Opiate withdrawals and sex dreams?

[Alcohol120]

I'm trying to get off opiates, and the withdrawals usually set in at night (when I had my dose). I figured it was coincidence at first, but I've noticed whenever I wake up from a withdrawal, I was having some sort of sexual dream. Not always direct sex, but something involving nudity, or seeing someone have sex. Could it have something to do with my brain attempting to release endorphins to compensate for the lack of opiate? Just a thought...

 

[Jabberwocky]

maybe you just dream about sex a lot and the fact that you are waking up now more often at night allows you to have more direct access to what you were just dreaming about?

There is a tendency in this subforum to always posit a neurophysiological basis for something (receptor downregulation, upregulation, monoamine depletion, overabundance, etc etc). While this is an important aspect to focus on, it is not the end all be all answer to most questions. Most questions are better handled by giving a psychological explanation, which posits psychological mechanisms that may not totally map onto discrete physical brain states.

Regardless, congrats for getting clean. Good luck to you for the long-term (it gets a lot better after a month or two so I am told by a friend who has managed to get himself out of an IV heroin addiction).

 

[Canis aureus]

I think it is backwards state to opiates (not wanting sex)... Whenever I have been on WD's and just managed to sleep, I have always waked up to unpleasant happening... and of course, also seen sex dreams.

It is probably brains compensational state to opiate state.



BTW,Have you seen sex dreams when on opiates?

 

[johanneschimpo]

The only time I have had a wet dream was withdrawaling terribly hard, in jail.
FYI.

 

[Jabberwocky]

hey I had wet dreams in prison too but that was from coming down from a 2 week long methamphetamine binge. They were very uncomfortable. I remember waking up on the prison bed (shitty ass "mattress") and ejaculating. The ejaculation was *incredibly* painful (I guess due to my probably dehydrated and definitely dysphoric state of mind).

 

[FILTHY44]

The only time I have had a wet dream was withdrawaling terribly hard, in jail.
FYI.

Same here...it was weird as hell because its never happen anywhere else..

 

['medicine cabinet']

^i had a few of those in rehab. it always seemed to happen at the peak of WD when i could finally fall into some really strange deep sleep after 3 days of none at all.

 

[negrogesic]

Heavy opioid abuse can certainly lead to hypogonadism (decreased testosterone production). Test levels rebound quite quickly, especially during withdrawal from a short acting opioid (heroin, oxycontin etc). When i had just gotten off of methadone my test levels were still depressed, then two months later, they were significantly higher than normal (serum particularly, though unbound %'s were high as well). However, this might have just been my pre-opioid test level, so test levels probably return to whatever you were producing prior to the opioid abuse (this is just an assumption).

Ultimately, it is probably the heightened tactile sensation combined with the rebounding test levels and an overall increase of dreaming (in general) that makes this a quite commonly reported feature in opioid withdrawal...

 

[Smyth]

Opiate users have very low sexual performance and struggle to keep their wood up. Once you stop taking junk though, sexual performance quickly rebounds to normal.

You might have gotton a HYPER sexual state of conciousness though, since like a coiled spring, once the pressure is released it bounces back over 100% before returning to normal.

 

[I_Stay_Dead]

I had a lot of wet dreams when I was withdrawing from tramadol. I was having one every night and sometimes two in a night! This was the most frequent rate of wet dreams I've ever had.

 

[butane]

I've only had two wet dreams in my life. The first, I was maybe fourteen, taking a nap on my great grandma's couch. I woke up quite surprised and there she was, sitting on the rocking chair across the living room. Thank god she's blind.

Anyway, point being, the second one was not too long ago after I quit shooting morphine. The number of dreams of a sexual nature rose dramatically, as well as sexual desire during the waking hours. Initially, I was also very.... sensitive. But that went away quickly.

 

[deroxor]

=Bump=

This subject peaked my curiosity because of late i have tried detoxing numerous times, and within day 2 i always seem to have wet dreams happen.

i wonder whats the cause of this, and if there is anyway to prevent it. Masturbation definitely doesn't work.