Posted on 09/05/2015 3:11:58 PM PDT by UnwashedPeasant
Blocking D1 receptors in brain blocks alcohol cravings: study.
Scientists say a cure for alcoholism could be on the horizon thanks to the remarkable discovery of neurons in the brain that play a role in whether one glass of wine turns into a bottle. Texas A&M researchers explain the part of your brain known as the dorsomedial striatum contains neurons with spiny protrusions, each with two types of dopamine receptors. One type, called D1, encourages action but is structurally altered when large amounts of alcohol are consumed. The alteration causes the neurons to activate with less stimulation and the result is a vicious circle: Drinking alcohol causes easier activation and activation tells your brain to keep drinking. "If these neurons are excited, you will want to drink alcohol," lead author Jun Wang explains in a release. "You'll have a craving."
The study in the Journal of Neuroscience explains mice brains exposed to booze had more mature protrusions in D1 neurons compared to brains that weren't exposed to the stuff. Mice with more mature protrusions—where long-term memories are stored—downed large amounts of alcohol when given the chance. However, when the mice were given a drug to block the D1 receptor, cravings diminished. "This is the major finding," says Wang. "D1 receptors are essential for alcohol consumption" and "if we suppress this activity, we're able to suppress alcohol consumption." Wang adds his "ultimate goal is to understand how the addicted brain works … and once we do, one day, we'll be able to suppress the craving for another round of drinks and ultimately, stop the cycle of alcoholism." (Get to know history's most high-functioning alcoholics.)
See my post 49.
More good info here, including a list of names for D1-receptor-blocking drugs and their side effects:
http://alcoholrehab.com/drug-addiction/dopamine-antagonists/
For alcoholism, you would need a drug to block D1 only. Some (most?) of the listed drugs could increase D1 while blocking D2, so it would be the opposite of what this thread is about.
I disagree. The most effective technique known might be to simply stop, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a genetic weakness. Some people have it, some people don’t. Of those who have it, some people succumb, some don’t.
But there is a genuine difference between people who have it, and people who don’t.
Not interested in arguing, though. Believe what you want, it’s no skin off my nose.
Well, Jeff, if I did, I would talk to him a lot kinder and with less supposing I know all about him than some here would. I would try to explain the three fold problem of this allergy to alcohol we carry and share my experience, my strength and my hope. I would listen and see if there wasn’t some way I could do it with the three fold approach that AA was founded on and then go to work. It’s worked hundreds - yep, hundreds - of times for me, and I wouldn’t expect it not to again. I don’t like co-opting the foundations of the twelve steps and certainly not with a magic “cure.” Nothing will cure the mental physical and spiritual problems we have when we are finally gripped by the self centered universe of slavery, once we become “His Majesty the Baby” with alcohol telling us to jump and us asking how high. I’ll do just fine by me and mine. I have for an awful lot of days now and expect I will continue to.
“Alcoholism is a malady; that something is dead wrong with us physically; that our reaction to alcohol has changed; that something has been very wrong with us emotionally; that our alcoholic habit has become an obsession, a obsession which can no longer reckon even with death itself. Once firmly set, one is not able to turn it aside. In other words, a sort of allergy of the body which guarantees that we shall die if we drink, an obsession of the mind which guarantees that we shall go on drinking. Such has been the alcoholic dilemma time out of mind, and it is altogether probable that even of those alcoholics who did not wish to go on drinking, not more than five out of one hundred have ever been able to stop before A.A.” Bill Wilson (Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies, June 1945).
“I know you mean well. May our Lord be with you.”
No worry there. We’re good.
Why is there a danger in a “cure” pill?
“When the doctor has shown the alcoholic the underlying difficulties and has prescribed a program of readjustment, he says to him, “Now that you understand what is required for recovery, you should no longer depend on me. You must depend on yourself. You go do it.”
Clearly, then, the objective of the doctor is to make the patient self-sufficient and largely, if not wholly, dependent upon himself.
Religion does not attempt this. It says that faith in self is not enough, even for a non-alcoholic. The clergyman says that we shall have to find and depend upon a Higher Power - God. He advises prayer and frankly recommends an attitude of unwavering reliance upon Him who presides over all. By this means we discover strength much beyond our own resources.
So, the main difference seems to add up to this: Medicine says, know yourself, be strong and you will be able to face life. Religion says, know thyself, ask God for power, and you will become truly free.
In Alcoholics Anonymous the new person may try either method. He sometimes eliminates “the spiritual angle” from the Twelve Steps to recovery and wholly relies upon honesty, tolerance and working with others. But it is interesting to note that faith always comes to those who try this simple approach with an open mind - and in the meantime they stay sober.
If, however, the spiritual content of the Twelve Steps is actively denied, they can seldom remain dry. That is our A.A. experience. We stress the spiritual simply because thousands of us have found we can’t do without it.” Bill Wilson (N.Y. State 3. Med., Vol. 44, Aug. 15, 1944)
I’d be happy to, but it’s a high-volume (as in a little crazy busy) mostly political ping list, not about addiction recovery.
Getting drunk and doing stupid stuff and being an alcoholic are 2 entirely different things. It’s hard to imagine such abject ignorance in 2015.
And the answer to your question is yes, the person is still an alcoholic. A sober one, but an alcoholic nonetheless.
Yeah, doing stupid stuff, like not reading a thread all the way through to understand it.
Yeah, doing stupid stuff, like not reading a thread all the way through to understand it.
<><><><
Nice try, but no, nothing stupid about what I posted, having read the entire thread.
I get it, you’ve been there. The abject ignorance is your opining that it’s a one size fits all solution. And your way of thinking about the issue is the only way.
See the difference?
No. I don’t. You don’t cure a mental and spiritual problem with a pill. Good luck in your brave new world. Abject ignorance in my opining. Swallow a thesaurus this morning?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.