Cocaine

Something interesting to note if you are thinking of trying coke or are doing it too much. Parkinson's disease is a degradation of the neurons that result in dopamine release in the brain. Cocaine works as an antagonist at dopamine reuptake receptors meaning that dopamine (the neurotransmitter that gives you the buzz) is trapped in the space between two neurons. Now, we give a drug called L-DOPA to Parkinson's patients and this crosses the blood brain barrier and is converted to dopamine once in the brain, this helps to raise dopamine levels in the brain. When tagged fluorescently, L-DOPA can be seen accumulating at the substantia nigra area in the brain and this shows up significantly in a normal person. With Parkinsons, there is a marked reduction in L-DOPA accumulation on a PET scan. I am talking about a SERIOUS reduction, there's hardly any there. I looked at a PET scan of a recovering cocaine addict, one year clean. His L-DOPA accumulation was on the same scale as a Parkinson's patient, meaning you will only be able to have normal feelings of enjoyment in life years after quitting if ever depending on the extent of your usage. To see this in an otherwise healthy person is shocking and it really highlights the reason this drug is so addictive, it becomes physiologically impossible to experience enjoyment without it. Try and not get into it!

[gizzy32]

i have seen these images before and the reduction is huge and one of the reasons this drug has such a high rate of relapses. this post is just about 100% accurate other than the fact you said it becomes impossible to experience enjoyment without it. at almost 7 months clean from coke i truly feel happy and still have many moments of euphoria without drugs, and i am happier than i have been in a long long time so nothing is impossible

[joann1975]

I am glad that you posted on here for others that may read these that you are happy and happier than you have been in a while. It seems like a lot of people have been down around here lately so it's good to know there is happiness after/during recovery!

london08 thanks for the info!

[london08]

yeah sorry to be so bleak, clearly recovery isn't going to be an eternal misery!

[gustaria]

what an awesome and valuable post