What are the long-term impacts of crystal meth on brain chemistry?
Over time, this yo-yoing may cause your brain to quit restocking its own serotonin and dopamine. Your brain starts to think, “Why waste time building these chemicals when the next hit of speed will do it for me.” This triggers a drug craving and you may be off getting high again. Over time, however, your serotonin and dopamine levels may drop well below their normal level and stay there. This is why many crystal users become unable to experience feelings of happiness, satisfaction or enjoyment without crystal. The more crystal and the longer you use, the longer it may take for your mood chemistry to stabilize at high enough levels. In addition, current brain research has shown that consistent use of crystal over a long period of time can cause significant and permanent damage to nerve endings that help regulate certain brain chemicals and functions. The hard questions to answer, however, are just how much crystal does a person have to use and for how long before this damage occurs? The
