crystal meth | tina

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Crystal meth is a powerful stimulant, which gives you lots of energy and a euphoric feeling. It may make you feel more self-confident, but can also make you more aggressive. Guys who use crystal report feeling all-powerful, very horny and highly compulsive. The effects can last between two hours and two days.

Crystal meth makes guys horny, very horny. With lowered inhibitions, you might end up having the kind of sex you wouldn’t normally have: perhaps rougher, more intense or condomless.

If you share needles to inject crystal, you also risk picking up or passing on HIV or Hep C.

Because crystal keeps you awake for a long time, your body can suffer from lack of sleep or nourishment. Lack of sleep can cause you to experience mild hallucinations or think you hear whispers, which can become more profound the more regularly you use.

Crystal is addictive. One reason is that withdrawal symptoms can be intense and include insomnia, irritable moods and depression. It can also have a negative impact on your immune system and metabolism. Some guys experience short-term psychosis for a few days after they’ve stopped using. Sometimes guys who use get a sensation of insects crawling on their skin, and can scratch their skin so hard that they end up wounding themselves.

Many people mix crystal with alcohol and other drugs with few side effects but you should know that the more stimulants you take, the more strain you put on your heart. Some people may experience panic attacks, while others may have no adverse effects at all. If you are mixing crystal with G, you could be awake for a very long time, become tired and find it harder to dose your G correctly, which can lead to overdoses. If you are HIV-positive, you may also forget to take your medication if you get too high, which can affect your health and also put your sexual partners at risk. Getting high can also affect the choices you make about your sexual behaviour.

“Crystal dick” — the inability to maintain an erection — is common for men using crystal. Some men counter crystal dick by taking an erectile dysfunction medication such as Viagra or Cialis. Mixing crystal and erectile dysfunction meds puts a strain on the heart. When the two are mixed with poppers (amyl-nitrate) the combination can cause heart failure.

Swallowing meth in pill or tab form is the safest way to take the drug. Injecting meth is the most dangerous method.

If you are planning to take crystal, it’s a good idea to set some boundaries before you start your party. Think about what you want to do, how long you want to stay awake for and what your sexual limits are. You can refer to these when you are high. Always have a plan to manage your come-down / crash.

Crystal can blur the sexual choices we make, making us forget about safety, or find it harder to care in the heat of the moment. On crystal, we are more willing to take chances we wouldn’t normally take. Remember to have condoms with you to reduce the spread of HIV and other STIs.

If you choose to inject crystal, make sure you get clean needles and equipment, and learn how to use them correctly. Using clean needles and equipment is important to protect yourself from HIV and Hep C. There are several locations to access free needles and syringes. If you have shared needles with someone you suspect to be HIV-positive, or have been exposed to HIV during sex, you should visit your health clinic or Emergency Room for a course of PEP, a tool to help prevent HIV.

If you are using crystal regularly, take calcium and multi-vitamin supplements, and keep an eye on your body weight. Staying awake for two or more days may cause a drug-induced psychosis that can last up to 10 days after stopping use of crystal. In some cases, these symptoms can include feeling unsafe, watched, followed or paranoid; hearing voices or experiencing visual hallucinations. If this is the case, you may want to consider reducing your use.

There is a lot of stigma attached to injection drugs, meth and risky behaviours. Stigma and judgement do not help — being informed and planning ahead do!

Slamming is high risk for the transmission of HIV and other blood-born infections like Hepatitis C. Injecting meth can cause serious damage to your veins and cause them to tighten, shrink or collapse.

An additional risk comes from sharing your works, which people do for different reasons. Perhaps they didn’t plan ahead and bring their own works, or they thought it would make the experience more intimate. Maybe they were already drunk or high, or just didn’t care. Sharing works puts you at risk of HIV and Hep C.

There are things you can do to reduce the harm if you slam meth:

• Never share your works. Never lend or borrow any used injecting equipment including water, cookers, cotton and tourniquets.
• Use new needles and equipment every time you inject. Cleaning used syringes and needles, even with bleach, may not kill HIV and hepatitis.
• Rotate your injection sites to reduce the possibility of damage to your veins. Each time you shoot up, move one inch closer to your heart from your previous hit or move to a different site altogether.
• Don’t inject into damaged veins.
• Clean your injection area thoroughly with hot water and soap.
• Wipe the site with a fresh alcohol pad to cut down bacteria that causes abscesses.
• A vein takes a couple of days to heal. Vitamin E oil or aloe vera helps you to heal. Drinking lots of water re-hydrates your skin and also speeds up healing.
• Don’t inject alone. This helps avoid overdosing.
• Dispose of your used equipment carefully. Sharps containers are essential to keeping others safe.

Like all great things, we started small. We took a few like-minds with a shared vision—and ran with it. Today, we’ve grown into something big.

Like all great things, we started small. We took a few like-minds with a shared vision—and ran with it. Today, we’ve grown into something big.