sober4m

Someone I know abused alcohol for 2 years and the last 3 months he heavily abused mephedrone, GHB, mdma, ecstasy and a little bit of cocaine and crystal meth.

He overdosed on GHB and quit cold turkey with drugs and alcohol in March.

Now it is 4 months later of healthy food, 0 alcohol and drugs, vitamin supplements and a little Valium and melatonin to repress occasional anxiety attacks in the evening caused by memories of this 2 year period.

However, he looked a lot healthier 5 months ago (1 month before quitting cold turkey). Now he has:
- Bad skin and some pimples
- Strange skin color, like a hot flash?
- Deteriorating muscle growth
- Frizzy dry broken hair

Could someone who knows about this explain why he looks like this 4 months AFTER quitting? It seems to me these should occur during substance abuse, but during that time he looked perfectly fine. Are toxins STILL going out of the body? Why the dry hair? I'm comparing pictures of then and now, and he looks terrible now compared to before.

When he quit a blood test was done and he was dangerously low on vitamins (vitamin D was so low it was "undetectable"), now his levels are fine but he looks terrible.

Also he's suffering from anxiety attacks and depression. He's mentally stable but looks unhappy and lost in his eyes. And he's lost all social skills with strangers. Gets nervous just going to buy groceries. My main concern is the unhealthy physical appearance 4 months AFTER quitting, though.

Anyone with more information or thoughts? Thank you!

LBrain

What does his doctor say about this?

sober4m

His doctor prescribes him Valium to repress the anxiety attacks (doctor knows he was addicted to opium and alcohol) but had no opinion on the unhealthy physical appearance. He could only say "your current blood test results are great!". That's why I'm asking here to see if anyone has a similar experience after quitting. Doctor is no help. Body itself is apparently healthy-ish (except the weird loss of muscles), but the appearance is terrible.

purechaos

People's bodies learn to feel "normal" with the drugs in their systems. ..When you yank those drugs out of the system. .. The system feels defective. ... It can take a long time to get your brain and body back to normal. I agree to speak with the doctor. .. 4 months is a long time. .. could have an underlying illness. ..

sober4m

^

True. Before the substance abuse he looked healthy, and during substance abuse he looked healthy. Just the last week of abusing and the 4 months of being sober he's looked terrible (skin and hair mostly). Is it possible the system is still adjusting? Doctor could offer no advice except that blood results are healthy.

DopieDopeMan

Yes, when we yank that stuff from our systems it can take around a year to stabilize. Vitamin supplements and things like that help, he would be worse off without them.

KAD

Strange. Could you maybe get a second opinion?

ScottFromWI

Yes it's possible. It's also possible something completely unrelated is causing the problem. If he feels his doctor isn't being thorough with him he should find a different one who can. We can't offer medical advice here.

sober4m

^ I know, I'm not asking for medical advice but rather seeking someone with related experience. If it doesn't get better next month will see about him getting second opinion and another blood test, good advice.

A year to recover for 3 months of drug abuse seems long... but I guess each body is different.

Also is it normal that HAIR is affected by quitting this kind of stuff? I know meth makes you look like a zombie but I know he only did that a few times.

Thank you all for the replies, btw.

Angel1555

I agree that he should find another doctor. I found out that I was seriously low on Vitamin D too. It takes a long time to get it back up to normal levels and I am still working on it.

ScottFromWI

Everyone is different as you suggest. And the wide range of symptoms he has definitely would warrant a second medical opinion sooner rather than later. Even if you found someone here with a similar experience, it would be inappropriate for you to base anything off it as no one here can medically diagnose your friend.

sober4m

^

I know you have to say that as a moderator (I think it's said on every medical forum) but can't just get him to a different doctor in 2 seconds (actually he's with his mother out of the country for a month to be away from the city and relax) so the advice here is much appreciated. I'll know what to say better.~ It'd be interesting to know if someone experienced dry broken hair from substance abuse.

I'll definitely get him to take another blood test or see a different doctor when he's back and still looks the same, though...

KAD

I can't say that I did, personally, but I didn't experiment with any drugs other than alcohol. My physical appearance and overall health started improving within a week of quitting, as it has every time.

But then, I'm going bald and keep my hair cut very short anyway. I wish I had some left to break!

sober4m

^

I guess it's hard to judge, considering he was abusing alcohol for two YEARS and the last 3 months combined every imaginable **** together except LSD and weed. x_x Oh he's early twenties. I completely forgot to mention that. I wonder (unrelated) did you lose weight when you quit drinking? Strangely he never gained weight from alcohol. If anything it's been the other way around.

But yeah will get him to take another blood test.

KAD

Oddly enough, my weight has pretty much stayed the same whether or not I was drinking. I think when I drank, I didn't eat as much so the calories from the alcohol kept my weight sustained. When I quit, I eat more and that compensates for the missing calories from alcohol. I've stayed around 170 lbs for years now.

sober4m

^

Yeah that makes sense. I think he had the same thing. Although the last month he would go 2-3 days without 1 bite of food thanks to the drugs and eventually he looked waaaay too skinny.

sugarbear1

My hair thinned out, my skin had a rash, I was still sweating at night and was exhausted at 4 months!

By 8 months, I looked better and kept looking better.....3 years later, my hair is thick, my skin is fabulous, no sweating, no rash.....and I look younger.....

Maybe his body is just healing? It takes time to become truly healthy.

PurpleKnight

Withdrawals can take many forms, they can be as extreme as having strokes, which shows the extent of how severe on the body quitting after a high dependency on any substance can be!!

sober4m

Thanks for your post! He actually had a rash a few times as well. I think on his arm and shoulders. Like a spotted rash, nothing big. We were scared it was from a certain disease for which it is a symptom but fortunately it didn't turn out to be that... Interesting to know it can come from your body healing.