Posted by Questionmark on August 6, 2008, at 23:46:13
In reply to Re: Kappa opioid receptors and dopamine » christophrejmc, posted by Crotale on July 16, 2008, at 12:12:54
Well we are grateful to both you and Elizabeth for shedding light on this topic and helping make people more aware.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_opioid_receptor) states that the belief that kappa opioid receptor agonists are dysphoric is a misconception. I'm not sure. But if salvinorin A is the potent (and selective[?]) kappa opioid agonist it is accepted as being, then I am a bit skeptical that agonists of these receptors are exclusively dysphoric-- unless maybe you/they're referring to chronic activation over some extended periods (and not just acute activation). Because I know that while salvinorin A isn't by any means the most euphoric substance, and it seems like many people aren't particularly fond of its effects, there are many people (myself included) who do also enjoy its effects to some extent or another. And personally, although the very high dose, melt-into-the-world to become a cog-in-a-rapidly-spinning-mega-wheel can in certain ways be quite unpleasant, I have quite often been capable of enjoying lower doses. Anyway, the point of that rambling is that I think it may depend on... I don't know, other factors-- such as possibly, selectivity of the drug, potency and/or degree of kappa opioid receptor activation, etc.-- whether or not kappa receptor agonists are dysphoriogenic (sp.?). But again maybe it may simply be when receptor activation is sustained fairly frequently over a period of time (e.g., multiple days), and not just acute activation like I was talking about.
> > You must not have heard of Elizabeth. She was here many years ago to challenge the then-dominant opinion here that opioids have no place in the treatment of psychological disorders. Hers are easily some of the best posts on this board, I would definitely recommend doing a search for her posts on buprenorphine.
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> I remember her, yes. As I recall, she got a lot of crap from some people on the board for being open about taking an opioid for depression and encouraging other people to try it. She was labelled a "drug pusher" and things of that nature.
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> I started taking buprenorphine in 1999. I remember going to see _The Matrix_ the day I started taking it and vomiting on my way to the theater -- interestingly, I was able to sit through the film without any problems, but I got sick again on my way home afterwards! (I reduced the dose to 0.15mg (0.5mL) for a few weeks until I was able to tolerate a full mL.)
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> -Crotale
poster:Questionmark
thread:830482
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