Many factors contribute to answering the question of how long meth stays in the human body. Test type, health, and other personal traits play an integral part.
To get an accurate personalized meth cleansing timeline, it helps to connect with a treatment specialist. They can help with tracking recovery efforts and predicting the effects of certain recovery efforts.
What is Meth?
Methamphetamine, also known as meth, is a highly potent stimulant that speeds up the activity of neurotransmitters. It can be smoked, snorted, or injected, and typically produces a high that lasts a few hours. There is no natural component to methamphetamine. It’s created in clandestine labs due to its highly illegal nature, often using ingredients like cough medicine, bug spray, or even gasoline.
Meth works to accelerate central nervous system activity, resulting in an abnormal overproduction of dopamine in the body. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that sends messages in the body. It is associated with learning and the feeling that something the person is doing for their body is good for them.
This “flood” of dopamine that comes with meth use can have trickle-down effects on levels of serotonin, the mood-regulating hormone in the body. The compounding effects can induce euphoric sensations, hyperactivity, intense pleasure, and other central nervous system stimulations. This can have devastating effects over time, making meth addiction treatment in Los Angeles essential for those seeking recovery and long-term healing.
How Long Meth Stays in Your System, Per Specific Testing Methods
Meth can be detected for longer or shorter durations depending on the testing method.
Urine Testing
Urine testing can detect meth as long as 5 days out from the last use. This remains one of the most common and inexpensive test types for methamphetamine use, hence its frequent use for occupational and business testing.
Saliva Testing
Saliva testing detects the presence of methamphetamine for a maximum of 2 days from the most recent use. This is typically administered by cotton swabbing the inside of the person’s mouth. These tests are the shortest-term test method and can be easy for test takers to alter for a desired result.
Hair Follicle Testing
Hair follicle tests cover the longest duration, up to 90 days following the most recent use. This test format, although typically the most expensive testing method, is known as the most secure and fail-safe method for employers to date.
Blood Testing
Blood tests can only identify meth’s presence a maximum of 25 hours after the most recent dose. Blood tests aren’t the most common testing method partly for this reason, predominantly because of the limitations compared to their high price point.
What Factors Influence How Long Meth Stays in Your System?
The lifespan of meth in the body is dependent on a combination of the following factors:
Dosage Levels
Addiction History
Addiction history tells a story of many personalized factors, including how long certain substances may stay in a person’s system. A long history of meth addiction means it will likely take longer to be cleansed from the body. This is why it is vitally important to share the full extent of a person’s addiction history with medical professionals.
Individual Metabolism
Everybody’s body processes substances at a different pace. Drugs are no different, and may require different metabolic processes to break down different chemical compounds. Naturally slower metabolisms will take longer to break down toxins and addictive substances, while faster metabolisms will break them down more easily.
Overall Health
If a person has healthy organs, the expungement process is likely to be faster and easier. Hindered organ functions or health deficiencies may mean meth takes longer to be eliminated from the body.
Body Mass
Weight also plays an integral part in how the body processes and excretes meth. Individuals with higher body mass will typically experience meth staying in their system longer than people with lower body mass. BMI numbers may help doctors determine an accurate timeline for how long meth may remain present in your body.
Hydration Levels
Fitness Activity
How much a person exercises directly plays into their rate of detoxification. Exercise helps to train the body for greater efficiency, and can encourage other good habits (like proper hydration) that can lead to faster detoxification overall.
Age
The younger a person is, the easier it is for their body to rid itself of meth. That’s not to say young adults are void of its harmful effects. Methamphetamines are equally damaging to young people as they are to older adults. However, the body is more easily capable of cleansing itself in young adults as it is in older adults. Older people with methamphetamine addiction may experience greater discomfort during detox and a higher risk of complications.
Symptoms of Meth Addiction
Meth addiction can produce evident wear and tear on the body that can reveal itself in behaviors, health effects, and personal relationships. Several observable traits of meth addiction includes:
Appetite Suppression
Methamphetamines hinder neurotransmitter communication, especially in neurons that impact hunger. This is how meth adversely induced severe appetite suppression. Therefore, if you notice an unusual lack of appetite in a loved one, it’s vital to monitor this observation. If left untreated, this can lead to malnutrition and fatal consequences.
Pale Appearance
A pale, gaunt-like appearance is a visual earmark of meth addiction. Ghost-like skin pigmentation occurs for several reasons, including the aforementioned malnutrition factor, reduced or constricted blood flow, among other factors. It may also be an indicator that the person is spending a disproportionate amount of time indoors using methamphetamine.
Hyperactive Behavior
Meth’s stimulating effects can cause erratic, hyperactive behavior while under the influence. This can manifest as an inability to remain still, restlessness, accelerated or elongated speech, disproportionate anxiety, and other similar hyperactive expressions. This can be especially harmful to the user, because drug-induced hyperactivity often includes acting rashly on impulse. These impulses can put themselves or those around them in harm’s way.
Disheveled or Unkempt Appearance
When addiction takes control of the mind and body, many priorities are mentally and physically disregarded. The result is frequently an unkempt and disheveled appearance. This can include untended hair, reused or tattered clothing, and lack of bathing. Other visual and sensory cues include unkempt facial hair, foul-smelling skin or clothes, and the onset of skin disorders. Combined with the thin body that can result from diminished eating due to suppressed appetite, this often leads to the infamous “tweaker” appearance associated with chronic methamphetamine use.
Lack of Sleep
Involuntary Reflexes or Ticks
Sudden jerky movements or uncontrollable tremors are a very common indication of meth withdrawal. However, these tics can also occur while under the influence of the drug. Whatever the reason may be, involuntary tremors, reflexes, or tics are not a normal physiological response. It can be a very visible sign that someone is currently using meth or their body is becoming physically dependent on meth.
When to Get Help for Meth Addiction
Meth is a highly addictive stimulant, and it’s best to not become addicted to it in the first place. But if you encounter any of the following signs, it may be time to consider seeking help for meth addiction:
- Spending much of your time buying, using, or recovering from using meth
- Losing interest in activities your once enjoyed
- Preoccupation with buying or using meth
- Financial problems, such as always needing to borrow money
- Feeling like you “need” meth to feel good or have fun
- Becoming socially isolated
- Hiding your meth use from others, or becoming defensive when asked about it
- Experiencing withdrawal symptoms (such as chills, anxiety, and cravings) when not using meth for a period of time
- Legal troubles, such as for possession of meth or driving under the influence
- Needing more meth each time to feel the same effects (physical tolerance)
- Continued poor nutrition and/or personal hygiene
- Change in social circles, especially if the new friends use meth
- Using more meth than you originally intended
- Not meeting school, work, or social obligations due to meth use
- Being unable to stop using meth (even when you want to stop)
- Using meth in increasingly dangerous situations, such as while driving or watching children
- People in your life have voiced concern about your meth use
- Continuing to use meth despite negative consequences in your life
Remember, detoxing from meth without medical supervision can be extremely dangerous. These substances affect key systems within the body, and stopping suddenly can have lasting effects. It’s important to secure medical support so that lasting health effects can be avoided during the detoxification process.
Addiction is not a sign of weakness or poor moral character. Anyone can become addicted to a substance, regardless of life circumstances. To reach out for help overcoming addiction is an act of humility and strength. We’re not here to judge you, but to help you build a new life without addictive substances.
Get Help for Meth Addiction at Paradiso Recovery
We understand that addiction can be difficult to overcome. That’s why we offer unparalleled support and recovery tools to give individuals the top-notch tools necessary for thorough healing. Our luxury treatment center in Camarillo, California features addiction treatment services designed to help heal the entire person from drug addiction. Individuals will receive personalized treatment plans designed to support their journey to recovery.