Originally posted by Brainrape:
Now a few basic questions to all the future doctors in the room...
At what point along the path from nostril to stomach, does the area of drug absorption begin and end? Is it strictly contained within the upper portion of the nasal cavity alone, or does it extend further into the body?
Also, is it wrong to assume that even after the drip, as the drug makes it's way down your pharynx, it's still being absorbed to some extent by the lining along it's path? Or does the period of absorption completley end at some point?
Also, is there any percentage of the drug that actually makes it past the epiglottis, allowing it to enter the lungs and thus be absorbed in that fashion?
I always assumed that in any instance where you encountered a drip, but did not have any need to swallow, that it had actually followed the route of inhalation and was absorbed into the lungs, not the stomach, at that point. If this isn't just nonsense idiot talk, it seems like another aid to the speed of absorption via insuffation...
Well, there was a time when I wanted to be a doc, so I guess I'm as qualified as the next guy who can't hack it in organic chemistry.
The body has specific places where it absorbs things along the Alimentary canal. An area designated as absorbant is going to have numerous capilaries, covered very thinly by epithelial tissue. To protect the vessles and tissue, and to facilitate absorbtion, water rich mucous is secreted. This occours in the colon, where the body's primary interest is salvaging water and vitamins from stool. More significant, is the first segemt of the small instestine. This is where all those good macromolecules you eat get dumped into the blood stream and your lymph system.
These areas, the small and large intestines, as well as your nasal cavity, are all similar. They all pack way more surface area into a space than normal. Their jobs are to absorb things (in the case of the nasal cavity, it's to filter the air you breathe, as the lungs can't do this, which I will get to). Your esophagus serves no function beyond linking your guts to your head (thanks cephalization). Your stomache, while wrinkely, doesn't do much in the way of absorbtion; It's job is to physicaly break apart food, and begin the digestion of large protines.
The sensation that "the shit is kickin' in" when you taste the drip is a learned sensitivity. You associate the taste with the experience, and your mind is ready to embellish it. Plus, but the time it's dripping to tyhe back of your throat, the feel good atoms have become well mixed with the mucous, which is necessary if they're to be absorbed through the nose.
Now for the lungs. I suppose, following drug logic, it would sound like a good thing to have a drip running into your lungs; After all, thats where smoked drugs go, and they hit you fast. However, the lungs are a liquid free area (excluding the natural moisture your body perpetuates to keep the blood vessels in your lungs from drying out). Think about how it feels to breathe water.
"but atlas, this is just a little bit of liquid"
Well, think about the last time you stopped paying attention to your body, and let saliva run down your trachea. You reacted violently, doing everything you could to hack it back up. Whether you realize it of not, you're swallowing saliva all the time, and it's going down your esophagis, when your trachea is closed. The same thing happens to liquids rolling down your nasopharynx.
As for whether the drip contributes to your getting high, consider the following. Cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and ketamine are all orally active, but for reasons like cost and the rush (of in K's case, the hole) the nose or the needle are desireable. You need alot more coke if you want to eat it. If you're already snorting so much that the drip is sizeable and persistant, it's still meaningless; The amount you're putting up your nose dwarfs the amount that is making it to your small intestine.
At any rate, it's a good idea to give your nose some rebound time. After you've gotten the desired effects from whatever you've snorted, and the drip has come and is diminishing, break out the nasal drops. Failing that, snort drops of water through a shortened drinking straw. This will wash away the excess faster. You nose will then build up mucous levels, and you can do it again...
and again and again and again. Ad Infinitum
