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Long-acting stimulants induce tolerance faster?

Scarletta

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
116
I can't find any studies on this, but it is my theory that long-acting (extended release) stimulants actually induce tolerance faster than shorter acting ones. This is because the dopamine receptors are constantly exposed to the stimulant, for 8-12 hours a day. Whereas with the shorter acting ones that is not the case unless one doses continuously.

Additionally, it is know that the extended release formulations are less potent than the immediate release ones. That means if you are used to taking a 40 mg IR stimulant dose in the morning, you'd have to take an 80 mg XR to get the same effect, since only half of the XR is released immediately, and the rest of it is slowly and minutely released over the course of the day- so again you're getting more exposure on your receptors to feel the same effect.

Any comments?
 
This makes sense. Once I started to become addicted to chewing tobacco, cigarettes basically had no effect on me.
 
Nicotine only has a two hour half life. Chewing it just gets you more of it because smoking it only gives you a fraction of the amount that the leaves actually contain. I'm pretty sure shorter half lives would correlate with more frequent dosing, while using larger amounts also would increase tolerance to something. You'd probably just need alot more cigarettes. I wonder if you just vaporized a bunch of pipe tobacco what would happen :P

In terms of the first question. XR and potency...I'm pretty sure those two are mutually exclusive in terms of the actual chemical. To get a rush, you'd need to take more XR because it is made to metabolize slowly throughout the day, while IR gives lets much more of the drug get into your brain and release dopamine. But IR wouldn't last as long. If you become used to IR then try to us XR to get the same rush, then yea, you'd need more.

If a drugs half life isn't part of the equation, just how long it acts...
Well why would snorting something produce much more of a potent effect, however it lasts shorter, and it causes tolerance to raise quicker, while oral doses would last longer and not be as potent.

The bioavailability of oral is lower for most stimulants (I'm gonna assume amphetamine). If you're speaking of XR vs IR oral, IR would just be a different method of administration, and the tolerance to XR doses and needing to take 80mg to be the same as 40 would just be a product of tolerance built by having IR tolerance. If you don't like XR don't take it if 40mg IR > 80mg XR for you. Or just crush the beads and make it IR :P
 
I am not entirely sure...

Tolerance seems to build quite fast to cocaine, especially with the smoked/parenteral routes. Also, tolerance to cocaine appears to grow more rapidly than tolerance to amphetamine, but this is not a fair comparison.

From what I understand, tolerance to chewed coca leaves does not occur too rapidly.

Yet, I do see what you are saying here...
 
Coca leaves contain about .1-.9% cocaine alkaloids, unlike powdered cocaine hcl which is the extract of mass amounts of these, and the leaves are not only ALOT less, but being taken orally, not intranasally.

When you say chewing tobacco, do you mean the leaves or twists, or dipping tobacco.
I know dipping tobacco can come in forms that have higher amounts of nicotine.

Most tolerance happens by both redosing and amount used. The more you re-dose, the more you'll probably need to use to get the same effect. How quickly you need to increase dosage I guess is the variable, but the longer something lasts and the more time between redosing probably would mean you don't need to increase dosage as rapidly or as much if its strong enough to last long and keep you satisfied. Altho I also consider that the longer it lasts, the longer that tolerance will last too (Half life wise) So the more you raise your dosage, the longer it will take for you to lose that tolerance vs something short acting. I haven't ever developed a cocaine tolerance since back when I did illegal drugs I only would get maybe 1-2g (every few months) and that would last me about 1-2 weeks. I didn't use it every day, just did maybe .5-1g on nights i chose to do it, then took a break. Other than that, the rest was always just free from friends, so it wasn't large amounts just 1 or 2 lines. I dunno the long term tolerance and addiction to coke, just a one night stand with the ol' white lady. I wanted her pretty bad when she was gone at the end of the night, but I got over it and went to sleep.

Amp - Long term kinda just...dulling of life for a few weeks if it gets bad. in the beginning sleeping alot more and groggy.
 
Def seems right as IME the tolerance with desoxypipradrol (about the longest lasting stimulant I've come across) seems to escalate far faster than any other reuptake inhibitor I've ever tried over a period of time.

I'm loathed to lump the amphetamines in with this as they exert their activity by also causing dopamine release as well as inhibiting reuptake
 
Well the key is with the sustained release, you are essentially redosing over hours. Just small amounts. I don't know if the concentration is high enough to actually count as "redosing," but I would think that if you took only one dose of 60 mg IR Dexedrine in the morning, or one dose of 60 mg sustained release dexedrine, your tolerance is going to rise faster by using the sustained release, just because the receptors will be getting hit for hours longer than they will with the IR (assuming no redosing).
 
Additionally, it is know that the extended release formulations are less potent than the immediate release ones. That means if you are used to taking a 40 mg IR stimulant dose in the morning, you'd have to take an 80 mg XR to get the same effect, since only half of the XR is released immediately, and the rest of it is slowly and minutely released over the course of the day- so again you're getting more exposure on your receptors to feel the same effect.

Any comments?

I don't know if I would agree with this. The XR formulations are I'd say about 2/3 as potent as the instant release, and they last longer. I actually prefer the XR formulas because I like a longer duration.
However, I would definitely consider it possible that XR makes tolerance build up quicker than IR.
 
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