AbraMontague
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2000
- Messages
- 1,006
Hi everybody <mimics Dr.Nick from Simpsons>. I was just thinking about random things today, in particular drugs (I know surprise, surprise). Anyways here goes.
I always wondered why drugs which affect dopamine significantly perpetuate their own use and cause you to take more and more, even when you are already high. In a sense they never satisfy your drug appetite. I guess this could be attributed to the well know "psychologically reinforcing properties" of the neurotransmitter.
I noticed that opiates satisfy your mind and the last thing you think about is doing more opiates. MDMA on the other hand is my classic example. When you are rolling (usually when you have just passed the peak), you can only think about taking another roll. Some people take them continuously until they are physically exhausted. There is some satisfaction in the experience but only during the peak effect. Also, merely knowing that you don't have another pill to take on the comedown further diminishes your mental satisfaction.
Coke is another good example. All you think about is that next line, even when you have been up for 2 days and look like shit. And even when you are already high, you want to do more and get higher. Speed (Adderall and Ritalin in my case) is similar but not quite as compulsive as coke whores. Every time I take Adderall (say 20-50mg) and I get that nice buzz, I get the urge to take some more so I can "feel even better". During finals, I snorted Ritalin so much (at least 3 times a day the entire week) that by the end, I had a constant burning pain in one of my nostrils and they both continuously dripped water even though I could not blow anything out. I guess this is why stimulants aren't a very good life long drug for "self-medication".
Depressants like benzos aren't too bad in that they don't give you the urge to continuously pop z-bars or to take another after you have already had two. They aren't a good idea for long term use though because heavy dependence withdrawls could kill you. Alcohol is an exception in that you do keep drinking, sometimes to the point of getting sick. This isn't inherently related to dopamine though because continuous drinking is most likely because of frontal lobe activity depression which would provide you with the ability to reason that if you drink more you will get sick. Also, alcohol doesn't release dopamine significantly either.
It seems to me that a lot of people (barring psychedelic users) that use drugs, use them for purposes of self-medication (like me). Self-medicators like me are continuously looking for the drug that will satisfy us and make everything right for us mentally. Orthodox medicines like antidepressants never worked for me and they have side effects like lack of interest in sex. So I think that dopaminergic drugs are not good choices for self-medication at all, because of the properties I discussed earlier.
Sorry for rambling like I'm tweaked
. And in case you missed my whole point, my dopamine theory (actually, alot of stuff I said is already established and factual so it isn't much of a theory and if it was, it wouldn't really be mine) is that said drugs never satisfy your appetite for dopamine. In fact, I remember my psychology teacher pointing out that food intake (which affects dopamine because it is rewarding) is regulated by two different parts of the hypothalamus (lateral and ventromedial I think). In rats that don't have the latter part they eat nonstop until they die from eating so much. Another example is sex, which obviously is dopaminergic. In men, there is a 15 minute or so refractory period in which sex is impossible, otherwise...
. In women however (this is all from psych 201), there is no mechanism which prevents perpetual gratifaction (perpetual dopamine release) and so women can have multiple orgasms.
If you don't get anything out of my ramblings, plz don't flame me. Any discussion is welcome though.
I always wondered why drugs which affect dopamine significantly perpetuate their own use and cause you to take more and more, even when you are already high. In a sense they never satisfy your drug appetite. I guess this could be attributed to the well know "psychologically reinforcing properties" of the neurotransmitter.
I noticed that opiates satisfy your mind and the last thing you think about is doing more opiates. MDMA on the other hand is my classic example. When you are rolling (usually when you have just passed the peak), you can only think about taking another roll. Some people take them continuously until they are physically exhausted. There is some satisfaction in the experience but only during the peak effect. Also, merely knowing that you don't have another pill to take on the comedown further diminishes your mental satisfaction.
Coke is another good example. All you think about is that next line, even when you have been up for 2 days and look like shit. And even when you are already high, you want to do more and get higher. Speed (Adderall and Ritalin in my case) is similar but not quite as compulsive as coke whores. Every time I take Adderall (say 20-50mg) and I get that nice buzz, I get the urge to take some more so I can "feel even better". During finals, I snorted Ritalin so much (at least 3 times a day the entire week) that by the end, I had a constant burning pain in one of my nostrils and they both continuously dripped water even though I could not blow anything out. I guess this is why stimulants aren't a very good life long drug for "self-medication".
Depressants like benzos aren't too bad in that they don't give you the urge to continuously pop z-bars or to take another after you have already had two. They aren't a good idea for long term use though because heavy dependence withdrawls could kill you. Alcohol is an exception in that you do keep drinking, sometimes to the point of getting sick. This isn't inherently related to dopamine though because continuous drinking is most likely because of frontal lobe activity depression which would provide you with the ability to reason that if you drink more you will get sick. Also, alcohol doesn't release dopamine significantly either.
It seems to me that a lot of people (barring psychedelic users) that use drugs, use them for purposes of self-medication (like me). Self-medicators like me are continuously looking for the drug that will satisfy us and make everything right for us mentally. Orthodox medicines like antidepressants never worked for me and they have side effects like lack of interest in sex. So I think that dopaminergic drugs are not good choices for self-medication at all, because of the properties I discussed earlier.
Sorry for rambling like I'm tweaked
If you don't get anything out of my ramblings, plz don't flame me. Any discussion is welcome though.
