The Main Effects of Heroin and Alcohol on Brain Activity - Essay Example

The present paper is devoted to the of the physical effects of two drugs which are the most widely spread in the world – heroin and alcohol. At the same time, they are supposed the most harmful and addictive, as well as destructive in their influence as neurotransmitters. The task of the work is to describe the symptoms and effects of these two substances and evaluate these effects, together with making comparison between their physical and neurotic effects. The Main Effects of Heroin and Alcohol on Brain Activity and Neurotransmitters Heroin The anesthetic effect of heroin is supposed to be its main peculiarity in medicine. It is four times stronger, than morphine. But the feeling, to which drug addicts strive, is just a side effect for medicine. This ‘side effect’ is displayed through better mood – euphoria, accompanied by the feeling of indifference to the environment, drowsiness, feeling of warmth, heaviness and relaxation in body and extremities. ‘Heroin – is the warmth, sweet warmth, which seems to be growing out of your body. At first it seems you are pregnant with this warmth, it is like a tender life under your skin, and this ‘live warmth’ fills your body with heaviness, the wish to move disappears together with all other wishes, the only wish is to lay and listen to this warmth…’ (Carnwath 2002, p. 23) Fast and powerful effect of heroin on the nervous system is connected with the fact that it penetrates to it easier, than other drugs do. The thing is, that nature has created a special barrier for the protection of the main human organ – brain, and this barrier allows far not all substances to reach the nervous cells (in medicine this barrier is called ‘blood-brain barrier’). The structure of heroin’s molecule allows it to easily penetrate though this blood-brain barrier and quickly accumulate in brain. As soon as heroin appears in the brain, it as if ‘throws down’ its capsule and turns into morphine. It appears that the main difference of heroin from morphine is in its transport capsule, which allows it to instantly penetrate into the nervous system, causing the abundance of electromagnetic impulses. (Carnwath 2002, p. 49) The one more peculiarity of heroin lies in the fact that it does not cause any separate disease, but leads to the total emaciation – the aging of the nervous system, and thus of the whole organism. The thing is that some parts of heroin’s molecules are similar to those of natural substances, produced by the nervous system – the so-called endorphins. In the normally working brain such substances work as delicate regulators of emotional and intellectual human activity. The content of these substances in the drug is much higher, than the nervous system needs for normal activity. And the main thing is that it is much easier to get these substances from the drug, than to produce them. The use of heroin moves the brain to another higher ‘tension’, which is not peculiar to it in its normal state. (Carnwath 2002, p. 51) The heroin intoxication, or ‘high’, from the viewpoint of the nervous system’ electromagnetic activity is the wild chaos of different tensions, in which senseless and incomprehensible stimulation of all kinds of nervous activity replaces the normal flow of nervous impulses. Such excessive stimulation leads to the untimely death of nervous cells. (Daily Record 1997, p. 8) Of course, the brain must protect itself from such strikes. The wave of relaxation appears as the opposition to previous tension. This wave of powerful unnatural relaxation of the nervous system is called ‘the high’. The struggle of chaotic excitation and protective inhibition causes the so-called stupefaction of the nervous system. It is ‘turned off’ and stops perceiving and processing the signals from the outer world, being concentrated on the inner feelings. It is also necessary to understand other effects of heroin on the organism. It is accumulated in all parts of the body as fast, as it is accumulated in the brain, causing gradual poisoning, which has its peculiar symptoms. The person, who has tried heroin for the first time, often goes through acute ailment, with vomiting and strong headache. Those, who take heroin from time to time, often complain at having stomach abnormalities, muscle convulsions and the appetite’s loss. (Carnwath 2002, p. 62) All drug addicts have problems with their immune system – they catch cold more often than normal people do, which can also be said about many other infections. The intake of heroin in any quantity causes the body’s temperature decrease, breath hold-up and problems with heart rhythm. (Carnwath 2002, p. 91) Alcohol Alcohol penetrates to the blood from the stomach in two minutes after is has been taken. Blood carries it to all body cells. The first to suffer are the cells of the bigger brain’s hemispheres. The conditioned reflex activity of the individual is worsened and the forming of complex moves becomes slower. The ratio of excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system is changed. The individual’s ability to control his actions and behaviour is lost. The penetration of alcohol to the cells of the brain’s frontal lobe liberates individual’s emotions; there appears unsupported joy, silly laughter and lightness of statements. These processes, together with the strengthening excitation in the big hemispheres’ cortex, are followed by the sharp weakening of inhibition’ processes. The cortex is prevented from controlling the work of the lower brain’s portions, thus the person does and says the things, which he (or she) would never say or do, being sober. (Daily Record 1997, p. 8) Each additional portion of alcohol paralyses the higher nervous centers more and more, as if binding them and not allowing them to interfere with the activity of the lower brain’s portions: the motion coordination is broken. The breaks in the nervous system’ activities are observed under any alcohol intake: non-permanent, episodic or systematic. (Daily Record 1997, p. 8) It is well-known, that the effects of alcohol on the nervous system are directly connected with its concentration in blood. When the alcohol content in blood equals to 0.04-0.05 percent, the brain’s cortex is ‘turned off’, the individual loses his control together with the ability to talk reasonably. Under the 0.1 percent’ concentration the deeper brain’s portions, which control movements and walk, are being inhibited. The individual’s moves become uncertain and are accompanied by the unsupported joy, animation and fussiness. But 15 percent of people are influenced by alcohol in the opposite way – alcohol makes them sleepy and sad. Many psychoactive drugs are chemically similar to the neurotransmitters – the substances, which are produced by nerve-endings under any kind of stimulation. Neurotransmitters interact with receptors – sensory nerve-endings, which can take impulses and react at them. Serotonin and endorphins are usually related to neurotransmitters. They control human mood, emotions, and hormonal function, together with suppressing pain. (Daily Record 1997, p. 8) It is supposed, that psychoactive drugs strengthen the effect of these natural neurotransmitters, causing the heightened reaction from the receptors (“the high”). Then the response becomes the reason of the decrease in transmitter’s production. If the drug is taken for a long period of time, the production of the transmitter is inhibited; thus to achieve the same ‘high’, more and more drug is necessary to be taken. The canceling of the drug leads to unpleasant physical consequences, because the production of the natural neurotransmitter is recovered only in several days, and during this time the organism must live without both the drug and the neurotransmitter. Alcohol slows down the blood circulation in the brain’s vessels, leading to the constant hypoxia of its cells, and causing the memory weakening and slow psychic degradation. Alcohol destroys connections between nervous cells of the brain, producing the need to take alcohol, and later alcohol addiction. The destruction of brain’s cells often leads to pneumonia and different psychic diseases. ‘An alcoholic can suffer withdrawal symptoms called delirium tremens, where the user hallucinates, suffers the shake, temperatures, sickness, weak pulse and complete loss of appetite. Alcoholics in this state are prone to life-threatening pneumonia. Alcohol abuse can lead to peripheral neuropathy - where the nervous system serving the arms and legs is damaged, leading to loss of feeling in the limbs.’ (Daily Record 1997, p. 8) Conclusion All drugs, including alcohol and heroin, act as a kind of neurotransmitters for the human brain, though their specific effects are somewhat different. The basic understanding of how alcohol and heroin act, lies in the fact, that they are similar to the natural substances, produced by human brain, and making an individual happy or sad, active or passive, etc. Heroin penetrates into the human brain in some kind of a capsule, which makes the penetration easy. First, it causes the excitation of the brain and the whole activity of human organism, but it is always followed by relaxation, which drug addicts call ‘the high’ and which at the same time serves as the protective function of the brain. At the same time, the core influence of alcohol for the human brain lies in its inhibiting the lower brain portions, breaking their connection with the higher portions, which leads to the situation, when the individual absolutely loses control over his body, his actions and his movements. The main effect of both alcohol and heroin is that they bring the feeling of euphoria, and this is the main feature of any drug, that makes the individual take it more and more, becoming addictive to it. The main mechanism of addiction is explained by the process of replacing the natural neurotransmitters by the artificial ones, contained in drugs, thus organism needs more and more drug to support the normal quantity of serotonin and endorphins in it. Both addictions are very difficult to fight with, as the canceling of any drug leads to the lack of neurotransmitters in the human organism, the production of which needs several days for recovering. Though there is much differences and similarities in the way these two drugs influence human body, the main fact should be remembered, that the addiction to these drugs is developed very quickly, but the process of breaking the habit may take months. Works cited (1) Carnwath, Tom. 2002, Heroin Century, Routledge, London. (2) Newspaper article. 1997, ‘What drugs do to you’, Daily Record, 22 Oct., p. 8 Read More