How does heroin work in the brain: The truth about Heroin Addiction?
When you ask me this question how does heroin work in the brain? I will respond to help you not get confused as to whether heroin is good for your health or otherwise. You cannot gamble with your life and most importantly your health. For your information, this I the most valuable asset one can ever possess in life. When experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center say that your health is your health, it is not a gimmick. It is a confirmed fact and you can attest to it even as a layman. Heroin as a drug has nothing to offer in the protection to this most valuable yet priceless asset called health. And just to erase the confusion from your mind if any, doctor Dalal Akoury the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center explains that, under normal circumstance the human body will naturally produce its own opiate-like substances and uses them as neurotransmitters. Allow me to repeat that in a different way, I have not said heroin but substances like opiate. Now listen and get some of the substances am alluding to. These substances may include endorphins, enkephalins and dynorphin and collectively they are commonly known as endogenous opioids. Endogenous opioids modulate our reactions to painful stimuli and this is where many go wrong and are attempting to associate heroin with proper functionality of the brain. That aside these endogenous also regulate vital functions such as hunger and thirst and are involved in mood control, immune response, and other processes.
And now as to the reason why opiates like heroin and morphine are affecting us so powerfully is that, these exogenous substances bind to the same receptors as our endogenous opioids. There are three kinds of receptors widely distributed throughout the brain including the mu, delta, and kappa receptors.
These receptors through the second messengers, influences the likelihood that ion channels will open, which in certain cases reduces the excitability of neurons. This reduced excitability is the likely source of the euphoric effect of opiates and appears to be mediated by the mu and delta receptors.
This euphoric effect also appears to involve another mechanism in which the GABA-inhibitory interneurons of the ventral tegmental area come into play. By attaching to their mu receptors, exogenous opioids reduce the amount of GABA released. Remember that in under normal circumstances, GABA reduces the amount of dopamine released in the nucleus accumbens. By inhibiting this inhibitor, the opiates ultimately increase the amount of dopamine produced and the amount of pleasure felt. Besides that doctor Akoury says that the chronic consumption of opiates inhibits the production of cAMP. However this inhibition will be offset in the long run by other cAMP production mechanisms. When no opiates are available, this increased cAMP production capacity comes to the fore and results in neural hyperactivity and the sensation of craving the drug.
How does heroin work in the brain: Heroin Effects on the Brain?
This is one great concern that many people are yearning to understand and for sure most people have realize that addictive drugs affect the body, but they always fail to realize that the effects of heroin on the brain can be very powerful and devastating. According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center this will all starts when the heroin users takes their first dose of heroin. This will put the roller coaster in motion and sets them up for long term addiction to heroin. Remember that the initial rush of euphoria is produced by a flood of powerful opiates being sent to the brain eventually becomes the new bar for feeling good. Over time, the brain comes to demand the same level of extra opiates in order to pass that communication to the body that everything is fine. Without the extra boost of opiates, the brain shifts into panic mode, and alerts the body that more opiates are needed in order to feel normal. Thus the addiction is propagated from the level of starving opiate receptors in the brain.
How does heroin work in the brain: How does Heroin Addiction Change the Brain?
It is very sad that we all want to live well yet we often don’t do what will make us live the life we all desire. Like for instance, the brain is one of the pillar organs of good health. When the brain is healthy the whole body is too however most addicts do not realize that consistent abuse of heroin figuratively changes the brain over time. This is one of the most profound effects heroin has on the brain, because it is essentially permanent if the heroin addict has abused the drug for several years. For a better understanding, doctor Akoury explains what will happen. She says that a normal person has a certain level of dopamine that is produced on a regular basis that is trickled out to their brain so that they can simply feel normal as they go about their business. For example, after and during vigorous exercise, the body is slowly releasing small bits of this natural dopamine to the brain, so that the person can feel a bit better in spite of their hard work which is also a basic, biological survival mechanism.
How does heroin work in the brain: The Dangers of Heroin Use on the Brain?
When an addict starts using heroin every single day, what that person’s brain is basically saying is that “hey just a minute here, and then the body communicates that it is being constantly flooded with extra opiates and dopamine, so there is no need for it to produce any more naturally by itself as it should normally. I am getting all that I need and more.” And so over time, if the heroin addict continues doing heroin for years and decades, they slowly train their own body to stop all natural dopamine production. Because heroin addiction is so dangerous and has so many risks involved with long term use, most heroin addicts never make it to this end stage where their body has ceased making natural dopamine. But those who do are stuck in a predicament where their body is always going to be a bit starved for natural opiates, just so that they can feel normal. In such cases, drug maintenance therapy with a synthetic opiate is usually recommended.
Finally this phenomenon should demonstrate the power that heroin use can have, as it is actually one of the physical effects of heroin on the brain. Other effects may also include craving and the fact that heroin can literally change the chemistry of the brain over time, and grip the addict ever deeper into the clutches of heroin drug addiction thereby necessitating the need for you to seek for help with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center.
How does heroin work in the brain: The truth about Heroin Addiction?
