Opiate use and brain changes...

[blase deviant]

...I remember seeing in a post that as you used opiates, they gradually continued to make changes in your brain, specifically by rearranging certain neurons.

Does anyone know what neurons they rearrange/how it affects/changes you?

I searched a bit on the web, found nothing.

 

[Dope_User]

I was under the impression that long term users (addicts) have lower levels of "natural opiates" in their brains. Supposedly, using opiates causes the body to "shut down" or release less of its own opiates...but no articles to back that one up.

 

[cannabis sativa]

when i did for opiates for a couple weeks my brain felt changed. i can't explain how but there was definitely a big change in the way i thought .

 

[Hyperion]

If there was a drug out there that could re-arrange your neurons, you'd know it pretty quickly. All drug use is capable of causing short term changes in neurochemistry that lasts after the drug has worn off, usually either causing neuroreceptor downregulation or upregulation, or by increasing/decreasing the amount of a given neurotransmitter in the synapse or the amount produced and stored in the vesicles. The thing is, though, that these changes are generally temporary.

In the case of opiates, they will cause a downregulation or the opiate receptors, which means that the body's endogenous endorphin/enkephalin system is going to be effected. These changes are completely temporary, of course, otherwise withdrawal would last forever. When one ceases using opiates, the downregulated opiate receptors are going to be less stimulated, but given time, they upregulate. The brain has some remarkable ways of adapting to various changes and promoting a level of homeostasis.

But the short answer is that while opiates will cause some short term changes in neurochemistry, they will not cause any serious long term changes. This is not to say that long-term opiate use doesn't have negative health effects, just that brain damage does not appear to be one of them

 

[Hyperion]

Forgot one other thing: MPTP....for the possible 3 people on this board who aren't familiar with it, an error in the synthesis of the synthetic opioid MPPP resulted in the synthesis of the drug MPTP. When MPTP is introduced into the human body, it does cause a form of permanent brain damage with effects similar to a severe case of Parkinson's Disease. However, this still does not involve re-arranging neurons, but the destruction or permanent damage of certain neurons.

Now, it is possible to rearrange the connections between neurons, of course. Your brain does it all the time: It's called learning.

 

[aoe2junkie]

well ive listened to loveline and dr drew said that opiates are the least damaging drug, but the most addicting. there is literally no damage done unless you are shooting i think i dont remember

 

[blase deviant]

Alright, thanks. I knew about the downregulation (almost all drugs, especially non-psychedelics, regulate some receptor, although I thought opiate use upregulated them, as in it made more opiate receptors, since the body was used to more things to fill them, and when you quit, since there are a ton, more are empty, etc, but maybe this process is called downregulation, I dunno), but had heard in a post somewhere around here that it actually rearranged neurons permanently over time. IIRC, it was something to do with socialization? I dunno.

I guess I'm either imagining/misread it or the post was BS though, because I've asked around several times and no one has a clue what I'm referring to.