MCQ Psychiatry Answer 5

The Correct Answer is A

According to the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug abuse, an estimated 8.8 million people (4.0 percent of the population) have tried methamphetamine at some time in their lives. Data from the 2000 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), which collects information on drugrelated episodes from hospital emergency departments in 21 metropolitan areas, reported that methamphetamine-related episodes increased from approximately 10,400 in 1999 to 13,500 in 2000, a 30% increase. Although both methamphetamine and cocaine are psychostimulants, there are differences between them.

METHAMPHETAMINE:

Smoking produces a high that lasts 8-24 hours. 50% of the drug is removed from the body in 12 hours

COCAINE:

Smoking produces a high that lasts 20-30 minutes. 50% of the drug is removed from the body in 1 hour.

As a powerful stimulant, methamphetamine, even in small doses, can increase wakefulness and
physical activity and decrease appetite. A brief, intense sensation, or rush, is reported by those who smoke or inject methamphetamines. Oral ingestion or snorting produces a long lasting high instead of a rush, which reportedly can continue for as log as half a day. Both the rush and the high are believed to result form the release of very high levels of dopamine into the brain’s pleasure centers.

Methamphetamine has toxic effects. In animals a single high does of the drug has been shown to
damage nerve terminals in the dopamine-containing regions of the brain. The large release of
dopamine produced by methamphetamine is thougtht to contribute to the drug's toxic effects on nerve terminals in the brain. High doses can elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes lethal, levels, as well as cause convulsions.

Long-term methamphetamine abuse may result in addiction. In addition to being addicted to methamphetamine, chronic methamphetamine abusers exhibit symptoms that can include violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia. They also can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions (for example the sensation of insects creeping on the skin, which is called “formication”). The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts. With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. In some cases, abusers forgo food and sleep while indulging in a form of binging known as a “run,” injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganized to continue. Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behavior, characterized by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior.


REFERENCE: http://www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/methamph/methamph3.html

Category: Psychiatry MCQs