This is somewhat tied to another thread right now on pain killers.
Why do some pain medications affect the mental state of the patient (more than just eliminate the pain) , and others do not?
No one (or almost no one) gets any kind of buzz, good feeling, or sedation from aspirin, Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and naproxin. But the rest of the pain meds (prescribed) do seem to have a much larger effect mentally and can lead to addiction. For example, morphine, percocet, vicadin, oxycodone, etc.
Why this difference? The second set are seen more as “heavy hitters”, and doctors are more hesitant to use them because they can be used for recreational drug use.
Is it not possible to have a very strong pain relief without these mental effects as byproducts? Is it possible that we will find a very strong pain relief that is more like ibuprofen and asprin? Is there something in biology that doens’t allow this?
I take high levels of morphine (360mg per day) and it causes no mental effects to me. There is no “high” or any mental impairment of any kind. I have also taken percocet, vicodin, dialudid, and other prescription narcotic pain relievers with absolutely no mental effects but still received pain relief.
I am sure that some people may experience some sort of the mental symptons you described from taking them, but it is far from universal.
Simple-ish answer: Opioid pathways in the central nervous system feed into the reward system of the brain, your body’s way of saying “This is awesome! Let’s do it again!” Acetaminophen and anti-inflammatories work on different parts of the brain in a way that is currently poorly defined and understood but does not stimulate reward and emotional centers; they also exert some of their analgesic effects by actually reducing inflammation (ibuprofen and aspirin much more than acetaminophen) at the site of injury.
As horsetech indicated, your brain has morphine receptors. Your body produces endorphins (short for endogenous morphines), which some claim produce the runner’s high.
Nothar, wow I thought my usage of 120mg a day was high. How do you function? The lethargy that I feel from what I am taking is overwhelming at times. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for you at that level. This goes with something I mentioned in the other thread about pain killers. Tolerance and my fear that eventually pain meds won’t work. How long did it take you to get to that level? Are you concerned that there will be a time when the meds won’t work any longer?
And to the OP, like with the other thread I also receive no high or mental impairment of any kind. I get pain relief, but no side benefit. I did once get pretty ripped on Demerol, but that was long before I had a tolerance to the meds.