I’m learning pharmacology for my exam and found this in my book and its written that its not known why.
In: Biology
A person who is “opioid naive” (hasn’t had opioids before or recently) is going to be way more sensitive. The more you take opioids, the more your body gets used to them, because they are stronger than what your body normally produces. Your opioid receptors get used to having that strong drug sitting on them, activating them at a high level. Your body even comes to depend on the drugs to feel “normal”, so you require higher and higher doses to relieve pain. Eventually you’re not chasing a high so much as avoiding withdrawal.
Opioids work by blocking your brain’s sensation of pain. They can also affect the pleasure center of your brain, causing a sense of euphoria. The key is dose titration. Mostly blocking pain with a dose that leaves a little pain reminds you that things could be worse, dulling the impact of the euphoria. That dose, when you aren’t in pain doesn’t really impact the pain mechanism much, so the euphoric effect is much more noticeable.
Why feelings have this cross-effect and modify our behavior is not well understood, and that’s likely what the book was talking about. Biologic systems are very, very complicated, and every person is different, that’s what makes pharmacology a challenging field. There is almost never enough information to have confidence, and trial-and-error is often part of the best management strategy. Everybody would like to know exactly what to take, sometimes this is called precision medicine in the research community, that’s in the far future, not today.
It’s a difficult question because it’s not very precise. I have had opioids for small pain and for big pain. I’m not accustomed to taking opioids and in fact they make me fairly nauseated, but even when being given opioids for a ton of pain, I’ve ben high as a kite for short periods of time. If you have chronic pain and need long term opiod treatment, you’re going to develop a tolerance, but your overall level of pain isn’t going to essentially change whether or not you feel high. That’s going to be based more on your tolerance and probably disposition.
Can’t answer your question but it was definitely true for me. I had Stage 4 cancer and was taking just about the Max dosage of oxycodone and, except for the 1st dose where I felt a very slight buzz, I never felt high. Not one bit. And, despite taking it every 2 hours for 4 years, I had no trouble at all reducing the dosage and quitting as the pain went away.
Perception towards the action and it’s evident outcome is the different so the whole feeling is different. Its much like speeding while trying to get to a hospital – you dont “enjoy” that fast ride and you definitely get less “scared” of the policeb Because the legitimacy sense you formed in your mind changes your perception towards that act altogether. Purpose and approach changes everything about our reality. Quantifiable? Probably not. Proven with real life examples? Yeah.
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