WHAT’S SPEED GOT TO DO WITH IT?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS
Speed, whizz, sulphate; the drugs
that hype you up and give you a
rush. They include Amphetamines
and Cocaine and are called psycho
stimulants because they speed up
messages going through your
nervous system. They can reduce
tiredness, increase endurance and
help you stay awake.
Amphetamines usually come as a
smelly white, yellow or brown
powder, but you can also find it as
tablets, capsules, crystals or red
liquid. It can be smoked, swallowed,
inhaled through the nose (‘snorted’)
or dissolved in a small amount of
water and injected.
Because they don’t have many
medical uses, most amphetamines
are crudely made in backyard
laboratories, often mixed with other
substances, which means they can
have very unpredictable effects.
STIMULANTS
AND
MENTAL
HEALTH
People who have emotional or
psychiatric problems are worse off if
they
use
speed.
While
amphetamines can make someone
feel full of energy and confidence, in
a person with a mental illness it is
more likely to set off a major
breakdown.
Speed is one of the few drugs that is
thought can actually cause mental
illness. Some drugs can trigger a
hidden illness, but anyone who takes
speed long enough or in large
amounts can become mentally ill.
Even small doses can cause people
to experience the symptoms of bipolar illness, so people who already
have schizophrenia or bipolar
disorder should think about avoiding
speed. Other illnesses, including
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(OCD) and Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) can also be made
worse by speed.
The immediate effects of ecstasy
include:
 A feeling of tranquillity
 Increased confidence
 Raised blood pressure
 Increased heart rate
 Feeling close to other people
 Jaw clenching, grinding teeth
 Dry mouth and throat
 Nausea and loss of appetite
 Anxiety and paranoia
DEPRESSION AND SPEED
All the good effects that go with
using speed have a down side.
Feeling full of energy and selfconfidence easily becomes out of
control,
hyperactive
behaviour.
Speed
is
often
linked
with Larger does cause:
 Sweating
aggression and violence.
 Hallucinations
It is very common to become  Irrational behaviour
depressed after using speed, or  Vomiting
even suicidal. This is part of the  Convulsions
withdrawal effect and while it
normally wears off in a few day or The next day a severe hangover
weeks, that’s not always the case. may leave you feeling ‘burned out’.
There is a special kind of depression Symptoms include: loss of appetite,
depression,
aching
caused by speed and cocaine, which insomnia,
muscles
and
difficulty
in
can last for months.
concentrating.
Speed or uppers make people feel
good by flooding the brain with a Too much ecstasy results in very
blood
pressure,
body
chemical called serotonin. Ecstasy high
temperature
and
racing
heartbeat,
releases even more serotonin than
speed. It makes many people feel which can lead to heart failure and
open and warm towards each other. stroke.
But regular use damages your
brain’s ability to handle serotonin, SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SPEED
and the long periods of depression All the symptoms of schizophrenia
that follow can last for ages, even can be caused by speed:, delusions,
needing psychiatric treatment to help paranoid
thoughts
/
feelings,
the sufferer cope. It takes many hallucinations and badly scrambled
months without speed before this thinking. The illness (often called a
condition starts to get better, and for drug-induced psychosis)) is treated
some people, it never does.
like schizophrenia usually in a
psychiatric ward, and can take a few
ECSTASY (MDMA)
weeks t bring under control. Once a
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine person has had one drug induced
or ‘ecstasy’ is an unusual stimulant, psychosis, they may be more likely
because it also acts likes a to have further episodes, and a
hallucinogenic (hallucinogenics are small number of people will continue
to experience these symptoms even
drugs like LSD).
if they stop
altogether.
using
stimulants More importantly, stimulant use can
come to have such an important
place in a users life that it interferes
For people who have schizophrenia, with relationships, education, work,
or who have a relative with the friendships and family life. Health is
illness, speed is a very risky drug to often neglected and people do some
use. It will make the illness worse very risky things to ensure their
and prevent medication working supply is not interfered with.
properly.
IS SPEED A DANGEROUS DRUG?
The earlier schizophrenia starts, the Speed is currently one of the most
harder it can be to treat, many young widely used injecting drugs in the
people use speed and because it UK.
may be a trigger for the first episode
in people who are vulnerable to the Because of the way it is
illness (E.g. If a close family member manufactured, people who use
has schizophrenia) it may be worth speed have a higher chance of
avoiding.
contracting HIV / AIDS, hepatitis and
other blood borne diseases. Using
BIPOLAR DISORDER AND SPEED speed is also associated with violent
Speed does more than mimic mania; or aggressive behaviour. You might
it triggers manic episodes in people injure someone else, or you could be
who have a bipolar disorder. In the the victim!
same way, the ‘crash’ that follows
speed use can result in a severe SPEED AND OTHER DRUGS
depressive episode in someone who Speed & Cannabis
has a bipolar disorder, leading to Cannabis starves your body of
feelings of suicide or hospitalisation. oxygen and increases the amount of
The effects are usually worse with poisonous carbon monoxide in your
cocaine and crack cocaine.
bloodstream. Speed pumps up your
heart and makes sure this poison
DEPRESSION AND SPEED
gets to your brain and to all the
If you are depressed it seems logical organs of your body. That’s not
to take a drug like speed that makes good. Cannabis will also make many
you feel happy, high and confident. people paranoid at times and that
But there is a catch: two catches increases the chance of triggering a
really. The first is that what is true for schizophrenic
illness
especially
bipolar illness is also true for when you use stimulants on top.
depression. When you come off, you They shouldn’t be used together, or
are likely to be far more depressed even within a few days of each
than when you took it. The other other, because the active part of
catch is that taking speed or cocaine cannabis stays in your system for a
over a long period ‘burns out’ certain very long time after you take it.
parts of the brain (serotonin
receptors), leading to chronic Speed & Alcohol
depression, which does not respond Speed increases your heart rate to
well to treatment with medication.
120 beats per minute or more. At the
same time, it increases your blood
IS SPEED ADDICTIVE?
pressure, and makes the heart beat
Some speed users find that they irregular and erratic. Add alcohol,
need increasingly larger doses to get which also interferes with circulation
the effect they are looking for from and blood pressure and the
the drug. This increasing “tolerance” combination is pretty dangerous.
is an indication of physical addiction.
Depressants (alcohol, Benzos and
opiates) work on different parts of
the brain, giving your body
conflicting signals, which disrupt
many functions. Depressants can
slow your breathing reflex which
results in less oxygen at the time
your racing, irregular pulse is
demanding extra. It can be a fatal
combination and the risk grows as
you get older.
Speed & Medication
Some HIV / AIDS drugs can lead to
liver damage if taken with speed.
Medications for mental illness won’t
work properly if you are on speed,
but the side effects will actually get
worse, and antidepressants are
ineffective while you are taking
speed. The combination of speed
and antidepressants increases the
risk of having an amphetamine
psychosis.
Some
drugs,
like
anticoagulants (for stroke, heart
disease and blood clots) can
become fatal if used with speed.
OTHER ISSUES
Users often take other drugs to
counter effects like insomnia,
leading to polydrug use. Stimulants
are appetite suppressants, and loss
of weight; poor nutrition and neglect
go along with using. So does
becoming vulnerable to infection and
disease.
If you want to know more about
speed and your mental health or
want a fact sheet on another
substance call Manchester Dual
Diagnosis Service on 0161 720
2005.
Acknowledgements:
D. Rich, SW Sydney Area Health Service.
S. Bazire, Psychotropic Drug Directory.
Drugscope, Drug Abuse Briefing.
Manchester Dual Diagnosis Service: A
Collaboration between Manchester Drug &
Alcohol Strategy Team and Manchester
Mental Health & Social Care Trust.