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The terms 'opioid' and 'opiate' are sometimes used interchangeably, but the term 'opioid' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain. [4] Opiates are alkaloid compounds naturally found in the opium poppy plant Papaver somniferum. [5] [6]
[56] [78] As a result of downregulated signaling through these proteins, opiates cause VTA neuronal hyperexcitability and shrinkage (specifically, the size of the neuronal soma is reduced). [56] It has been shown that when an opiate-naive person begins using opiates in concentrations that induce euphoria, BDNF signaling increases in the VTA. [79]
Tolerance is the process by which the body continually adapts to the substance and requires increasingly larger amounts to achieve the original effects. Withdrawal refers to physical and psychological symptoms experienced when reducing or discontinuing a substance that the body has become dependent on.
“The brain may get OK with time in some persons. But it’s hard to find a person who has completely normal brain function after a long cycle of opiate addiction, not without specific medication treatment.” An abstinence-only treatment that may have a higher success rate for alcoholics simply fails opiate addicts.
Opiate overdose symptoms and signs can be referred to as the "opioid toxidrome triad": decreased level of consciousness, pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression. Other symptoms include seizures and muscle spasms. Sometimes an opiate overdose can lead to such a decreased level of consciousness such that the person will not wake up.
Non-medical use of fentanyl by individuals without opioid tolerance can be very dangerous and has resulted in numerous deaths. [166] Even those with opiate tolerances are at high risk for overdoses. Like all opioids, the effects of fentanyl can be reversed with naloxone, or other opiate antagonists. Naloxone is increasingly available to the public.
A toxidrome (a portmanteau of toxic and syndrome, coined in 1970 by Mofenson and Greensher [2]) is a syndrome caused by a dangerous level of toxins in the body. It is often the consequence of a drug overdose. Common symptoms include dizziness, disorientation, nausea, vomiting and oscillopsia.
Drug detoxification (informally, detox) is variously construed or interpreted as a type of "medical" intervention or technique in regards to a physical dependence mediated by a drug; as well as the process and experience of a withdrawal syndrome or any of the treatments for acute drug overdose (toxidrome).