KCI The Anti_Meth Site

Excessive weight gain and Meth

need help 07	Excessive weight gain and Meth I seen someone who I know has been on Meth for a couple of years over the weekend and I had heard that they had been gaining weight. When I seen this person, OMG, talk about the GoodYear Blimp...... This person is huge and what I don't understand is that I know for a fact that they are still using. I take it that they have probably cut baclk and are not doing it 24/7 but this person is huge... I know people gain weight when they quit but why would this person just blow up like a balloon????? Doesn't look very healthy either..
Loraura	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth Perhaps they are also a compulsive overeater, a food addict, with a dual addiction. Toward the end of my amphetamine use, I was using and gaining. It stopped working due to tolerance and increased food addiction.
luve piphany	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth There is also the possibility of malnutrition which does come with extendid meth use and can cause bloating. That's sad either way. I actually have seen quite a few heavier meth addicts...usually older than 30 though. I actually clued in a cop friend on that possibility....he really didn't know.
need help 07	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth I did see on a show one night where a cop said that not all meth addicts are skinny that he has seen some over weight.. This person looks old which I know that Meth will do that and also their skin (face) has a grayish look to it..
luve piphany	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth good, I'm glad that I won't have to clue in all the cops in the country I used to get scared looking at my addict x when he looked a little bloated or his skin looked funny or his eyeballs were different sizes....I have sort of a sense when people are sick and it hurt me and worried me when I used to see him.....he was once so very pretty. Meth did seem to keep him running so fast that he didn't seem to get sick very often....I felt a lot more peace when I didn't have to seem him killing himself slowly. It's also been said here by many that they got sick After they quit. But, it's still worth it from what I can see. I'm sure there is a lot of medical science to that. Fact is, meth hurts the body either now or later.
The Doc49	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth Well I have to admit my size 36" waist pants are really hard to button now, and time to consider 38's. Yet I stopped working right before returning to reality (clean) so I am not sure if it is not working or being clean. My last job kept me physically fit, and now I've got a small, well,small to medium(LOL) belly on me. And without an income, I do not buy the healthest food due to $$. I think it is a combination of all of it. I do have a cousin who uses, and he is just gotten huge. He has always had a sweet tooth and not one to ride a bike, or do much that requires much physical exeurstion. Once working again, I'll have a better idea of where I am going to end up, and I want to stay at that 36" waist.
need help 07	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth I also heard that being on that stuff will give you a sweet tooth, don't know if that is really true.. I do know another person who I had seen several months back and she had gained weight and I had just assumed she had been on drugs and then went off but when I made that statement, someone told me that she had gained the weight when she started on meth.. Luv, what do you mean that meth will hurt the body now or later??? I have read that it can stay in your fat cells for a long time after you go clean and when you get physically active and sweat, the chemicals in your fat cells will release the chemicals as if you had taken it.. Maybe thats why its hard to quit and easy to relaspe.
Tender heartsKS	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth Meth doesn't stay stored in the fat cells. THC from marijuana is a different story. When I was in rehab, we had a overweight gal who smoked a lot of pot before rehab, and all she had to do was run around the outside of the hospital grounds, and she'd be high! Meth is out of the system in 24 hours I believe. Loraura would know more about that. My oldest daughter is very overweight, and I didn't notice much difference in her weight. However she drinks enough Dr. Pepper on a daily basis to make a skinny person fat! It's no wonder she has rotting teeth between all the pop and drugs
need help 07	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth I read an article from a Dr. who did a story on the effects of meth and that is where I read about the chemicals being stored in your fat cells.. This drug is just so crazy... Thanks for you input.
le grumps	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth "I know people gain weight when they quit but why would this person just blow up like a balloon! Doesn't look very healthy either.." I "blew up into a good year blimp" as you call it when I gained 110 lbs within a year of quitting meth. It was a combination of the meds I was taking to you know... stabilize my brain so I wouldn't relapse, and overeating, which became a substitute for using. The depression was pretty bad for a couple years, and the shame from gaining the wait made it difficult to you know, hit the gym with a smile on the face. I stopped being able to fit into the weight machines properly. I barely had the motivation to get out of bed with the depression. I was stuck. I had to deal with the depression in order to even reach a state of mind where I could do something about the weight. I just re-read your post and it says he is still using. Yeah, that happens sometimes. It may be a metabolism thing. Everyone is different and I don't think it's meth being stored in fat cells. I am STILL busting my ass to try to lose my post-meth weight.
luve piphany	Re: Excessive weight gain and Meth Meth affects all sorts of functions in the body and the body gets tired out and even when stopped, the body is still tired out. Every person's body and brain chemicals are a little bit different and no one knows just what meth might do to them. There are a zillion stories of physical weaknesses and problems that recovering addicts here suspect were contributed to or caused by their meth use. Much is still not known on the long term lingering effects of meth use. If your metabolism and adrenal system is speeded up and wacked out when on meth, it just stands to reason that it would still be wacked out when you quit. I think that if people knew more about how their bodies functioned phsyiologically, they might be less likely to do meth or any drugs for that matter.