Opioids are pain-relieving medications that are oftentimes prescribed by medical professionals, but can be misused, overused, or taken in bulk, which may result in addiction or even death. Individuals who are recovering from an opioid addiction are highly susceptible to relapse when feeling strong, stressful emotions especially during the withdrawal period and times where coping mechanisms must be implemented. Factors such as: social support, level of stress, and coping skills all play an important role in the individual and their ability to navigate avoiding a relapse.
The sympathetic nervous system is where our fight or flight response is created and sent out throughout the body. After the amygdala sends a stress signal, adrenaline is sent out through the bloodstream, basically alerting the body to react in panic mode. These panic signals manifest physically in ways such as: elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, high blood pressure, and sweaty glands. Stress can be motivating at times and in small doses, but with too much stress in our lives, it can take a grand toll on our bodies and minds.
Stress can appear often if we’re not watching out for it, which is why it’s important to take steps to reduce stress at home so it doesn’t compound in addition to everything else we’re dealing with on a daily basis.
Stress can be acute and appear every once in a while, for example when we are preparing for a big meeting, have an interview, or start school. Stress can also be chronic, where we are burdened by these feelings consistently, which can result in serious health concerns like heart problems, high blood pressure, and lack of sleep. Stress can also be compounded by our reaction to and state after taking prescription drugs and opioids.
Both stress and opioids reconfigure the wiring of the brain and how we respond to things, which can leave us more likely to be influenced negatively by outside stress triggers. Also, individuals who experience an extreme amount of stress have a higher likelihood of developing a drug addiction or relapsing if there was a previous addiction.
Through animal studies, researchers have found that with even one experience with drugs, the brain produced a long-term potentiation (LTP) response.
An LTP is located in cells that are responsible for learning and memory, where your brain acknowledges and processes experiences and uses these experiences to form future reactions to things. In just one addictive drug exposure, the animals’ LTP in their cell was activated. The next time the cells are exposed to the same stimuli, the reaction of expelling dopamine, the chemical in the body that ignites pleasure, will be even stronger. This reaction is what builds a tolerance to an addictive drug and makes it harder to feel the same euphoria after the same dosage, forcing individuals to continually ingest more of the drug.
For those individuals who are looking to use prescription drugs and opioids to alleviate their chronic pain and other painful conditions, the constant use of opioids and their effectiveness will decline over time. This means that users constantly search for that pleasure feeling they get and increasingly find less and less of it over time.
This research has also connected the dots between stress and drug use because they found that stress can also change how these dopamine-releasing cells work, which may heighten the risk of someone who experiences a high level of stress to resort to drug use to encourage their dopamine levels to rise.
Due to the high rate of addiction and misuse after taking opioids even with a prescription, it’s crucial to be aware of what our medical professionals are prescribing and what we are willingly ingesting. These medications have a positive role of blocking pain receptors in the brain post-injury. It’s important to weigh the costs versus the benefits when it comes to opioids and consider alternate options before quickly resorting to these highly-addictive drugs.
For individuals who are looking to alleviate their pain after an injury or post-surgery, qualified healthcare professionals should also educate and present other options for patients who are looking to opt-out or choose other treatment methods and rehabilitation programs. Physical Therapy is a great alternative treatment option for individuals who are looking to alleviate their pain and improve their function over time.
