Opiates always kill my appetite. Maybe because they can make you nausious ? THC stimulates the grelin (hunger cheimcal) but something in opiates seems to counteract it ?
Yes, I think the nausea is what does it, and it seems that any form of cannabinoids has the potential side effect of weight gain much like the gabapentinoids, catabolic steroids, and some other drugs.
There is also the possibility that the body may be hungry but the euphoric effect reduces then limits the desire to do something about it? Sort of like the diminished drive to fuck and suck whilst on high doses of narcotics?
Strong narcotics have suppression of appetite as a side effect so much so that recipes for Brompton Mixture include tincture of cannabis, and after the 1930s other anti-emetics such as the phenothiazine-related antihistamines like prochlorperazine, piperazine antihistamines like cyclizine and hydroxyzine, piperidine antihistamines like cyproheptadine, ethanolamine antihistamines like dimenhydrinate, bromodiphenhydramine, and diphenhydramine. A rather common protocol in palliative and hospice care is compounding a liquid for PO administration containing the strong narcotic such as morphine, nicomorphine, piritramide, dextromoramide, smack, or hydromorphone, a stimulant and/or local anaesthetic like co-phenylcaine, dextroamphetamine, or of course C-Jam, and other ingredients and the elixir is used to wash down capsules of dronabinol.
Some opioids have courses of action and/or early withdrawal which suppress appetite, but not others . . . then there is the appetite suppression which becomes part of narcotic withdrawal in Stege I or II, which is closely tied to the nausea and vomiting, so a shot or other dose of something that effects a fix will cause the person to become hungry at one point or another during the first hour after the dose. There is a rumbling in the stomach, as peristalsis is counteracted once again and the increase in appetite is subtle and take a while to set in, starting two or three minutes after the rumble. Another GI side effect is that the rapidly-moving bowels are stopped in the their tracks and there are bubbles and air pockets there which move a bit and must consolidate, as odourless flatulence, which some people see as quite nifty for some reason, seems to be an especially common side effect of starting back on hydromorphone, hydromorphinol, and oxymorphone after 18-36 hours off of it, especially when clonidine has been used,
I notice this overall effect with nearly all narcotics, but morphine and dipipanone were the really big ones. Also the sign of passing from Stage V withdrawal to Stage VI withdrawal and soon post-acute withdrawal is The Chucks, which is a rapidly-developing and sustained increase in appetite, with, as with other effects of morphine and similar drugs, cravings for sugar showing up and there seem to be unusual cravings which vary from person to person: sour, salty, greasy, or vinegary food, the desire to put Tabasco sauce all over all sorts of food. Maybe even ice cream for all I know.
