This is my story. I lived this lifestyle for over 3 years. I am not proud of what i have done. I hurt people. I lied. I lost many friendships. I was addicted to Ice.
Ice - Crystal Methamphetamine Hydrochloride - is also known on the streets as crystal,
shabu, shabs, glass, tina, gina's sister and crack.
Short term effects of Ice are well documented all over the internet. The most common are disturbed sleep patterns, loss of appetite, anxiety, frustration, severe mood swings, aggression, irritablity, increased sex drive, exessive sweating and tremors of the hands and fingers.
As are the the long term effects. Including rapid weight loss, severe sleep problems, skin disorders, depression, anxiety, paranoia, brain cell damage, lung damage and psychosis. This drug can also lead you to do think the unimaginable - to hurt someone or yourself physically.
What i am going to tell you is my experience using this drug. I was addicted to Ice for the better part of 3 years. My habit started out at parties. We would take pills (extacy), speed and coke. When ice was introduced to me, i didnt think it was all that fantastic. There was no loss of normal bodily functions, such as eyes, arms and legs not doing what they are supposed to. The kind of things that happen when you are on pills. There was none of that. There was just this incredible sense of euphoria. Like nothing in the world could hurt me. The first couple of times really didnt have that much effect on me - well thats what i thought - I could sleep on it, i went to work on it, there was barely any come down and if i kept myself busy i could function as a normal human being would. Over time, we stopped taking all other drugs and stuck to Ice. We would take it every weekend. Then there would be something on during the week and we would take it during the week too. This was probably just 3 months after i had been introduced to it.
It took me just 6 months to develop a complete dependancy on this drug. Using it every day. What i want to share with you is what is not documented alot. I would like to think that my experience with this drug would help you to identify someone close to you taking it. Please keep in mind that every person is different and this drug does effect each person differently.
* In the beginning i clung to my "drug buddy", she was a relatively new friend. Someone i had met at a party, and we connected over alcohol and drugs. We became inseperable.
* I quickly stopped associating with people who were not in the "scene" this included people i had been friends with since primary school.
* I became obsessive with cleaning, everything was spotless.
* This is not something that i had, but a friend did - She scratched, what she described to me was like having bugs crawling under her skin. It was so irritating she had to get them out.
* My converstion was erratic, i would often loose track of what i was talking about, this would quite often happen mid sentence.
* I was overly honest! About every aspect of my life, except for drugs. I think that i thought if i put the attention on to men, work, what i did when i went out last night (etc) that noone would notice that i was a drug addict.
* My physical appearance changed dramatically over a very short time. To begin with my face looked sunken. Hollow. This is due to the fact that Ice dehydrates you severely. In my situation, i was also drinking alcohol at the same time, so i did not got the hydration my body needed.
* I went from a healthy size 10-12 down to a size 6 in just under a year.
* I would spend hours getting ready to go out. I know this may sound like normal teenage behaviour. But i literally would spend 2-3 hours just to get ready for work. This was another obsessive thing of mine.
* I would get overly focused on one thing. I would sit and do crosswords for hours. Sometimes all night til the sun came up.
* Eventually, most conversation stopped, my friend and i would sit in silence for hours, not talking, just doing whatever we were focusing on at the time.
* Around other people i could put on a cool front as long as i was high. As soon as my buzz was wearing off, i could barely hold a conversation. I had trouble looking at people because i thought they would know.
* I became deeply paranoid. Eg, if i was in bed and there were people in the loungeroom, i would not be able to sleep because i thought they were talking about me.
* I hurt many friends. I didnt realise it at the time, I was just having a good time. But i said and did alot of nasty things.
This is a fast acting, incredibly strong and highly addictive drug. If you suspect that someone close to you is taking it, please act now. Intervene. Even thou they may not want help, and they will more than likely fight you all the way, they need help.
I am proud to say that i have been clean for 2 1/2 years now. I would never touch Ice again. Although i do know that i will always be an addict. I still think about it every now and then.
I hope that this will one day help someone.
Cassandra.
(June 2008) (
Well Done Great story.
