How Cocaine Changes the Brain
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How Cocaine Changes the Brain
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Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#2To understand these results you may need to know that dopamine is not the "reward" signal it was once characterised as. Instead it is closer to a "motivation" signal. Without it you do nothing, with lots of it you are highly motivated to just about anything.
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#3To understand these results you may need to know that dopamine is not the "reward" signal it was once characterised as. Instead it is closer to a "motivation" signal. Without it you do nothing, with lots of it you are highly motivated to just about anything.
I would argue that, while people can redirect the stimulation from dopaminergics to get "motivated to [do] just about anything", the usual effects when the drug-user sets no specific goals are actually rather more specific.
Almost everyone who takes weaker amphetamines like Adderall ends up developing a cleaning compulsion; almost everyone who takes meth ends up developing a compulsion to pick at their own skin. The link I've seen suggested is that these are instinctual "foraging/grooming" behaviors, all using the same neural hardware related to finding small imperfections/differences in a scene.
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#4To understand these results you may need to know that dopamine is not the "reward" signal it was once characterised as. Instead it is closer to a "motivation" signal. Without it you do nothing, with lots of it you are highly motivated to just about anything.
My favorite way of thinking about it is regulating expectation or giving an emotional reason to do something. ("I feel like I should do this")
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#5Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc.
So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is about 100 times stronger than usual, so 10 times less strong than the first time.
Then you want to go back to that first unbelievable fantastic time, and take more. You may get at 200, but the more often you take it, the less the effect, and the stronger the craving for it. This is more or less how (this) addiction works.
The numbers I use here may be different, but it shows more or less how it works. Well as far as I understood it from the book Why Zebras don't get Ulcers which is about stress and all its side effects.
http://www.amazon.com/Zebras-Dont-Ulcers-Third-Edition/dp/08...
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#6Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc. So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is…
> So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is about 100 times stronger than usual, so 10 times less strong than the first time.
> Then you want to go back to that first unbelievable fantastic time, and take more. You may get at 200, but the more often you take it, the less the effect, and the stronger the craving for it. This is more or less how (this) addiction works.
Isn't this a common sense regarding drugs in general? I mean, this sentiment is repeated constantly through the fictional depiction of drugs and through the media.
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#7Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc. So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is…
> So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is about 100 times stronger than usual, so 10 times less strong than the first time. > Then you want to go back to that first unbelievable fantastic time, and take more. You may get at 200, but the more often you take it, the less the effect, and the stronger the craving for it. This is more or less how (this) addic…
Not at all. Lots of prescription medications actually take a while to really have an effect., and hallucinogens & psychedelics have all kids of "echo effects" on subsequent use.
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#8Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc. So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is…
>So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is about 100 times stronger than usual, so 10 times less strong than the first time.
Then you want to go back to that first unbelievable fantastic time, and take more. You may get at 200, but the more often you take it, the less the effect, and the stronger the craving for it. This is more or less how (this) addiction works.
Just like ice cream :D
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9118768...
I'm still affected by the first time I tasted B&Js, chasing the chunky monkey :(
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#9Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc. So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is…
>So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is about 100 times stronger than usual, so 10 times less strong than the first time. Then you want to go back to that first unbelievable fantastic time, and take more. You may get at 200, but the more often you take it, the less the effect, and the stronger the craving for it. This is more or less how (this) addictio…
I have a hard time believing you like anything other than vanilla.
Re: How Cocaine Changes the Brain
#10Good to know is that the first time you take cocaine, it works about 1000 times stronger than the natural drugs in your brain, and thus the natural highs you get. These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc. So the first time(s) you use cocaine, you get a high that's incredible. The second time, this effect is…
> These are the normal highs you get when you score a goal in sports, when you get an A for your exam, when the girl or boy you like wants to kiss you etc.
I don't do drugs but I don't have "normal highs" either, except once, 20 years ago ... Sometimes I wonder if I'm normal.