I thought the interesting title may prompt you to read this thread. This is an issue that is seldom brought up but is well documented in literature. I am talking about how, despite the intense euphoria of the opioid experience, the warmth and loving feeling, it is not the least bit funny. You do not laugh on opioids are crack a joke. You are stone cold serious. It is kind of counterintuitive and I thought it was just a personal quirk until i read in "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" and "Junkie" that the authors had the same effect from the drugs! When i read that I was very interested indeed as I thought it was just me. To me, it feels almost as though the opioid high is so "special" and almost sacred, that humor is "below" the opioid high. I know that sounds almost insane, but sometimes I really feel like that is the explanation on a subconscious level! It is as if I am experiencing such an other-worldly sense of contentment and enlightenment (obviously not all opioid users get such feelings as I well know) that such a worldly thing like laughter is not "natural". I don't know. I am very inebriated on Suboxone and Vyvanse (an amphetamine) right now, and I felt the utter NEED to make this topic for some odd reason. Please reply with your thoughts! Have a great late Autumn day.
Hmm, I never thought about that. Opioids(ates) definitely make me more social and talkative. But I never thought about how they affected my sense of humor. I can't remember ever telling a joke on one, and that's about all I can say. BTW, what's your opinion of Junky? I'm currently reading it for the second time, after "dabbling" in H (haven't fuck with it in 8 months). I definitely like it more, but it's incredible the differences between it and naked lunch. When I first read Junky I was very opiate naive and had only done vics or percs a couple times.
I think that's simply because those receptors are not associated with good cheer, they're just there to counteract pain in concert with endogenous opioids. Passing the pain counter-acting level just gives you the opposite of pain, but the whole thing is rather shallow as far as experiences go I think, it's just the opposite of pain, nothing more or less.
It is a bit more complex than just blocking pain. The opioid drugs also act by inhibiting the ability of GABA to inhibit dopamine flow in the midbrain areas of the Nucleus Accumbens and VTA. Thus dopamine flows more freely there. This is very different than the pain relief and is technically why euphoria is considered a 'side effect' since it is a different mechanism. But this mechanism is responsible for extreme heightening in mood, not just a flat affect. It isn't as euphoric as, say, amphetamine, but it certainly is more than just pain relief. Interestingly, Cannabis shares this exact mechanism and its minor to moderate euphoria is also due to this mechanism. You are probably right that the drug simply doesn't touch any neuro-stuff involved in humor. I would speculate (and I may be wrong) that humor has more to do with serotonin and GABA since serotonin modulates sociality and anxiety/stress and GABA slows down the brain's transmission, allowing a person to 'loosen up' so to speak, which both things together would promote humor. My guess is that drugs like MDMA would promote humor (serotonin releaser and oxytocin dis-inhibitor via 5-HT1A) and Cannabis' classic laughing fits are from the slowing down of brain transmission via the complex GABA-Acetylcholine interaction that would take a page of paper to describe correctly.
Vyvanse is just dextroamphetamine (the 'better' optical isomer of the amphetamine molecule) which is attached to Lysine so that it must go through the stomach to get 'unlocked'. The reason for this is so that it cannot be snorted or injected. But it is just as euphoric as oral Dextroamphetamine. In my opinion, it is the best actual MEDICINE for mental illness where stimulants are called for-- better than Ritalin and Adderall. I experience quite strong and sometimes even over-powering euphoria on the drug, so even though it cannot be snorted or whatever, it still packs a heck of a punch.
definitely disagree. sometimes, when im opiated just nice enough on something strong enough, i start cracking the grittiest jokes my friends have ever heard. like, i dont ever make jokes darker than ones on opiates. ones about munging world war 2 veterans and starting the south bronx fat burger bitches pornsites. yea, i know. sounds horrific.
Well, it's not like those authors were necessarily proud about their drug usage; I think to put much humor into their work would've rather spoiled the messages they were conveying.
I don't think they were PROUD, but in both books, the authors clearly glorified the opioid high, even if they didn't intend to. They never cease to through in a positive descriptive adjective when they describe the actual HIGH of opioids. Now, in describing the associated culture of opioid addiction, they spare no words in telling how nasty it is.
Im not crazy about Burroughs, but De Quincey was a pioneer and his Confessions is a fantastic book. However, I do not think there is anything profound here, although surely you are approaching some profound implications, which is only natural as you are obviously sensitive to spirit. I've always assumed that the drain on ones humur is associated with both the sedating effects of opiates and their tendency to irritate, essentially they cause a poor humor, and while they can bring about a euphoric state, they do not bring about an ecstatic state, that is of their own volition. It takes effort for this to happen, and it diminishes in intensity rapidly.
Also, psychedelic drugs (all of them) are very *serious* to me, while to many they suggest hilarity; I think this is a matter of how much is being taken..
