Tolerance and Physical dependance of opiates

Question 1

which effects do tolerance occur more frequently in and which effects do they occur less frequently (slower) in

Answer 1

• most frequently: euphoria, analgesia, respiratory depression
• less frequently: constipating effects or the effects on pupil restriction
• • Pavlovian conditioning plays a huge role in the display of tolerance and opiates
• situational specificity of tolerance to the analgesic effects of morphine
• CR of increased sensitivity to pain has been shown in placebo CR tests
• loss of tolerance to morphine has been shown largely dependant on the use of extinction trials rather than not administering morphine for a period of time

Question 2

Dr. Shepard Siegal

Answer 2

• basically performed a test on rats that were administered heroin and rats that were and they were dependant on drug cue
• in the last part of the test all the rats were given an “overdose” and what they found were that the rats in the control group died from the lethal dose, rats WITH the drug cues didn’t die and rats WITHOUT the drug cues died
• • this reinforced the importance of Pavlovian conditioning
• • removing the pre-drug cues removed the tolerance of the drug

Question 3

Physical Dependance

Answer 3

• occurs as there are withdrawal symptoms of not taking the drug
• amount of time and dosing needed for physical dependence depends on many factors
• opiate withdrawal symptoms resemble flu-like symptoms which start with a craving that can happen 4-6hrs after the last administration and then other symptoms peak 24-72 hrs after and last for 7-10days
• opposite of what the opiates do: widen pupils, lacrimation, intestinal spasm and diarrhoea etc.
• in order to terminate these symptoms, the user would take another hit of the drug which is NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
• medications are not opiates and are not intended as a direct treatment for opiate use disorder rather they are intended to mitigate the physiological challenges presented when patients discontinue opioids
• Clonidine (Catapres) and Lofexidine (Lucemyra) are 2 medications for reducing opiate withdrawal severity