Scientists in Brazil are developing the first vaccine that could help break cocaine addiction::The vaccine is designed to help produce anti-cocaine antibodies in the body of a person who is chemically dependent on the substance.
Scientists in Brazil are developing the first vaccine that could help break cocaine addiction::The vaccine is designed to help produce anti-cocaine antibodies in the body of a person who is chemically dependent on the substance.
It sounds like this treatment would need close supervision as it appears to only remove the effects of cocaine but not the desire of the effect of cocaine. From the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“cocaine acts by binding to the dopamine transporter, blocking the removal of dopamine from the synapse. Dopamine then accumulates in the synapse to produce an amplified signal to the receiving neurons. This is what causes the euphoria commonly experienced immediately after taking the drug”
Would people not just chase the equivalent effect from another drug or substance or potentially overdose trying? Do people go through full withdrawal with this treatment? I would presume so.
There’s a similar therapy used sometimes with alcoholics – although in that case, the drug (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disulfiram) doesn’t just block the effects of intoxication, it makes the experience intensely miserable (sometimes even to the point of being life-threatening).
Disulfiram can be quite successful when used correctly, but the success of the treatment largely depends on the patient’s willingness to continue the therapy. I imagine the same will apply with this vaccine.
There are two less extreme medications for alcohol abuse prevention. Naltrexone -also used for opiate cravings, and Campril. Naltrexone also blocks effects of alcohol without making you violently ill, but speaking from experience, enough alcohol can overcome the effect.
I can’t speak to Campril much because it gave me horrible side effects and I had to stop taking it pretty much immediately.
IIRC one of the anti-opiate medicines does the same thing. Any time you consume opiates you get ridiculously sick to the point where it’s just not worth it.
Naltrexone ftw!
This has actually been tried before in a number of different ways, with horrific results because of what your comment addresses.
There was a Soviet drug that would make people violently ill if they drank alcohol. There was a drug from Brazil that would make people ill for cocaine or opiates. Another more recent one from Mexico worked like a Beta Blocker for Cortisol.
You just can’t stop the human body from doing what it is instinctively built to do. You certainly can’t make an addict take a pill every day to stop the reaction.
I’ve been doing that for a decade now at least. (Taking a pill that is).
You have to want to be sober though. I could get a slight buzz from opiates these days if I tried hard enough. It might make me sick, but if it don’t it would only last for about 15 minutes and then I’d have a headache all day after spending 300 bucks to get there.
I’d say fentanyl has made that a little more complicated. It wasn’t easy to acquire when I quit. I only ever heard of the patches.
I’m proud of you! I’ve known too many people that succumbed to opiates (two cousins on opposite sides of the family, three former roommates at different times, a girlfriend, her friend. “Luckily” only one of them died (permanently, my cousin apparently died but they were able to bring him back).
I fucked around with opiates a lot in college (due to the aforementioned people I lived with and knew) but luckily never got into long term addiction, my body is apparently odd and withdrawal symptoms would kick in the next day if I did more than about 22 mg or so of oxycodone (sounds like an odd number, but it’s about 3/4 of a 30 mg Roxicet), anything less than that and I was fine. I woke up feeling like absolute ass one day and asked my gf (more like an unofficial girlfriend, good friends and fuck buddies) if she had some I could take to test a theory (that I was going through withdrawal), she said she would give me like 5 mg. I snorted that and the shittiness was gone immediately. I immediately was like “well this isn’t good…” but at least I knew what opiate withdrawal felt like… and it’s absolutely fucking miserable. I dealt with it for like a day or so, I can’t imagine being like that for days or weeks on end, after that experience it’s completely obvious why people relapse. I hadnt touched them in about a decade until I had hernia surgery and luckily this isn’t going the way you think it is. I knew my limits (about 12-15 mg to get that nice, warm, buzz and itchy goodness) so I popped three percs… And then felt like shit and puked my guts up, which is exactly what I wanted to do after having a doctor make a 4 inch incision in my lower abdomen. I ended up taking one or two if I really needed it, but it turned out most of the pain was caused by the bandage, and not the surgery itself! Last month I had a nasty case of bronchitis, cough medicine wouldn’t do shit. My mom found percs my dad had from surgery years ago so I started taking them for the cough, which worked wonders. I also enjoyed the high, but once they were gone, I had no urge to do more, which was wonderful.
Just like you said, you have to want to get help otherwise it’s futile. It’s the same with mental health. If you’re being forced into it, you’re not going to put your “all” into it.
I’m assuming you were doing pills because $300 on heroin is a lot of dope. We could get a bundle for like $50-75. 30 mg Roxys were like $25 a pill though.
Yeah the addiction is to dopamine, cocaine is just an easy way to get that fix. Gambling and other lesser addictions give the same dopamine fix, but then there are good addictions that provide the same dopamine hit. None of them are as immediate and as powerful as the old nose candy though (aside from amphetamines).
Some people are hardwired to “love dopamine” more than others (so called “addictive personalities”), so it’s all about replacing a bad addiction with a good one. I have ADHD and it went untreated for nearly 4 decades, I was always the one out of my group of friends that could be like “nah, I’ve had enough coke tonight, my sinuses are on fire and I’m not getting anything more out of it, I’m just wasting money at this point” meanwhile my friends are always like “YOU WANNA DO/GET MORE?!?” 😳 I still get high from it, but I can apparently control myself a lot better than other people.