In the absence of the Good Doctor, perhaps someone else is knowledgeable enough to take this on...

Just curious really. Before alcohol ever became a real problem, I was an opiate abuser (an everything abuser actually, but I had a pretty big off-and-on run with opiates and was a serious addict for some years)

My question is...

Since the tiny endorphin rush alcohol provides creates neurological pathways that reinforce drinking patterns, do you think it's possible that a history of opiate abuse could create 'super highways' that alcohol could easily follow? (I know a lot of people who got out of that scene and ended up as heavy drinkers REAL fast...)

Just curious

My understanding is that people who become addicted to one thing, are at higher risk of becoming addicted to another thing. Thus drug addicts are advised not to drink alcohol, and vice versa.

I've not been a drug addict but I did use recreationals often when I actually didn't enjoy them. My drinking was always worse if I combined it with drugs, plus during periods of abstenance if I used drugs(ampethamines or ecstacy) it would trigger a relapse. I therefore decided to cut out all mind altering drugs completely(which I did) and will never take anything like that again. This also includes medication such as benzos(valium et al) and opiod related painkillers. I was once prescribed a strong opoid based painkiller and within days was taking more and more, many times the stated doseage so I threw them into a bin I couldn't get them out of.

Now I use Naltrexone an opion painkiller is more of less off the cards which I see as not a bad thing.

Hi Sakura,

This is an excellent question but I don't have an answer unfortunately. I'm wondering if there's a big difference between Opiates (derived from opium) or Opioids (Narcotics) or does that even matter? Maybe all these drugs use the same neural pathways ? But does alcohol use the same ones too?

Curi