Post by Toasty on Oct 1, 2014 17:48:01 GMT
The way drugs function is, primarily, through enhancing or impeding the function of the receptors, the proteins that neurons use to detect and react to the flow of neurotransmitters. Each receptor produces a different perceptible effect in the body and mind. The way that scientists have classified them is, as far as I can tell, meaningless when it comes to what effect they cause. For example, 5-HT2A (the primary psychedelic receptor) causes completely different effects than 5-HT2C (which the immune system upregulates to make you feel flu symptoms (which are specifically lowered levels of dopamine and norepinephrine)). It seems to me that the only reason they are classified together is because of the similarity in the shape of the two receptors and the sequence of amino acids that make them up.
The receptors are what determines the effect of a drug on the brain... nothing else really matters. As long as you know which receptors you are modifying, you will know the effect a drug has on your consciousness. Most people tend to instinctively look towards the structural form of a molecule to intuit what kind of effect it will have on the brain... But this is largely irrelevant. Structural relation to receptor binding is an extremely complex science that really doesn't benefit you unless you are designing new intricate molecules. If you skip ahead to the effects that the drug has on the receptors, you will know the core essence of the drug itself.
The receptors are always running, always facilitating the interaction between your consciousness and the physical world. This is the true key to understanding how the brain works. All aspects of consciousness pass through the receptors, which act like the gates to your reality. If the receptors are modified, then your perceptible reality is modified.
Neurotransmitters are somewhat irrelevant to study, because in the end all they are doing is activating the receptors. But brain regions are relevant to study because specific receptors trigger specific brain regions... I've been wanting to get into that for a while. We will start another thread for that.
Receptors are how most physical signalling is done in the body. Even insulin works through receptors, which can be agonized by cinnamon or turmeric, or antagonized by fats such as olive oil.
Honestly, the receptor effects are so varied that I've been unable to determine an actual function for things like dopamine and serotonin. One of dopamine's effects is motivation... but it has so many other effects that are (seemingly) unrelated to motivation. This is why it is much more insightful to study the receptors themselves.
Some neurotransmitters have clear functions though. All of the acetylcholine receptors convey "left-brain" information throughout your body. Rate of thought, ease of memory retrieval and information coordination, and other aspects of IQ are governed by acetylcholine (except for its nausea function, which seems unrelated, but surely has to be connected in a way I haven't yet discovered).
An interesting example is that the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor slows down your heart rate... as if higher amounts of meditation would also slow down your heart rate. So, an important distinction to make is that acetylcholine does not just control left-brain information. It is a system-wide synchronizer. Activating acetylcholine will, in general, return you to the "holistic design." This is evident in other areas as well, such as less impulse to act on negative emotions and more ability to objectively work out your problems. Acetylcholine generates a highly developed form of detachment and objectivity that resynchronizes many aspects of your mind. It's like defragmenting your hard drive. So, acetylcholine is like the master governing system, conducting the flow of meta-information through the neural computer.
It is very important to understand how the brain regulates the balance of the continually fluctuating receptor levels to maintain homeostasis. Every time a receptor is turned on, the body reacts by reducing the global expression of that receptor. Every time a receptor is blocked, the body reacts by increasing the global expression of that receptor. This happens for almost all receptors, regardless of function... even insulin receptors.
From this knowledge, we discover both a warning and an exciting possibility. We must take care of our receptor levels. Drug abuse, then, can be described as consuming a substance even when it adversely affects your receptor levels. Long term brain damage is not as possible as it is widely feared to be (only happening from substances such as meth, pcp, and datura (and if you count the long term effect of addiction, then all addictive molecules such as heroin and sugar count as well)). But... If we continually suppress our receptor levels through the improper use of drugs and food, we will not be functioning at optimal capacity. If you disrespect your receptors, they will not respect you. It appears that many (if not all) mental disorders are rooted in the ignorant abuse of drugs and disrespecting the laws that govern the receptors. So are depression, irritability, and general "antisocial behavior." Many of our common sufferings are caused by a lack of respect for the receptor system.
There is nothing that we experience that does not pass through the gates of the receptors. Even our spiritual experiences can be modified through receptor modulation... Such as changing your experience of dreaming by taking certain supplements before sleeping.
Therefore, it is exciting that, through respecting the laws of tolerance, we can reset our receptor levels to their designed baseline, which is above what most of society believes is normal reality. It is equally exciting that we can use antagonists to increase receptor levels over a long period of time without causing long term tolerance... but in fact causing reverse tolerance. This can be called antagonist therapy, or "exercising your receptors."
By harmonizing the food-drugs and chemical-drugs that we take into our bodies according to the laws of the receptors, we can be happier, sharper, smoother, and more in tune than the ego believes is possible.
In the end, all that matters is not doing drugs too often, and everything will run smoothly... The problem arises when the majority of our food supply messes with the receptors. That is why we have to study them, so we know how our food-drugs have been affecting our mental state. If we are not aware of it, we will believe that the negative emotions generated by the receptor malfunctions are normal, and we will feel like life is meant to cause suffering. If your receptors are in balance, you will be as bubbly as a little schoolgirl. hehe
The receptors are what determines the effect of a drug on the brain... nothing else really matters. As long as you know which receptors you are modifying, you will know the effect a drug has on your consciousness. Most people tend to instinctively look towards the structural form of a molecule to intuit what kind of effect it will have on the brain... But this is largely irrelevant. Structural relation to receptor binding is an extremely complex science that really doesn't benefit you unless you are designing new intricate molecules. If you skip ahead to the effects that the drug has on the receptors, you will know the core essence of the drug itself.
The receptors are always running, always facilitating the interaction between your consciousness and the physical world. This is the true key to understanding how the brain works. All aspects of consciousness pass through the receptors, which act like the gates to your reality. If the receptors are modified, then your perceptible reality is modified.
Neurotransmitters are somewhat irrelevant to study, because in the end all they are doing is activating the receptors. But brain regions are relevant to study because specific receptors trigger specific brain regions... I've been wanting to get into that for a while. We will start another thread for that.
Receptors are how most physical signalling is done in the body. Even insulin works through receptors, which can be agonized by cinnamon or turmeric, or antagonized by fats such as olive oil.
Honestly, the receptor effects are so varied that I've been unable to determine an actual function for things like dopamine and serotonin. One of dopamine's effects is motivation... but it has so many other effects that are (seemingly) unrelated to motivation. This is why it is much more insightful to study the receptors themselves.
Some neurotransmitters have clear functions though. All of the acetylcholine receptors convey "left-brain" information throughout your body. Rate of thought, ease of memory retrieval and information coordination, and other aspects of IQ are governed by acetylcholine (except for its nausea function, which seems unrelated, but surely has to be connected in a way I haven't yet discovered).
An interesting example is that the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor slows down your heart rate... as if higher amounts of meditation would also slow down your heart rate. So, an important distinction to make is that acetylcholine does not just control left-brain information. It is a system-wide synchronizer. Activating acetylcholine will, in general, return you to the "holistic design." This is evident in other areas as well, such as less impulse to act on negative emotions and more ability to objectively work out your problems. Acetylcholine generates a highly developed form of detachment and objectivity that resynchronizes many aspects of your mind. It's like defragmenting your hard drive. So, acetylcholine is like the master governing system, conducting the flow of meta-information through the neural computer.
It is very important to understand how the brain regulates the balance of the continually fluctuating receptor levels to maintain homeostasis. Every time a receptor is turned on, the body reacts by reducing the global expression of that receptor. Every time a receptor is blocked, the body reacts by increasing the global expression of that receptor. This happens for almost all receptors, regardless of function... even insulin receptors.
From this knowledge, we discover both a warning and an exciting possibility. We must take care of our receptor levels. Drug abuse, then, can be described as consuming a substance even when it adversely affects your receptor levels. Long term brain damage is not as possible as it is widely feared to be (only happening from substances such as meth, pcp, and datura (and if you count the long term effect of addiction, then all addictive molecules such as heroin and sugar count as well)). But... If we continually suppress our receptor levels through the improper use of drugs and food, we will not be functioning at optimal capacity. If you disrespect your receptors, they will not respect you. It appears that many (if not all) mental disorders are rooted in the ignorant abuse of drugs and disrespecting the laws that govern the receptors. So are depression, irritability, and general "antisocial behavior." Many of our common sufferings are caused by a lack of respect for the receptor system.
There is nothing that we experience that does not pass through the gates of the receptors. Even our spiritual experiences can be modified through receptor modulation... Such as changing your experience of dreaming by taking certain supplements before sleeping.
Therefore, it is exciting that, through respecting the laws of tolerance, we can reset our receptor levels to their designed baseline, which is above what most of society believes is normal reality. It is equally exciting that we can use antagonists to increase receptor levels over a long period of time without causing long term tolerance... but in fact causing reverse tolerance. This can be called antagonist therapy, or "exercising your receptors."
By harmonizing the food-drugs and chemical-drugs that we take into our bodies according to the laws of the receptors, we can be happier, sharper, smoother, and more in tune than the ego believes is possible.
In the end, all that matters is not doing drugs too often, and everything will run smoothly... The problem arises when the majority of our food supply messes with the receptors. That is why we have to study them, so we know how our food-drugs have been affecting our mental state. If we are not aware of it, we will believe that the negative emotions generated by the receptor malfunctions are normal, and we will feel like life is meant to cause suffering. If your receptors are in balance, you will be as bubbly as a little schoolgirl. hehe
