Posted by laura777 on January 21, 2004, at 8:22:42
In reply to Re: OPIATES IN TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION, posted by JohnFromCalifornia on January 10, 2004, at 19:52:39
John , you post sounds like the typical response held by many in the field that researches opiates..
There are inferior opiates out there for treatment of depression in that they cause all of the things you mention ..
As far as going about feeling stoned and euphoric when taking a opiate , this is not the case with some of us ..
When I use to self medicate with opiates I did not run around feeling stoned or euphoric .
I finally felt alive and was able to function ..The fact that our meso limbic system is densely packed with opiate receptors and that this area is known to impact our ability to enjoy life says alot about what opiates can do .. Some of us are deficient in this area and life is just plain grey and we don't use these drugs to get high or mask depression ..
Depression can be because of mental issues stemming from the enviroment and if it has not gone on long enough talk therapy can fix this and brain chem returns to normal ..
But with some of us due to genetic reasons and long term enviroment dysfunction our brain chemistry is dificient and the term that I like best is call "Reward Deficiency Syndrome" This is a real state that some people find themselves in and it is living hell ..
While I agree with you that what we have available in the way of opiates are too intrusive in many areas such as tolerence ect .. I do believe that we need to design ones that tweak the opiate system which in turn tweaks the dopamine system as well so that people can feel more alive , get satisfaction and be able to do life ..
God would not have placed endorphin system in our brain chem if it were not important for our life and He would have not place abundant receptors in the emotional area of our brain if it was not crucial to our enjoyment of life ,,
The endorphin opioid system is not just there for allieviating physical pain , it is also there for enjoyment of our emotional life as well ..
Neuroscience has to investigate endorphin system much more , it is complicated in that it is a very long amino acid chain that our bodies create. It is also 60 times more powerful than any drug we derive from the poppy or synthetic form or opiates we create ..
Also our own natural endorphin system has a fast acting component as well as a more long acting component ..
There is much more to this , but my point is most of us do not use these drugs to get stoned or run from depression ..
poster:laura777
thread:299110
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040118/msgs/303646.html