict

mistee rane	A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I hid my use for years. I kept a full time job, worked at my kids school, and did family activities on the weekends. I have teeth, and didnt act or look like a tweaker. I never got in trouble with the police, not even a ticket, and I used for 13 years. I didnt steal, but I did lie. I was a functioning addict. You would be surprized how many people use. Ive heard of optomotrists, prosecuting attournys, even a dentist who are addicts. we dont always look like addicts.
Replies...
Sfj	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict That's the truth. Some are able to hide it very well. Meth addiction does not discriminate, - rich or poor, urban or rural, young or old, male or female, black or white or grey, ignorant or educated, gay or straight. I personally know seven attorneys, one was a very high profile San Francisco public defender, and one Los Angeles Emergency Room surgeon who are members in CMA. They were all long-time heavy users. Their shares would make you socks boil.
Time4 Change	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict So how much were you spending on it monthly? Were you using daily? How often did you crash and sleep or a couple of days.. once?... twice a month? Were you smoking, snorting or injecting? I just want to know how you were able to maintain and function.
CONCERNED NANNY	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I was a straight A student in school; member of the National Honor Society; Who's Who of High School Students; Varsity Volleyball. Sometimes it's very hard to tell. I had dabbled before, but really turned it on my senior year. My mama died that year. It's not an excuse, just an explanation. Have ya ever noticed that a lot of people that use are high powered people or people with high stress factor jobs?
sabino2	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I can attest to that. I had a high stress job, a "power" position, the department I ran grossed approximately 10 million a year in revenue. I smoked it, quite heavily up to 4 times a day by the end. My use was not long, approximaetly three weeks, but I can put 50 people in front of you that wil swear on a stack of bibles that they are 110% sure I never used. One of these people dated a meth addict for 18 years and she is the most vehement, because she "knows" a meth user when she sees one!! Even when my wife and I were going through our divorce, the psychologists and lawyers I had who "know" meth addicts will tell you I was not one. That is the scary thing about the drug, so very easy to hide. My wife has been asking me alot about it and I don't think even she realizes how widespread it is. We live in the San Francisco Bay area (San Jose). The city is awash in the stuff, it is easier to get meth than pot! Maybe it is that way everywhere, I can only speak of where I live
imlost inky	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict Neither my husband or myself ever looked tweaked. Granted our use wasn't as heavy as some- but still it was enough. My sister ,if you did not know her beforehand,you would never see tweaker there- even when she was shooting only God knows how much.Went through over $30,000 in a year or so. She always dressed to the hilt- always had, always will. Never looked druggie.Not if you didn't know her beforehand. You would have just thought WOW! What a beautiful woman. Somewhere I may still have a pic of her and her boyfriend taken during hard use- If I find it ,I will post it. I don't know that I still have it after all of these years. My sister has was and will always be a very beautiful woman.
angie Ncali	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I do believe that there are people who use that people would never in a million years guess were using. I do believe some are able to hide it. I do believe even professionals probably use. I do believe 110% that it does not discriminate. What I do doubt and would argue against ... are these people who are able to "get away" with it ... and then they paint this pretty little picture like they had it all together ... and No one knew. I would be willing to bet that they had "their Own" strange meth induced behavior. Behavior and habits that if and when they are to quit ... probably also changes. I won't EVER believe that anyone can use .... for any length of time and NOT Portray some type of USING BEHAVIOR. Maybe in their minds ... But I am confident it isnt the real picture if it were painted out by someone else .... on the outside looking in. I dont buy it. I do buy that maybe this is what that person believes. I believed some pretty unrealistic stuff about myself and the way I behaved regarding my own using .... I think we all do. But then we get sober .... and start to see things for what they really were ... at least if are able to be honest enough with ourselves anyhow.
JDP	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I agree with what angie wrote. When you live with someone who uses, even if they are good at covering it up, you are going to see changes in their personality or behaviors. You have to have known the person when they were sober to see the differences, if you didn't know them sober, then that makes it harder to see. If you see a user on the street but he doesn't look all tweaked out, then sure your not going to know he uses. I know a guy who functions perfectly and he uses, but there are still many signs of his use. Especially when he runs out. It is funny cause my boyfriend used to say when he was really bad in his addiction, "no one can tell I am using, I get pulled over all the time and the cops can never tell" But once he got clean I saw a completely different person than when he used. Another way of really hiding their use is taking pills with it. Any kind of pill. to help them come down or relax
small town GIRL	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict time4change asked: So how much were you spending on it monthly? Were you using daily? How often did you crash and sleep or a couple of days.. once?... twice a month? Were you smoking, snorting or injecting? I just want to know how you were able to maintain and function. AND I am curious: do you still use? OR how did you stop using after 13 years? was it difficult? You said that you did tell 'lies'...what kinds of things did you lie about?? If you are not using anymore, what made you stop? did you lose weight when using OR gain weight when you quit?
mistee rane	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I was a daily user, I smoked it, I tried to sleep every night, but sometimes stayed up one night. I would sleep in on the weekends, but not all day. I spent apx. 400.00 a month on it. I quit because I was tired of the control it had on me. I went to disneyland with my family, I was so stressed on where could I hide it? and what if they found it? I got on the plane ok, and they didnt find it. That was years ago. In august Im going to hawaii, and Im not going through that ever again. Today is 57 days clean, and I can make plans to do anything, any time, without that bag. I almost feel free. I know Im in early recovery and relapse is common, I cant say I dont think about it, but alot of my family is now clean and giving me alot of support, and I am going to a few na meeting with them. My kids are so proud of me, I couldnt let them down now. I lied about where I was, when at my dealers house, they weren't big lies, but a lie is a lie, and I was raised never to lie. I also lied when I relapsed. I was clean for 3 months, then started again. I did loose weight, I went from a size 12 to a 9, then gained it back while using, I have gained more weight since I quit I'm now size 14.
TnSkye	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict For the most part, my husband doesn't look like an addict. However, sometimes, like right now, when his use gets heavier, he loses a lot of weight. I can tell, but most people can't or they believe his lies about trying to lose weight. And some of the people who have been on the receiving end of his temper lately know/suspect drug use. But as for meeting him, you would not right off assume that he's an addict.
mistee rane	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict Some days are so hard, then other days are easier. The hard part is not having any friends. Im so bored all the time. Its like Im not used to this life. The things I enjoyed doing when I was high I dont like doing now. I still dont have energy, or drive to do anything. I take zantrex-3 sometimes to get housework done, but its not working as good as it did when I first started taking it. Its a dietary suppliment I got at a vitamin store. I hear it gets easier with time. I do know that I dont want to go through this again. What really scares me is I read that only 6% recover from this addiction. I think it was on sfj's site. I hope I make it in that 6%
Sfj	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict Yes, That figure of six percent is often quoted. But statistics are only numbers, not people. However, just like people, statistics lie also. How does one define "recover." If it's defined as working a program, staying abstinent, and regaining everything that was lost - well yes, maybe six per cent is correct. What if a person used meth once every other year? He sure wouldn't make it into the six per cent. In reality, the number of people who get clean and regain the best parts of their lives is much greater. Six per cent this year, six per cent next year and so on.
vicky dammit	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict *Quote:* In reality, the number of people who get clean and regain the best parts of their lives is much greater. So true....and what about people like me, who just quit? Unless they took their numbers from this website, i would never be counted. I know there are thousands like me out there, and they are all uncounted. Don't let that 6% thing scare you...it happens every single day.
imlost inky	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict *Quote:* what about people like me, who just quit? Me too - I am not in those statistics. I think 11 years clean counts as recovery- or something.
nine years clean	Re: A meth addict doesn't always look like an addict I started a thread pertaining to what we REALLY looked like to others when we were using, but it seemed to me by one of the responses that my post was acting as a trigger, and I would never want to do that, so I deleted it. What I would like to say is this: up until the last 4-5 years of my addiction, I was what you would term a functional addict. Was a professional, married with children, went to school functions, got my kids to the doctor, took care of my garden, took night classes at the college, et cetera. Since getting clean, I have been told by numerous people who know me well that it was obvious to them that I was on something, though they didn't know what. I wasn't myself anymore. I was just going through the motions. So even though I did like to think, back in those using days, that I was hiding it well, I certainly was not. Of course, the last years of my addiction were my crash and burn years, and I was snorting 1/16th a day, never sleeping, never eating, barely functioning on a regular basis. That is when my friends took action, or at least tried to, by confronting me and urging me to seek help. I denied everything of course, even though I knew it was obvious. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror anymore.