deroxor
Bluelighter
For people who become drug addicts, the drug experience — the substance, but the entire “scene” too — is not only unforgettable but indelibly etched into the physiological brain circuitry that drives us onward through the obstacle course of existence.
And much of that memory is false. Because all addictive drugs appear to share a rather mysterious property: They’re “better than the real thing.” Better, that is, than the real things our reward circuitry was designed by evolution to reward: food, sleep, sex, friendship, novelty, etc. And better, even, than they were the last time around. At least, it sure seems that way to the addict.
About 25 million Americans are addicted to drugs (including alcohol but excluding nicotine), about the same number as those who have diabetes. But wanting a drug — really, seriously craving it — doesn’t mean you have to like it. “That’s a big part of the problem of addiction,” says Malenka, the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Malenka was among the first investigators to home in on the molecular details of just how the mechanisms involved in memory and learning are hijacked by drugs of abuse.
Addictive drugs mimic natural rewards such as food and sex by kindling a network of brain areas collectively called the reward circuitry, which is responsible for enjoyment — which if you think about it, is an important survival response. It gets us to do more of the kinds of things that keep us alive and lead to our having more offspring: food-seeking and ingestion, hunting and hoarding, selecting a mate and actually mating.
Moreover, addictive drugs fire up the reward circuitry in a way that natural rewards can’t — by, in a sense, pressing a heavy thumb down on the scale of pleasure. Over time, the desire for the drug becomes more important than the pleasure the addict gets from it. By the time the thrill is gone, long-lasting changes may have occurred within key regions of the brain.
The brain is a little bit like the big snarl of tangled wires snaking their way out of that six-outlet surge protector behind your bed. They know where they’re going, even if you don’t. Nerve cells (or neurons, as scientists call them) can be seen as hollow wires transmitting electrical currents down long cables called axons to other neurons.
Addiction was once defined in terms of physical symptoms of withdrawal, such as nausea and cramps in the case of heroin or delirium tremens in the case of alcohol, which reflect physiological changes within cells of an addict’s body. It’s now seen as changes in brain circuits, or combinations of neurons; in other words, the very neurophysiological changes that result from learning and experience. You crave, seek and use a pernicious drug again and again because you have a memory of it being more wonderful than anything else, and because your brain has been rewired so that, when exposed to anything that reminds you of the drug, you will feel rotten if you don’t get some.
“These are symptoms of a brain disease, not a mere weakness of will,” Malenka says. He and other researchers are working to understand addiction as a sum of behavioral consequences of changes within nerve cells that occur with repeated drug use. Over time, these subcellular changes alter the strength of connections in the circuit, essentially hardwiring the yen for drugs into a habitual craving that is easily reignited not only by the drugs but also by environmental cues — people, places, things and situations associated with past drug use — even when the addict hasn’t been anywhere near the drug or the drug scene for months or years.
http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2012spring/article5.html
Sorry if this isnt the right forum, because the Media likes to say Addiction is a Disease..... but I personally believe it is more of a Mental Handicapp like Tourrette Syndrome, or Bi-Polar disorder
But as i am working on my Recovery, well-being, and freedom/control from addiction, I am wanting to learn more about not only the Mind-structure of an Addict, but alternative Coping skills that hopefully isnt resorting to Finding a new addiction, or switching to a different Poison.
And by Bringing up this topic, i can hopefully open the eyes of the younger people who dont fully realise what they are doing to their bodies, soo they can maybe change their actions a bit soo they dont have to end up like me.
But as for me, i will shed some light with a little background information, and problems with my mental health
I am now 25 years old, light skinned, Jamaican Male. I have been Officially Diagnosed with Mild Depression and Insomnia, to which I currently take the following Medication for; 10mg of Cirpalex©(ESCITALOPRAM) an SSRI that works great as my anti-depression/anti-anxiety medication, and 50mg of Seroquel©(QUETIAPINE FUMARATE) as my sleeping medication. Also i am currently in the Methadone Program, i have been for almost 2 years and i ingest 110mls of Methadone Daily, and ive been comfortable at that dose for almost a year.
Ive been to N/A and A/A but the 12 Steps, Finding a Sponsor, and the whole we are powerless against drugs thing isnt for me, and I believe that i will be able to conquer my demons on my own with, especially in the right environment.
I have an addictions counselor i go see on a regular weekly basis, shes the only person i can talk to about everything going on in my and to vent or let out all the things i cant tell my family and she also helps me view myself in a different outlook, she is also GREAT for getting A second opinion.
But last time i went to see her, she pointed out a flaw in my efforts for a successful Recovery, and that was now that i have quit everything (aside from methadone) Which was me not having a constructive, legitimate, non-harmfull way of Coping with Stress....
And lately the Stress has been negatively impacting my life more than my depression has in the past few months.
I literally can only come up with one method, in my head, of Dealing/Coping/Relieving My stress at this moment, and im pretty laid back right now, soo i can only imagine if i was stressed out, and not thinking clearly, my mental gaurd would be down and it would be alot easier for me to make a mistakes or slack off n let things slide under my ethic radar.
From the age of 14 I ive been (unknowingly up untill recent years) Transforming my brain, changing my thinking patterns and slowly but ever so surely have developing my own brain&mind into that of your regular everyday full blown Addict..... By Using & Abusing various substances for pleasure or entertainment, to cure boredom and as hobbies, To cope with Stress and Depression, Anger and Frustration, Also to Socially Fit-In with others or build up my Ego and Self Esteem.
When i first discovered drugs, and started using&abusing them, I viewed them as my everything!!! Drugs where all i could think about, or talk about, care about..... All I used to in my "Newbie Days" was find out about new psychoactive chemicals i have yet to experience, then i would Research the hell out of it, and finally go out and hit the mean streets on a Hunt for what i wanted.
it seemed soo innocent really, aside from the sketchy people and transactions i have unfortunately been involved in, But i was really that Naive and clueless as to the Long-Term Effects substances would have on such a young growing mind.
and here i am now, seeking knowledge and advice on strategies to stay sober on the website that taught me everything that i know about drugs. I find that a tiny bit Ironic

But the solution to my recovery is approaching me, and soon I will be migrating out of this small drug infested town i am living in right now, where there isnt much to do other than get high, and i will be moving to the big city where i get to start living with a clean slate, and the opportunities for work and success are all within my reach.
its just staying clean and surviving stress free untill then is going to be the biggest battle.