Why the huge difference between a single small dose vs. what we typically know as dependency inducing? Is there even a slight risk of dependency after surgery? (Assuming the analgesic is only used during surgery, and not taken afterwards for postoperative pain)
Note: Harmful is not the word I was looking for, but I had to reword my post several times to stop it from being deleted
In: 63
There are good explanations in this thread, and here’s a simple explanation for why long term use leads to dependency. For example, opioids block dopamine, an important messenger between the cells in your brain. They clog up the dopamine receptors which has all sorts of effects. In long term use, your body noticed that your receptors are always being blocked and tries to fix this so it can get back to functioning normally.
If half of your dopamine receptors are always blocked then what does your brain do? Make twice as many dopamine receptors! But now anytime you’re not on opioids you have twice as many dopamine rectors than your body would normally have, so the “I’m happy signal” is only half as strong as it should be. The “relax muscle” signal is only half as strong as it should be, so you get full body severe cramps. Dopamine has all sort of effects, including in the digestive system, so all the messages your body usually sends are thrown off.
So long term use alters the way you cells communicate, but with just a single use your body never needs to adapt to a new normal, but may adapt only very slightly so that the first high is the strongest ever felt.
There are lots of different types of medication that can be used as anesthetics, and they can effect different neurotransmitters in different ways. But the addiction effect is that regular drug use forces your body to send/destroy/receive neurotransmitters differently, and these changes are very unpleasant when not using the drugs. There are psychological components to addiction as well.
Latest Answers