[iceman27]

Noone has ever explained to me exactly how opiates such as percocets make our brains feel so good. Can anyone explain this. I know they block receptors or something but can someone tell me what a percocet actually does to the brain?

[zippysgoddess]

I am not quite sute how to explain it, I do not remember all of the technical terms, but I am sure you could find out if you just do a search and look for the info, google usually provides great results.

They do react on Dopamine, which is something in the brain's pleasure centers, and opiates trigger the release of it.

They do not work that way for everyone. I don't get the euphoric high that others do, not even when I tried Oxycodone for my pain management for awhile.

verwon@gmail.com

My information is not guaranteed correct. I do not get them right all the time, but I do enjoy the hunt~

[mpvt]

When you take an opiate your liver metabolizes it into morphine this goes for every opiate.In your brain you have endorphins which are exact replications of morphine.These endorphin molecules fit into certain receptors.These receptors when activated makes us feel euphoria,kill pain,and even disphoria.So when you take lets say vicodin your body turns it into morphine which then attachs themselves to the opiate receptors in your brain and spine thereby flooding you with good feelings and pain killing.Not all people react this way,some people have the oppisite reaction and they hate opiates so go figure but that in a small way is what happens......Dave

[circa9870]

mpvt are you saying that every Opioid (meaning synthetic as well as natural opiates) are metabolized into morphine, if you are saying this than you are incorrect. The true opiates we use (codiene and morpine, as well as herion which may be considered an opioid too) are metabolized into morphine, but other than that morphine is not a main metabolite of any other painkiller. Only morphine, codiene and herion all cause morphine to present in the body. The rest of the painkillers have their own metabolization routes, with their own active metabolites (metabolites that are psychoactive). For instance, hydrocodone (vicodin) metabolizes into hydromorphone and a few other things (not morphine like you said), while oxycodone metabolizes into oxymorphone and a few other things. Both hydromorphone and oxymorphone are active metabolites (we use both of these as medicines on their own Dilaudid and Opana respectively). But every opioid has its own route to metabolize. There is a lot more to this, as well as to how opioids work, but it is extremely complex and after doing A LOT of reading I stil only have an elemtary grasp of it.

I hope that everybody has a pain-free day,
Circa