Posted by SLS on June 12, 2006, at 8:23:11
In reply to Re: Euphoria inducing Med Combinations » SLS, posted by linkadge on June 11, 2006, at 15:52:57
> Well, most people know that pleasure comes in gradients. You get a little bit, and you generally just want more.
>
> I don't know a whole lot about it, but I do know that it works to constantly reset itself. I know of a few mechanisms such as the fact that people who abuse DAT inhibitors generally have long term compensatory changes in DAT expression. Drug free cocaine users generally have much higher DAT expression for a long period after drug sobriety. The same can actually be said for mice raised on methylphenidate. Adaptational changes to receptor expression also happens within the neucleus accumbens. I know that repeated nicotine exposure generally changes levels of d3 receptors in the neucleus accumbens. I've also read about how when you take certain stimulants, there are compensatory increases in cholinergic mechanisms to try and counteract it. I read a study that suggested that mice raised on certain stimulants and antidepressants had compensatory changes in acetycholinsterase, that lasted long after drug discontinuation.
There is no doubt that antidepressants produce long-term, perhaps life-long, changes in CNS function. Evidence for this is the observation that one develops a refractoriness to a drug that had helped them on previous occasions. A personal observation that might support this notion is that MAOIs no longer prevent me from dreaming. My guess is that they no longer suppress REM. When discontinuing an MAOI, I no longer experience rebound dreaming, perhaps indicative of a lack of REM rebound. Another observation is that I experience little, if any, anticholinergic side effects from taking TCAs, even after periods of abstinence. There are more, but you get the idea.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:655310
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060610/msgs/655853.html