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How to increase natural endorphin production or other endogenous opioids?

pema

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
60
Increasing the body's own endorphin production shall help with opioid withdrawal. Withdrawal severity shall be alleviated by increased endorphin and enkephaline production.
It is said that exercise shall help a lot. I know that just going for a little walk will help during withdrawal but I don't know if that is related to increased endorphin production.
But anyway - I am injured and can hardly walk. So exercising during opioid withdrawal would be nearly impossible for me.

But it seems that there are some other ways to increase the natural endorphin production.

Eating spicy foods, especially hot peppers is said to increase endorphin levels. After eating a really hot chili (e.g. a habenero) will give me a feeling of relaxation when pain decreases and the burning sensation stops. This could be due to endorphin release. But I am not sure. I have not enough knowledge on this.

Having sex shall also increase the endorphin production. But what is meant? Will there be a higher endorphin release during orgasm or during just having sex?
Why should the body produce a natural analgesic during something as pleasurable as having an orgasm? For what should that be good? Or maybe the body releases endorphins not only for pain reduction but for feeling high..?
I would think that the body produces more adrenalin and norepinephrine during the act of having sex rather than endorphins.
And I believe that I read about a higher dopamine release in the brain while having an orgasm and I am not sure if also something on endorphins were written.
Has anybody more information on that?
If it is just the orgasm then masturbation would be good for opioid withdrawals because of the increase of endorphin production??

Pain is said to increase the endorphin production. Would this mean that I would start feeling good when I bang my head against the wall often enough? ;-)

On some websites I found texts that say that DLPA would be able to increase endorphin levels but I am not sure if this is true. DLPA is an enkephalinase inhibitor. I could not find information on DLPA action on endorphins. Any information on that?

Are there any other ways to increase endorphin production?

Endorphins are not the only endogenous opioids that bind to the mu-opioid receptors. Enkephalins are mu-agonists, too. And maybe those enkephalins could be more effective in releasing pain or helping with opioid withdrawals? I don't know...
When does the body produce endorphins and when enkephalins?

The German wikipedia says:
Bisher wurde angenommen, dass die Endorphinausschüttung der Grund sei, warum manche schwer verletzte Menschen zunächst keine Schmerzen verspüren. Neuere Erkenntnisse weisen darauf hin, dass das aus der Hypophyse in die freie Blutbahn ferigesetzte beta-Endorphin zwar an Opioidrezeptoren bindet, aber keine Analgesie vermittelt.
Translation:
Until now it was presumed, that the endorphin release would be the cause why some heavily injured humans feel no pain at first. Newer knowledge adverts that the from pituitary gland to free blood stream released beta-endorphin admittedly binds to opioid receptors but does not produce analgesia.
But it seems to be true that it are the endorphins that produce the "runner's high".

Any more knowledge on activities or foods or herbal remedies that are capable to increase the production/release of endogenous opioids?
 
I think most drug that feel good increase endorphins. Probably the most well researched way to increase them is exercise.

Acupuncture is a controversial one bu one with a surprising amount of literature:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394003014009
Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University and Key Laboratory of Neuroscience (Peking University)
Abstract

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture (EA) as complementary and alternative medicine have been accepted worldwide mainly for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Studies on the mechanisms of action have revealed that endogenous opioid peptides in the central nervous system play an essential role in mediating the analgesic effect of EA. Further studies have shown that different kinds of neuropeptides are released by EA with different frequencies. For example, EA of 2 Hz accelerates the release of enkephalin, β-endorphin and endomorphin, while that of 100 Hz selectively increases the release of dynorphin. A combination of the two frequencies produces a simultaneous release of all four opioid peptides, resulting in a maximal therapeutic effect. This finding has been verified in clinical studies in patients with various kinds of chronic pain including low back pain and diabetic neuropathic pain.

Alcohol is another:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0741832995020365
Animal studies suggest that the endogenous opioid systems in the brain play an important role in the initiation and maintenance of drug dependence. Opioids in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) may be involved in rewarded behaviors and, consequently, in the initiation of drug self-administration that may be associated with addiction proneness. Opioids in the limbic forebrain are particularly implicated in subsequent drug self-administration, which may be associated with craving, maintenance, and relapse. Alcohol intake in monkeys is reduced after treatment with naltrexone in a graded, dose-dependent manner. Naltrexone also is associated with a greater decrease in alcohol consumption after imposed abstinence. These findings support the idea that endorphins play a role in alcohol-drinking behavior, particularly after a period of abstinence during the so-called catch-up phenomenon. Recent studies of recovering alcoholic patients provide evidence that opiate antagonists attenuate the craving for alcohol and decrease and/or postpone relapse into addictive behavior.

I expct you could find similar studis for most stimulants and dopaminergic substances.
 
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