hi

what are opiates?  have any of you taken butabital (barbituate).  Maybe i should be on a different chat?  But i love everyone's support.  Let me know if anyone has gone thru barbituate w/d.

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

Hi Roesemary - - Opiates strictly are the product of the opium poppy (papaver somniferum) and are obtained by slicing the flower pod and scraping off the oozing juice at the proper time. This first substance is raw opium. That raw opium may then be enhanced in a variety of ways. Probably the most famous is converting the opium into heroin. Interestingly enough the body (liver) metabolizes the heroin back into morphine to produce its affects.  

You are not on the wrong site - - its just that not many Docs have been prescribing barb's since the early 70's. They have generally been replaced as a class by the benzodiazpines. Probably the only one that is still used is that of the fiorcet - - the rest are relegated to the OR for general anathesia and such. They act upon the same receptors in the brain as alcohol does. And they produce similar affects. Prior to the introduction of sedative hypnotics such as ambien and benzos such as valium the barbs were prescribed for sleep quite frequently. And they produced huge amounts of problems.