Thanks for the support guys!
Here's something interesting to think about (stick with me, this is good)...
I'm spending way less time thinking about alcohol now, but I
do think about TSM alot. And I think about Naltrexone alot. And I've been interested in researching what to do on my day-after-Nal days - when my body should be busy making endorphins. What are some ways to take advantage of up-regulation to reinforce
not drinking anymore?
So I Googled endorphins and took a look at the
WikiPedia endorphin page. It had some good general info about endorphins, but what caught my attention was a link at the bottom of the article:
A genetic influence on alcohol addiction found - lack of endorphin.
Among other things, this article says:
Quote:
[Researchers] have shown that the lack of endorphin is hereditary, and thus that there is a genetic predisposition to become addicted to alcohol... According to José Rico Irles , professor of Medicine of the UGR, and head of the research group, this low beta-endorphin level determines whether someone may become an alcoholic. When a subjects' brain with low beta-endorphin levels gets used to the presence of an exogenous surplus, then, when its own production stops, a dependence starts on the external source: alcohol.
All this is right in line with TSM, no? Basically, some people are born producing fewer endorphins than is needed to maintain a sense of well-being. These people, if they find alcohol, are predisposed to become alcoholics because drinking releases endorphins that provide the person with the sense of well-being that they otherwise lack. This describes me to a "T" and also explains why, when on Naltrexone and TSM, I find it easy to "forget" about drinking.
Well, the part about having low endorphins sent my wheels spinning. If I really have come to abuse alcohol because of the endorphin rush, TSM may "cure" me of drinking, but doesn't that mean I still will suffer from low endorphins? What then? Is there any way to boost my ability to create endorphins so they aren't low in the first place?
Here's where it gets really interesting! I looked up exercise, meditation, hypnosis, binaural beats. All those things will help. But the one thing I didn't expect to find, was - da-da -
Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN)! LDN is a very small dose of Nal - 4.5mg - that is used to treat a variety of things - AIDS, MS, Cancer, and lots more.
Then I found this -
Low-dose naltrexone for disease prevention and quality of life. It says:
Quote:
There are solid reasons to believe LDN can also promote positive emotional states through the endogenous opioid amplification of positive affect and energy[52]. From a psychiatric perspective, the facilitation of endogenous opioids should alleviate depression since, to some degree, that multifaceted problem reflects reduced ability to experience pleasure. Evidence also exists for resilience against cardiovascular stress [54,55] and for specific enhancement of the reward system for exercise [56], palatable tastes [57,58], laughter [59,60], sex [61], social bonding [4,62]
So basically, you take 4.5mg of Nal every night before you go to bed, and when you wake up in the morning (4.5mg burns off in 6 hrs), you get a little endorphin boost!
So not only can Naltrexone help us quit drinking, it may in fact help us stay off alcohol by bosting our endorphin levels - the low-level of which was a primary reason for us to drink in the first place!WOW!
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
