Chronic Pain/Opiate cycle
Nov. 17th, 2009 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreHere's how chronic pain and opiates form a nasty feedback loop.
1. You're in pain, and your glial cells help your neurons out by taking over the pain cheerleading functions. (Really, that's their job. They're a pain megaphone. This is why splinters and paper cuts hurt so much.)
2. You're in pain long enough to take opiates.
3. The opiates don't make the glial cells stabilize. (In normal, non-chronic pain, glial cells would.)
4. Over continued use, opiates activate more glial cells.
5. Glial cells block the opiate receptors, so the opiates don't work as well, but the glial cells are still going, "I'm in pain!"
6. More opiates consumed.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat.
[reduction from Nov 2009 Scientific American article, pp. 50-57]
1. You're in pain, and your glial cells help your neurons out by taking over the pain cheerleading functions. (Really, that's their job. They're a pain megaphone. This is why splinters and paper cuts hurt so much.)
2. You're in pain long enough to take opiates.
3. The opiates don't make the glial cells stabilize. (In normal, non-chronic pain, glial cells would.)
4. Over continued use, opiates activate more glial cells.
5. Glial cells block the opiate receptors, so the opiates don't work as well, but the glial cells are still going, "I'm in pain!"
6. More opiates consumed.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat.
[reduction from Nov 2009 Scientific American article, pp. 50-57]