Reason Alcoholics are Alcoholics (so they say)

[powerup]

I'm an alcoholic because I drank too much, not because of how my body processed alcohol.

Not only that i loved it and cocaine and xnax and valium. I dont buy into this shit that i became an alcohoilic cause my grandfater was an alcoholic. or the way my body breaks it down. I was at my first AA meeting in 1986 and chose to continue this lifestyle til Oct 7th 2007 ..Its udder Bullshit i made the choice to drink and drug not my grandfather, believe what u want but i dont buy into any of this shit

 

[SKY_COWBOY]

Not only that i loved it and cocaine and xnax and valium. I dont buy into this shit that i became an alcohoilic cause my grandfater was an alcoholic. or the way my body breaks it down. I was at my first AA meeting in 1986 and chose to continue this lifestyle til Oct 7th 2007 ..Its udder Bullshit i made the choice to drink and drug not my grandfather, believe what u want but i dont buy into any of this shit

i agreee...and nobody in my family has been or is an addict...except for myself

 

[powerup]

I'm an alcoholic because I drank too much, not because of how my body processed alcohol.

i agreee...and nobody in my family has been or is an addict...except for myself

LOL, they say there is some merit to it being heriditary but i made all the wrong decisions, not my relatives...lol Lots of peole believe its heriditary, im just not one of em

 

[bRIAN617]

here is the pic of the paper i received...i know it's a big pic, but i didn't know how to shrink it....

That's old misinformation. It doesn't have to do with acetaldehyde or TIQ. It has to do with regulating neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens. An addicted brain has more receptors and links in the nucleus accumbens than a normal person. But they have less of certain transmitters (the transmitter affected determines drug of choice). The drug balances the receptors and transmitters by promoting transmitter release to satisify receptor sites. Dendrites form pathways within the limbic system and frontal cortex that reinforce behavior to satisfy the needed release. The nucleus accumbens is deep in the limbic system, a relic of a reptilian brain. The pathways are outwards, not inwards. It controls and can't be directly controlled. In recovery we indirectly begin to satisify the nucleus accumbens through behavior and stress reduction. We try to create an internal environment that quiets and satisfies it. As months and years pass, the controlling dendrites atrophy and connections lesson. Receptor sites lessen in number, while releasing capabilities of neurotransmitters recovers from the intense drug induced flooding, allowing the nucleus accumbens to be satisfied in a natural state. Frontal cortex thinking becomes less controlled and sanity begins to be restored. Prior to that, we simply drink because we have to.... just as someone has to eat or sleep.

 

[renewlyf]

That's old misinformation. It doesn't have to do with acetaldehyde or TIQ. It has to do with regulating neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens. An addicted brain has more receptors and links in the nucleus accumbens than a normal person. But they have less of certain transmitters (the transmitter affected determines drug of choice). The drug balances the receptors and transmitters by promoting transmitter release to satisify receptor sites. Dendrites form pathways within the limbic system and frontal cortex that reinforce behavior to satisfy the needed release. The nucleus accumbens is deep in the limbic system, a relic of a reptilian brain. The pathways are outwards, not inwards. It controls and can't be directly controlled. In recovery we indirectly begin to satisify the nucleus accumbens through behavior and stress reduction. We try to create an internal environment that quiets and satisfies it. As months and years pass, the controlling dendrites atrophy and connections lesson. Receptor sites lessen in number, while releasing capabilities of neurotransmitters recovers from the intense drug induced flooding, allowing the nucleus accumbens to be satisfied in a natural state. Frontal cortex thinking becomes less controlled and sanity begins to be restored. Prior to that, we simply drink because we have to.... just as someone has to eat or sleep.

Wow thats some information I havent heard before. Id like to read more about this please share more. -
Thanks

 

[laxfan24]

My alcoholism has many different symptoms that go WAY beyond my drinking. I am an alcoholic because I have lost the ability to control my drinking. I could go out and come home that night after 3 drinks on one occassion, then the next time I would go out and drink for 5 days straight. I think there are many components to alcoholism spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional. Like many, I identified with "The Doctors Opinion" when I first read it.

 

[bRIAN617]

Wow thats some information I havent heard before. Id like to read more about this please share more. -
Thanks

That whole picture was painted by a psychiatrist speaking at Talbot in Atlanta, and a presentation by an exucutive with Bradford in Birmingham. The final result of the addictive drug is extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (these studies can be googled and found on National Center for Biotechnology Information). There's an upregulation of dopamine receptors. The drug of choice either directly releases dopamine (opiates) or does so through extra release of another transmitter. I don't remember which drug upregulates which transmitter, but there's several. The proliferation of of dendrites and receptors as addiction progresses are from different studies, and their subsequent decline in recovery are from even more. The HBO addiction and the addiction supplement series does a good job of putting it together, but nothing like these professional speakers. I'd say using a torrent search to find the HBO addiction series would be a good start. I don't know that they are all out there though.

 

[bRIAN617]

I left out that in the limbic system, there's what's called the "pleasure pathway" or the mesolimbic pathway which reponds to drugs in various ways to create the final release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. The following link explains quite a bit:

**broken link removed**

Note that this theory has much more supporting evidence now that 7 years have passed, and functional real time PET scans of the brain are available to researchers.

 

[renewlyf]

I left out that in the limbic system, there's what's called the "pleasure pathway" or the mesolimbic pathway which reponds to drugs in various ways to create the final release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. The following link explains quite a bit:

**broken link removed**

Note that this theory has much more supporting evidence now that 7 years have passed, and functional real time PET scans of the brain are available to researchers.

Thanks!

I printed that out. Now I have something to read while doing cardio tomorrow :headbang:

 

[richiec]

Not only that i loved it and cocaine and xnax and valium. I dont buy into this shit that i became an alcohoilic cause my grandfater was an alcoholic. or the way my body breaks it down. I was at my first AA meeting in 1986 and chose to continue this lifestyle til Oct 7th 2007 ..Its udder Bullshit i made the choice to drink and drug not my grandfather, believe what u want but i dont buy into any of this shit

You don't have to "buy it", the fact is that people from alcoholic/addict backgrounds (grandfather, father etc) have a higher chance of being an addict/alcoholic. My father just celebrated 22 yrs last week. I NEVER once saw him drink anything. Lo and behold, here I am an alcoholic/addict and so is my sister. But hey, coincdence right? You can try all you want to deny it, but the numbers don't lie. I don't "blame" my grand parents for "passing" it on, I am responsible for myself. I didn't have to pick up a drink or drug, but I did. I think some peple use the "it's in my genes" as an excuse. But it is passed through our genes

 

[richiec]

i agreee...and nobody in my family has been or is an addict...except for myself

Are you sure about that? How many people have you seen with a drug or alcohol problem that will NEVER admit to it? Just like a person who gambles away ALL their money who sits right in front of my face and says he doesn't have a gambling problem!

 

[bRIAN617]

You don't have to "buy it", the fact is that people from alcoholic/addict backgrounds (grandfather, father etc) have a higher chance of being an addict/alcoholic. My father just celebrated 22 yrs last week. I NEVER once saw him drink anything. Lo and behold, here I am an alcoholic/addict and so is my sister. But hey, coincdence right? You can try all you want to deny it, but the numbers don't lie. I don't "blame" my grand parents for "passing" it on, I am responsible for myself. I didn't have to pick up a drink or drug, but I did. I think some peple use the "it's in my genes" as an excuse. But it is passed through our genes

There has been a failure to identify an "addiction gene." With that being said, most addiction professionals agree that some people are "genetically predisposed." What this would mean practically is that most people may drink at say age 14 for the first time, and feel maybe a little warm, woozy, sexy, and talkative. A little too much and they feel out of control and stop. A predisposed person may normally feel anxious, restless, discontent, apart from, less than, etc. Upon drinking the first drink they may suddenly feel part of, with purpose, absolutely certain everyone is happy he's there, and overall "fixed." This person will probably immediately drink to excess followed by increasingly frequent episodes. Someone that reacts this way to alcohol usually has a family history of alcoholism and basically is screwed from the get go. This includes about 1 out of 10 people. Many other addicts/alcoholics can become addicted from repeated overexposure, but did not have that immediate "fixed" sensation or instinctual need to get more.