Opioids Very high spice (Scoville Units) for opioid withdrawal?

[G_Chem]

I should mention despite this also seeming counter intuitive, during chemo I’d eat small amounts of spice that would actually settle my stomach out for an hour or so. Of the few things I’d actually eat, one was a soft pretzel dipped in sriracha sauce mixed with horseradish.

Looking back I think I was, without fully knowing it, trying to desensitize my TRPV1 (capsaicin) and TRPA1 (horseradish) to help reduce the pain and symptoms. Both receptors modulate various sensations, including perceived pain.

-GC

 

[strangelemon]

I get euphoria from extremely hot foods.

Discovered that at a hot sauce challenege. Thought it was just me being silly, read up on it, it's a thing:

Why Spicy Food Makes You Feel High

If you’ve ever noticed a funny feeling when you eat spicy food, you’re not just imagining things. Capsaicin, the compound that makes hot peppers hot,

lifehacker.com

 

[Xorkoth]

My husband gets it really really bad. He only has to eat the smallest amount of mild chilli and he has spicy diarrhoea the next morning.

Me too, but it didn't used to be the case. As I age, I get more and more sensitive to capsaicin. Even pretty mild stuff hurts now, and the weird thing is, every time I eat peppers with any spice (like not bell peppers), after about a half hour, I get a throat full of phlegm that I have to cough out. Happens every time. If it's spicy enough, it hurts all the way through and makes my butthole burn.

 

[G_Chem]

Me too, but it didn't used to be the case. As I age, I get more and more sensitive to capsaicin. Even pretty mild stuff hurts now, and the weird thing is, every time I eat peppers with any spice (like not bell peppers), after about a half hour, I get a throat full of phlegm that I have to cough out. Happens every time. If it's spicy enough, it hurts all the way through and makes my butthole burn.

There lots of TRPV1 receptors in the lungs as they help tell us when irritants, allergens or infections happen. When you eat capsaicin your triggering that system and when your lungs think there’s something like that at play they phlegm up to try and expel it.

I actually use this to my advantage, if I feel I got shit in my lungs like dust from work I’ll eat some peppers to phlegm up and cough all the shit out. It can be annoying though in the wrong circumstances.

-GC

 

[Dreamflyer]

I read somewhere that capsaicin releases not only adrenaline but also triggers our endogenous (built-in) opioids, and both of them are natural painkillers. The effects seem to be extremely short-lived though, and I'm not sure if you want to be munching on Carolina Reapers for two days straight!

 

[jasperkent]

I read somewhere that capsaicin releases not only adrenaline but also triggers our endogenous (built-in) opioids, and both of them are natural painkillers....

Yeah, I've always considered hot peppers to be a sort of speedball of the culinary world. Initially there's an adrenaline rush "Holy shit this is fucking HOT!" immediately followed by an endorphin/dopamine high from the body's response to pain.

I LOVE IT!

And concerning the "shit fire" consequences--
I remember experiencing that when I was very young, but I know I've developed a tolerance to capsaicin over the years. I only get the flaming butthole if I eat WAY too many habaneros, ghost peppers, or reapers. It's rare.

Many years ago we used to say things like "It's really good chili but the next day ya gotta squat in the creek to shit."