Why is alcohol withdrawal more deadly in comparison to “harder” drugs like heroin?
In: Biology
Alcohol works through the GABA system. GABA modulates neuron activation. Alcohol basically turns down the volume on your neurons, sort of, making them less likely to activate. Your body gets used to this, and stops regulating the volume itself.
Then when you don’t drink alcohol, when the speakers kick on they’re maxed out and blow out. Or, more technically, your neurons get overexcited and start cascade-triggering until they burn out, which, from the outside, looks like a seizure followed by a coma/death.
Opiates work in a fundamentally different manner-they affect the opioid system, which is what makes you feel good after exercise (and turns off the pain of all the microtears in your muscle that will then regrow and make you stronger). When that is taken away, you just become very sensitive, especially to pain.
The only common drugs that really target the GABA system are alcohol and benzodiazepines like xanax/valium. They are also the only drugs where withdrawals are potentially deadly.
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