Brains of Addicts Are Inherently Abnormal

reply to post by predator0187


Interesting, although as a recovering alcoholic, or an alcoholic who no longer drinks-what to call myself-I don't see it as an 'allergy'. Who has a peanut allergy & eats copious amounts of peanuts? My addiction was my use of alcohol to lead what is classed as a 'normal' life-I suffer from terrible anxiety & to leave the home or even converse I constantly leant on drink to carry out everyday things that people generally take for granted
My siblings though can drink moderately-but then, they're half siblings so would this count? They don't become addicted like myself-my current issue is painkillers, previous being benzodiazapines(used to wean me off alcohol incidentally)
As someone pointed out, how do we know these abnormalities are present or caused by substance abuse?

reply to post by boobam110


My comparison to the peanut allergy was in making the point that as in addiction, consuming a substance brings about an adverse reaction. It is the desire to stay in that adverse reaction that makes addiction unique. I do know lots of people who are adverse in tolerant who have ice cream now and again. The pleasure of the substance over-rides the adverse effect.

reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl


Any brain activity, like reading can re-grow brain cells, but every drug from food to OTC to illegal to Rx can effect different parts of the brain, so those damaged and dead may not be the ones growing back. Usually not. The re-growing of brain cells is by using them. You would have to find the complete opposite feeling and thinking you had on those certain drugs or the complete same to grow the ones damaged back. This of course is just my theory.

reply to post by Spacey


Interesting. I have a complete "thinking and feeling" towards my drug of choice. All I know is that when I first got sober, I was a barely functioning human being. I could do little more than tie a shoe. Now I am very successful college student able to think critically and analyze logically. I could do neither on drugs.

reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl

On the flip side though, I found nothing pleasurable in alcohol? To the point that I would have rather died(I seriously attempted it), than to carry on the abuse of the substance
Maybe others can't understand that-I myself admit it sounds ridiculous

reply to post by boobam110


I've known plenty of people allergic to alcohol, I myself am to barley in beer, I'm smart enough to stay away from it. But those people who are allergic as well, like the feeling so much they will ignore the swelling of their face, or the sneezing, or vomiting, and continue to drink. There's a drug like methadone called suboxone for opiate addicts and it blocks the dopamine in the brain. These people get sick if they take any opiate but their mind says yes, and they get sick. I have more on this product I don't agree with.

reply to post by boobam110


While deep in my addiction, I found nothing pleasurable about my DOC as well. It simply became something I needed to exist, like water or food. In the beginning, though, it was immensely pleasurable, exciting, and thrilling. Which is why against my better judgement I continued in addiction. I don't believe addiction is a literal allergy, but it is simply a good analogy.

reply to post by Spacey


I think that's like Antabuse for alcohol? If you drink any alcohol, you get real ill. Yeh, I ignored that too when I would rather have the alcohol

reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl


Yeh, I get that-I was thinking you meant in a literal sense. I suppose to become an addict of any kind, the user has to initially find it pleasurable. Or why would we?!

Originally posted by type0civ
reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl

 

Seems to me you need to break open that big book again.

And I don't buy the genetic predisposition theory either. I know lots of addicts who are the first and only in their family.

I am the first generation addict and so was my brother, I totally believe it still is a genetic predisposition. Have we forgotten about workaholics, sex addicts, OCD. Like many addicts most of these type of non-drug addictions go unnoticed. But my family is full of non-drug or alcohol addicts of many types. Myself and my brother just happened to have the environment where drugs were readily available. We are both clean. But still have our genetic addictions in other forms like shopping, cleaning, working, sex. Most people don't notice their families addictions because in the past these things were never talked about or acknowledged, and gets pushed off as oh their just hard workers, or their a clean freak, or they like to shop, they like their coffee and sodas. Caffeine is the most unnoticed addiction in America and especially in AA/NA. These meetings go on with coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I've seen the withdrawal headaches from caffeine. I've seen a whole NA meeting unbegun because the coffee was locked and the key hadn't arrived yet. They were fiends. Looking for crowbars to break open cabinets, to get to their coffee. Switching addictions to normal legal ones is very common. So genetics yes. Mental yes. Its all of these. Addiction has many forms.

reply to post by Spacey


Bingo.. Never thought of those things as addictions but you're right. My brother, albeit half, has OCD-I have the purely obsessional side
Now I'm no longer an 'addict' as such, I clean, and clean, and clean!! Whilst drinking lots of coffee. I think there's a need to replace one thing with another & whilst these things are readily available..
I hear a lot about over-eaters having gastric ops who then go on to have alcohol problems or similar. Another addiction being replaced by something else

If this report is true, it would be nice to think that addicts will begin to be treated with some respect & dealt with appropriately
It's an unpleasant illness, not a choice, & I have have huge amounts of respect for anyone who manages to deal with an addiction with success

Well, I am an old hippy, that ended up with a drinking problem, been sober over 30 years, done a lot of stuff I am not proud of, and if I hadn't been so young and innocent/stupid, um err, well I prolly would have done it anyway, but I wish I hadn't because I sure aint normal, but then I realize none of us are normal.

Sometimes I am glad for the experiences,

Originally posted by boobam110
reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl

 

On the flip side though, I found nothing pleasurable in alcohol? To the point that I would have rather died(I seriously attempted it), than to carry on the abuse of the substance
Maybe others can't understand that-I myself admit it sounds ridiculous

I was to that point with opiates as well. Addiction to alcohol and opiates is very alike. Withdrawals, needing it to feel "normal". But alcohol withdrawal can kill you, and herion can just kill you on its own. I take medication to feel "normal" because I was one self medicating. I tried to die for no reason at all starting at 10 or so, when at 15 I found drugs, I felt normal for the first time and wanted to live. but after a decade I wanted to die from all my abuse to myslef with drugs. I was abnormal and I noticed quitting I had changed my brain chemistry in many ways. Some of my old sober childhood abnormalities came back some didn't. And I was so happy to have re-wired myself as someone said. But to get back to the Rx's that block alcohol and dopamine in the brain. I never had an alcohol problem, maybe because I'm allergic to beer. I'm unsure. Maybe because my genetics are more pre-dispositioned towards non-drug addictions, being a 1st generation drug addict. But blocking the brain from dopamine with suboxone, That chemistry is in the brain for a reason. I gained about 60lbs in 3 months. Trying to feel something. methadone is worse than any illegal drug. 2 weeks of withdrawal and it just gets you high, but the government prescribes this. subutex has no blocker of dopamine, but you don't feel opiates. But the FDA and DEA are currently trying to get subutex off the market completely. So people will block their brain, or go to methadone and stay a government addict. It saddens me to see this. subutex doesn't get you high and can function like a normal person. But blocking dopamine makes you fat. The government I suppose wants more fat people and more medical problems in the world. Yes, stopping an addiction makes you gain weight anyways but not at such a high rate, as I've seen in many on suboxone. But eventually your body evens out, not with this supposed cure.

reply to post by Spacey

coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other

I have seen that a lot.

reply to post by Spacey

I think there's a lot of these 'government addicts' in the UK right now-you can go in the chemist & folk are queuing for their methadone. The prisons have the same, long queues for their methadone. GP's prescribe '' for the alcoholics-is this a serious way to deal with the problems of addiction?
I now put on 3 stone in 3 years of being sober-I was probably what the US size zero is. I'm way over that now!! But healthier & happier-glad I'm not addicted to another prescribed-possibly mind/mood altering-drug
Lucky, I guess

reply to post by boobam110


I have dealt with many addicts and addictions. I'm an observing type. Read my last comment and I talk about the food addiction. Thats what I had switched too. Now I'm under weight? But I was always skinny. But depression and break ups can make a person eat like a cow or not at all. So being sober, there are still normal problems to go through. But we tell ourselves that anything is better than what your addiction was, and its true. But people without any addictions eventually have to face them or stay in the dark cleaning. I'm a wash-a-hand-aholic now. I can't shake hands. Very OCD. But most addicts were self-medicating in the first place. I don't follow the NA/AA way. Because I hate caffeine and i can handle one drink and not want another. When I stopped counting the months and days I have over 5 years clean. When I counted that one year mark always messed me up. I don't know why. But whatever works- Work it. and stay clean. sober. whatever. I've been prescribed so many medications that didn't work but I finally found xanax. somehow i'm the only addict who doesn't want more than one after ten years. I'm very proud of myself. But I have just about every type of anxiety you can think of. I'll let my doctor tell me what's best, not a room of addicts judging me. But that was me, and my experience. I've had friends who worked NA for ten years and going. But after so long they seem to think alcohol's ok for them, some could handle it, like myself, some could not. but life is an experience that only makes you wiser if your open to look around and take in what others say. And you and marlboro girl seem to be very open minded. Glad I joined this.

Re: The coffee and ciggerete debate.
Yes. These two substances are accepted "crutches." Although they are unhealthy, they do serve a purpose. If you want to get sober by any means necessarily, sometimes that means tackling one addiction at a time. For me, ciggeretes were around before, during, and after my time as an active addict. I am 22 years old, and I have been smoking for 5 years. Sometimes a smoke has been all there is keeping me from using, and its worth it for me. I am not a ciggerete fiend, I have never stolen or cheated for a pack of smokes. I don't have money for a pack, I do without or stick a patch on. I can only take my sobriety one day at a time. Do I have to have coffee to attend a meeting? Of course not.

These are creature comforts for the addled, not some plague affecting the addict community. There are many who smoke and drink coffee and are not addicts.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
reply to post by Spacey

 

coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other

I have seen that a lot.

I can't handle caffeine makes me feel like I'm on speed, so I stay away from soda's, tea, coffee. But I drink here and there. I have a bottle of vodka sitting for well over 4 months with one shot out of it. I drink kahlua cause of the taste and keeps my milk from spoiling. But people in NA meetings said I was using drugs. Because alcohol is a drug. My choice was one of the worst herion. I couldn't handle judging me and just straight telling me your gonna relapse cause of a drink, when caffeine to me is just as bad. and nicotine's a drug too. I'm a smoker. But nicotine is found in vegetables. not something a lot of people know. another subject. but 5 yrs over cause i waited 3 yrs to figure out how long i'd been clean. I relapsed first like they said. cause they said it. soon as i found what works for me, what worked for my brother. work it out yourself with true family and friends, and a doctor. hey i'm great. I'm still very much not normal. and proud of that too.

There are many who smoke and drink coffee and are not addicts.

Chocolate?

My mother died, I started having sever panic attacks, I become more dependent on alcohol, I prayed for it to stop and it did, but I still have the panic disorder, but not as sever as in the beginning,

sigh, meh

reply to post by Spacey


Same, same.. The self-medicating theory, I think, is spot on. It took my son's doctor(he has ADHD, bless), to make me realise that & see it for what is it. Now, I accept my anxiety for what it is
When I was at the lowest, in the UK there's nowhere for 'people like me' to be placed, so they put me a psychiatric care unit. Now, I wish I'd made more use of my time there instead of fighting it-I'd have learnt something-mental illness, we're not so different! It's just the severity, I think
Learning to accept myself is the best thing I've done regarding this! I wish I knew, absolutely, I'd never drink again but that's not the case!
When you learn to accept yourself & see yourself as you really are, you become tolerant & understanding of others. We're not bad people! Honest!