Asking this as I have a horrible throat infection making it incredibly painful to swallow, and therefore difficult to eat and drink. I have to stay on top of my painkillers every four hours or the pain starts to come back, I’d just love to know how this actually works.
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‘Gate Theory’ of opiates suggests- rather than receptors opiates bind to in the brain- that similar receptors in the spinal cord are occupied by the opiate molecules. This theory posits that (yet undiscovered) ‘Substance-P’ is prevented from delivering the pain signal to be transferred up to the brain, where we would begin to feel it.
My own experience, using prescription opiates to treat a broken foot bone: I was mystified, as all pain had gone away. I poked the injury. Nothing. I poked harder. Nothing. Doped up, I gave it a good squeeze…. ouch! Pain will break through, if overcomes the inhibitory effects of opiates.
Tolerance builds up to opiates, sadly, so chronic injury with unchanged opiate doses will eventually be the new baseline for pain.
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