tg wrote:

ta wrote:

tg wrote:

ta wrote:

Scott H wrote:

"ta" <padlrnc@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1168575297.041406.124950@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Why is heroin physically harmful but sex is not? In both cases, we're
just dealing with chemical reactions, right?

We evolved to enjoy sex as a natural pleasure. Heroin is synthetic, recently
invented, and destructive.

So heroin is physically harmful because it's . . . . physically
harmful?

Aspirin is synthetic and recently invented, but relatively harmless.

The problem in general is that addictive substances are
addictive---meaning that they effect changes in how your body works
which are permanent unless you get de-toxified.

Are we addicted to the substance called heroin, or are we addicted to
the chemicals in the brain that create pleasure, and heroin, like sex,
is really just one of the many triggers to inducing the pleasure?

For example, when someone repeatedly compliments us or makes us feel
good in some way, that triggers chemicals to be released in the brain
and we become "addicted" to that person (they become our friend or we
date them or marry them etc.). Should they shun us or stop doing things
that make us feel good, then the addiction is removed and we seek out
other triggers.

If you could use just
a litle heroin, it probably wouldn't have any serious bad effects. But
your body chemistry adjusts itself so you need more and more just to
avoid extreme discomfort.

I think heroin creates similar effects in the brain to sex. I've never
done heroin, so I can't make the comparison from first-hand experience
(perhaps a bad choice of phrasing there). But I imagine the pleasure
that heroin supplies to be similar to that of orgasm, hence my question
-- why does one method of activating those pleasure-inducing chemicals
harm us, but not the other.

Clearly heroin has a much powerful addicting effect than sex, but I
wonder why. Perhaps the question is better served in biochemistry or
neuroscience forum, I don't know. I'm just curious how two things that
creates similar or identical chemical reactions in our brain can be so
different. (and I admit that the flaw here may be in my assumption that
the reactions in the brain are identical).

You can probably look this up pretty easily---I don't remember which
things get triggered by which. But the nature of addiction is that
there's a 'normal' level of serotonin or dopamine or whatever, and the
[heroin] boosts that or enhances receptors or whatever. After a while,
your body stops producing the chemical on its own, or the receptors get
burned out, and you require the [heroin] just to maintain the
previously 'normal' level.

I think the difference with sex is that you can only get the 'natural'
amount of chemical with each orgasm---you don't burn out the cells that
produce or receive the chemicals because they are designed to work at
that level.

"Why is Heroin Addictive?

Addictive drugs have two things in common. They produce an initial
pleasurable effect followed by a rebound unpleasant effect. Heroin and
other opiates mimic certain chemicals that are present in the brain
(.e.g., endorphins and enkephalins) that block pain and induce a
feeling of pleasure. These chemicals are released in larger quantities
when we have sex, exercise, laugh or do enjoyable work (the "natural
highs").

Heroin and other opiate drugs produce these same good feelings.
However, unlike the "endogenous opiates" that we produce ourselves, a
tolerance is built up to heroin and similar drugs so that it takes more
and more to get the pleasurable feeling. When the person fails to take
the drugs, unpleasant withdrawal symptoms occur.

These brain cells represent a simplified way of looking at the BRAIN'S
REWARD SYSTEM. On the left we see the various drives and needs of the
body; sex, hunger, thirst and friendship. When these drives are
satisfied, or when pain is relieved, a signal is sent to certain brain
cells (the "monitor cell" on the left) which manufacture a chemical
substance that signals reward. When these "monitor cells" have been
stimulated, a signal is sent to the tip where a small amount of this
reward chemical is released. The chemical (or neurotransmitter) then
reaches and stimulates the reward center, causing a feeling of
well-being.

Heroin produces as artificial feeling of pleasure. This is like having
counterfeit money which will fit into the slot machine. When the drug
comes in, it stimulates the reward center. This short circuits the
survival mechanism, because the reward center cell can't tell the
difference between the drug and the natural messenger.

The result is a dependence on the immediate, fast, predictable drug
which, at the same time, short circuits interests in and the motivation
to make life's normal rewards work."

http://www.amsa.org/resource/natlinit/heroin.cfm

I don't know how they can distinguish between "real" pleasure and
"artificial" pleasure. Pleasure is pleasure -- neither one is more real
than the other. The feeling is the same.

I am a nicotine addict, recovering for over 25 years. I still get
cravings from second-hand smoke sometimes. Scary.

-tg

I've been off the cigs for about 9 years now -- can't stand to be
around it. In fact, it makes me physically ill.

Sex is pretty much self-limiting; at some point parts are going to get
painful if overused. There is something called sex addiction, but I
don't get exactly what that would be like, or how it is different from
being a young male....memories, memories....

(laugh)

-tg