After quitting Meth, can I be the same?

can a person who's used for so long and hypothetically decides to quit, ever really be the way they were before the drug use began. is it possible to ever be the same person again?? with all the damage this drug causes to your brain, even after a short time of using, i just find it hard to beleive that a person can recover to the same person they were. Isn't that why it's called, "brain damage"? i've heard there may be research showing that there could be a possibility that brain cells can regrow overtime and halted use, but even that doesn't sound promising.
anyone dealing with a situation similar to this???

Just Ma said it best on another post, we may not be the same person, but do we actually want to be? That same person with the addictive behavior is what got us in this mess in the first place.
I believe I'm a better person today. I didn't "hypothetically quit", I'm in recovery. I'm capable of loving with all my heart and now accept love with open arms instead of feeling as though I don't deserve it.
My career and position is back on tract, I don't think I could have done that if I have "Brain damage".
I'm a better mother to my children today, than some other parents out there who never used drugs but yet abuse their children. I have a renewed sense of appreciating the little things in life, like going to the park with my children and watching the grass grow, and looking at clouds as they point out what figures they see.
Now if your question was, can you go back to being normal and sane after abstinence? SURE! YES!
Aloha,
Scared Angel

For me, I know I am not the same in many ways. I have only been clean a few weeks, and I know I am still in a type of withdrawl/recovery stage. I have no motivation, no social needs or wants, I sleep and I cry all the time, I don't want to play with my daughter, I am depressed, I am eating ALL the time (pint of ice cream in front of me now), and I am parinoid still for some reason. Hopfully this will pass, but I too wonder if threw the short time I used though heavy if I had "brain damage" that will not let me go back to my old self before this drug took over my life.

I hope I don't become my former self heaven forbid! Truthfully I'm not convinced there was a "self" in my past. As my recovery evolves, a new and exciting concept of self is beginning to emerge, neuro pathways heal and that emotional flatlining [anhedonia] begins to perk up. A connection with Creation and a sense of spiritual progress also begin to emerge and we find ourselves slowly becoming happier and more whole than we could have ever imagined. It takes time, paitience, and effort but we can grow to be good people leading good lives. 12 steps to freedom make it possible.

I am not the same person I was before I used drugs and thank God! I don't ever want to go back to that.

I know that some people thought I was great before I used, but as a result of working a 12-Step program, I am unable to go back to that. This means that some people are no longer a part of my life. And that's okay. I love the person I am.

We do recover.
Abby, addict

Different...better...more 'real'.

To go to the edge of hell and back and not to be changed is unheard of. All experiences in life give us chances to change and grow. He may not be the same, and I do not think he will, but that is not a bad thing. It means he has grown and learned from his experiences.

well, anything would be better than who he is now. right now i don't know who hes is, but i do know i miss my brother and i pray that he wakes up before it's too late..

I did cocaine for a few months when i was 18 and then nothing ever again until 30 i did a little cocaine but for 2 years once or twice a month i used meth and then every day for 6 months until i stopped and have memory loss about not when on the drugs but peoples i have not seen in a few years names. I was a very good with names and now i know it has to be using meth or a common combination. i wonder what they are really telling the public about memory loss using meth.

I have a sister that used meth recreationally about 6 years ago...she seems fine now. She mainly used the drug to become thinner I will say though her first child she miss carried...I have other friends that have been more in it than my sister and they all seem to be on some anti depressants and anxioty medications.....does the brain heal only time will tell and I do believe that it takes time. I myself have never done the drug my x is and was very addicted to it and he is in prision now Im not sure that he will ever really change back to that same person that he use to be.....or at least i will never see him as that person that he was....and if i cant see him that way again then how could he possibly see himself as that person???