Maybe it's because some people already feel as good as they are gonna get?  Me, I have the gene, the predisposition to become addicted...Maybe it's a God thing?  Einstein once said, "God does not play dice with the cosmos."  I for one believe that.

Yes, that's what I was wondering...if these people who don't feel the euphoria are already as happy as they can be, in general, and maybe those of us who do experience it have never truly felt happy, or "normal"...Thanks for posting back to me!! Even though I am clean since Dec, and love life and am generally happy and energetic now, I KNOW that if I took a Vicodin today I would feel the euphoria, so then I start to wonder if even though I am so happy now, could I be even happier?? Do you know what I mean, or am I rambling?

I believe that a derth of neurotransmitters is exactly why most addicts become addicts.  They suffer from a sever shortage in the very "feel good" NT's that make most of humanity feel good on a regular basis w/o adding a mood altering substance to their brain.

I know that the first time I had any quantity of opiates I just ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT.  It was like "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!?!"  And for some time after I started doing opiates on a regular basis, I think I was in fact "better" in most every regard.  For the first time ever, life was something that I enjoyed and fely connected to instead of being a n-e-v-e-r  e-n-d-i-n-g string of moments that I had to just suffer through, one after the other . . . .

Of course that "better" aspect of my use didn't last too long.  All to soon ever thing was generally worse, but I had to keep using (more and more) so that things didn't get way worse.

The place I went to rehab was really big in what is now a fast growing trend in treating addiction - amino acid therapy.  Aminos are the building blocks of NT's and without aminos in sufficient quantities, the necessary NT's just ain't gonna be there.  Part of the theory is that most addict (including those future addicts who just haven't gotten addicted yet) don't have the ability to get the necessary aminos from a normal diet, as do most "normal people."  Thus, to get/keep their NT's where they should be they need to take various amino supps, depending on what they are deficient in.

Some good books that help with this are: "End Your Addiction Now," by Charles Gant; "Seven Weeks to Sobriety," by Joan Mathews Larsen; and "The Mood Cure," by Julia Ross.

First of all, I can't believe how accurately you described EXACTLY how I felt the first time I tried painkillers. Seriously. I had never been so happy in my life!!!
Would you mind elaborating on the amino acid thing? Meaning, can I take them like vitamins, and what kind, and how much??

Still, my wife is a "normie" and she doesn't feel the urge to sitdona with the phone book and call people telling them how wonderful they are...

Maybe they don't know what they are feeling yet?
I tried vicodin a few times before i got addicted. Tell you truth-didn't feel much either. But I need multiple fractures in my spine, having a exploratory laparotomy, and being really banged up-> flew out of a moving car ..all this at once. And then after 3 days in the hospital they decided to move me down to psych. ward. After 1 hour i said i am outta here. No cloth, just a hospital gown. The horse found me some pants and a shirt and I was out. City was snowed in I found a cab , no money but knew i had $300.00 in drawer. Oh, and a prescription for vicodin and soma. Got home. Mom went to pharmacy got home---> i was hooked. 1 hour later I am calling strippers at the strip club to tell them what happened. I felt withdrawal symptoms 2 weeks later, and this is like the first time i have ever taken vicodin for so long.
I think that your husband does feel it. Maybe he does not know how to express it or what to say. He know's how you were when you were on them so maybe he is trying to show something. I don't know??just a thought--> don't be mad at me.

can you tell us about the amino acids you are taking about?? think it might help us?

Do all drugs - cocaine - alcohol -opiates- cannibus - benzo's - phenobarbs-and others act  the same neurotransmitters?