From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Mon Jan 21 2002 - 09:47:32 MST
>From: "Alex Ramonsky" <alex@ramonsky.com>
>My second question: some years ago I met a young woman in research
>who was bright, cheerful, fit and smoked about twenty a day.
>Encouraged by the efforts of others, she decided to quit. Within
>two weeks she was a depressed nervous wreck who couldn't handle
>socialising at all. Once bright, she now seemed to find it
>difficult to think, could not concentrate, and developed
>nervous habits.She remained like this, often suicidal and visiting
>her doctor for medication. Then she started smoking again. The
>symptoms disappeared, and she returned to her old 'normal' self.
>Intrigued, we asked if she would be willing to have tests relating
>to this. It turned out she was permanently deficient in
>acetylcholine and various other neurotransmitters unless she
>smoked. What I am asking is: How many other people suffer from
>this to a lesser degree, and, are they the ones who have the
>greatest difficulty giving up smoking?
Many years ago a researcher (Candace Pert?) was studying why people
became addicted to heroin.
She discovered that the brain had specific receptor sites for
opiates. Wondering why the brain had these sites led to the
discovery of the enkephlins and beta-endorphins, the brains natural
opiates.
Addictive substances either function as an analog replacing a
natural substance or act as a stimulant for that sunstance. When
supplied from "outside" the brain either stops/reduces producing
the substance or requires the appropriate trigger substance.
The delay in the brain reaquiring this ability is the well known
withdrawal effect.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 13:37:35 MST