eli5 I’m looking for a visual on what happens inside your body during opiate withdrawal. So far I picture my brain screaming at me wanting food.
In: Chemistry
Not wanting food. It’s not a hunger like that. The body has become dependent on external opioids and no longer functions properly without them. A normal body produces endorphins, which are opioids that bind to the opioid receptors all over the nervous system. These receptors play a role in pain regulation and mood. If your body has stopped making them (because they have been present from another source), you will have problems with pain and mood. To make things worse, if the external opioids have been kept up for some time, the nervous system has made even more opioid receptors.
So the brain is screaming for opioids to fill up some of its vacant receptors so that it can function normally.
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