Eli5: Why do people get withdrawal symptoms after not using drugs?
In: Chemistry
The brain adapts to the presence of the chemicals that give the body the intoxicated feeling. It’s easiest to describe with heroine. Heroine binds with dopamine receptors in the brain, dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure. Now in order for it to be intoxicating, heroin floods the brain and activates nearly every dopamine receptor. The brain is like “whoa that’s not normal” so it begins to prune the extra dopamine receptors to balance it out. So your body begins to feel more normal with more dopamine. Suddenly when you stop, your body isn’t sensitive enough for an average human amount of dopamine so the brain starts telling your body something must be wrong, you have too little dopamine. That is how withdrawal happens, and it’s a fate worse than death in the most acute cases. Making quiting even harder.
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