addiction

[cleaninitup]

..How is it that some people just dont get addicted? They can use recreationally and even use over long periods of time with no issues?

[kimrenee]

I wonder the same thing. Someone please tell us the answer to her question.  Then people like me go into paws.

[ImDONENoMore]

Google "addictive gene" - you'll find all kinds of studies supporting that theory.  That's probably the reason for the distinction between those who are more vulnerable to addiction and those who carry no vulnerability.  Guess we got to be the lucky ones.  :(

[mtdorashane]

The only difference between a person who is labeled an addict and someone who is not, is that the person labled an addict found something they like. Everyone has the potential of becoming addicted to something!!!!!!!!!      Let me give someone something that makes them think ,,,That every day is the best day, makes everything that is wrong, right,    I could go on for hours............     On a side note... i do believe in the addictive gene!

[cleaninitup]

I was pretty sure about the addictive gene-but was being my curious self-my dad was a pretty hardcore alcoholic that eventually ended up killing him. I have never been much of a drinker because I knew that was in my genes and have been thinking it just grabbed onto pills in me instead of alcohol. Keep posting answers I love getting all the different views. Thanks H

[IBKleen]

I did quite a bit of research on this some time ago when I first learned that addiction is a "disease". I can't find that information anywhere in the files but at a quick glance I found this little interesting blip:


Scientists will never find just one single addiction gene. Susceptibility to addiction is the result of many interacting genes. 

Social and environmental factors contribute to this risk of addiction. It is becoming increasingly clear that genetic factors also weigh in. 

Like other behavioral diseases, addiction vulnerability is a very complex trait. Many factors determine the likelihood that someone will become an addict.


When scientists look for "addiction genes," what they are really looking for are biological differences that may make someone more or less vulnerable to addiction.

It may be harder for people with certain genes to quit once they start. Or they may experience more severe withdrawal symptoms if they try to quit. Factors that make it harder to become addicted also may be genetic. For example, an individual may feel sick from a drug that makes other people feel good. But someone's genetic makeup will never doom them to inevitably become an addict. Remember, environment makes up a large part of addiction risk.


Researchers construct pedigrees of large families with addiction as a first step to understanding the disease. A pedigree can reveal whether or not a trait has a genetic component. That is, whether or not it is passed down from parent to child by way of genes.
Because addiction is influenced by multiple genes as well as environmental risk factors, this can be a complicated process.

Various genes and environmental factors can add up or cancel each other out. Not every addict will carry the same gene, and not everyone who carries an addiction gene will exhibit the trait.

I thought it was some pretty good information in a nutshell.

[ImDONENoMore]

That's very interesting IB thanks for posting that.  Complicated doesn't begin to describe this whole issue right?  I often wonder, because I'm adopted, what my bio parents are like and if they had the same issues as myself.

Again, thanks for posting this.  Fascinating stuff.

[dominosarah]

I have no valuable info on this!  All i know is my gene pool has issues!!   I could get addicted to tennis balls!!

[cleaninitup]

IBK thanks for the info very interesting Sarah lmao  thanks needed that one

[NoOC123]

Ive had some friends that have used oxycontin and not gotten addicted, some even did it every day for a month or so and still just walked away from it. But then they get hooked to other things that I would never even think of, like shopping, stealing, different drugs, eating or food disorders, alcohol, buying things, relationships, love, sex and so on. I think everyone in this world has some kind of outlet that helps them cope. If you think about the people around you usually you can find these "addictions" in many poeple it's just not nearly as noticed as a  full on drug addiction and goes kind of under the radar because. For instance, I have a friend that is addicted to stealing things and shopping and people just kind of laugh it off or turn the other cheek, but for her, that behavior is still helping her cope/giving her some kind of rush or high that she chases. So basically, I think as humans we all have our different coping mechanisms to deal with stress and emotional pain and my friends that have walked away from oxycontin pick up other addictions like food or stealing or guys, etc. Dont know if that makes any sense but just one way of thinking about it?

[mtdorashane]

I think it makes perfect sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[cleaninitup]

Makes alot of sense when you do start  thinking about the people around you.thanks

[old_mate]

i personally can drink a lot of alcohol, ive been on 6 week benders/holidays having the time of my life and when its time to go back to work i just stop without giving it another thought.

however in saying that i use to be an opiate addict and it took everything i had and more to get clean, i guess different people have different vices

[kajama]

I saw that u said u were adopted, I was adopted also at the age of 7. My adopted family never drank or did drugs, the also had 2 other children that never had a problem. The funny thing is when I became an adult I started my addiction to pain pills. I was so ashame to tell anyone.  Then I started looking for my biological parents and to my suprise my dad was a drug addcit that overdosed at 36 and passed away, my mom is still an addict today. I have 2 biological brothers and both have had addcition problems in the past. the great thing is, I get to have a relationship with my 2 brothers after 20 years and it is really weird but i am thankful God gave us another chance.  just wanted to share that with you.
Addiction is a disease PERIOD!!!

[hellc@mst]

  People have gone to great lengths to try to explain the myriad causes for addiction. Modern medicine seems all to eager to fossick any number of faux-scientific justifications for the aberrant BEHAVIOUR of the addict/alcoholic, most recently delving into the rabbithole of theoretical genetics.

  The following is a review (by Stanton Peele) of a book written by the godfathers of the modern interpretation of the Addict/Alcoholic gene theory. I thought it fleshed out some of the opposing ideologies with regards to the "genetic"origins of addiction/alcoholism...

  "This theory seemed to receive a boost in 1990, when **** and psychiatrist Ernest Noble identified a defect in the dopamine D2 receptor gene as the common thread in alcoholism. Examining brain tissue of 70 dead subjects, half of them alcoholics, **** and Noble found a variant of this gene in 69 percent of the alcoholics but only 20 percent of the nonalcoholics. This finding, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, received nationwide publicity and was trumpeted as the discovery of the "alcoholic gene."

  Several subsequent studies, however, failed to find such a remarkable occurrence of the gene defect in alcoholics. Two studies published in JAMA after **** and Noble's paper found little or no relationship between alcoholism and the D2 receptor gene. Other studies have found a relationship weaker than the one measured by **** and Noble. A study reported in the October 2 issue of JAMA found the gene variation occurred in people with several disorders — including Tourette's syndrome, hyperactivity, and autism — at least as often as alcoholics...

... No study has found that members of a family who become alcoholic are more likely than nonalcoholic family members to have the gene variation, which is the conventional test for establishing a genetic cause of a disease......So **** and Noble's dramatic finding turns out to be far less credible than originally believed.

"Nevertheless, the impression that scientists have identified the genetic basis for alcoholism remains widespread. This misperception is typical of a general attitude that exaggerates the significance of research pointing to genetic or biological factors in alcoholism, ignores caveats and qualifications, and overestimates the consensus within the scientific community"


The complete Review of Alcohol and the Addictive Brain, by Kenneth ****, with James E. Payne, New York: Free Press can be found here http://www.peele.net/lib/blumrev.html

It goes on further, taking a disparaging view towrds a certain "unnamable" treatment modality, so I tried to publish the choicest, pertinent paragraphs and hope my editing hasn't robbed the review of its intended message. Follow the link and judge for yourselves. I would encourage anyone interested in the origins of their own hedonistic behaviours (ie Addictions) to explore the above mentioned website.

                           All the best, regards Jeremy. Recovered addict.
                              3 years 7 months drug and alcohol free.

[cleaninitup]

Kajama-it was imdone that was adopted so the two of you may have alot to talk about there-it is weird how it does seem to run in families and even without knowing your history it popped up in your life.
Jeremy-thanks for that info  when I first started reading it I was just starting to get defensive thinking who the hell is this guy? lol but read through it all then didnt post anything for a bit while I "digested" it. and still not sure how I feel about it (not what you said) just about the findings. i guess everyone is looking for a reason or excuse for their behavoir/addiction. So everyone keep opinions and stories coming love the info and Jeremy very inspired by your clean time thank you for posting. H

[itsnuckuponme]

Those are some pretty interesting facts above. The crazy thing is that I've never been addicted to anything til I started taking oxycodone for my back pain. The dr. asked me what I prefer and I told him, "nothing, I dont take drugs. When I was a teen, I did try weed, alcohol, cocaine, etc. but not very much, I just didnt like any of it much. I had my son by c-section with no pain killers, just a spinal block, but nothing after the surgery, I suffered thru it. My 2nd c-section is when my family talked me into taking the little oxycodone pills that the nurse kept bringing in, and i kept throwing away. I agreed to take a half b/c the pain was just so excruciating since I was 8 yrs. older than the last one. I realized how much it helped, I could sleep and it didnt give me any of the symptoms I was afraid of. After that, I was all proud to tell my pain dr. that I found a pill im not afraid to take, and the rest is history, been on it now since she was born 5yrs. ago, and hopelessly addicted.

Others in my family take it for their back problems as well, they had more than 1 back surgery, and they are not addicted. They take it as prescribed, and take less some days. How is it possible that I'm taking more than prescribed, im out of control with it and theyve been taking it for 20 or more yrs.with no addiction issues? My father is a very sick man with pancreatitis and has lived with that now for 30yrs. and has been on oxycodone and oxycontin for many of those yrs. and sometimes wont take it til night time. He can go all day with nothing. Geez, if I could do that I'd never take another pill as long as I live.

The first 2 yrs. that I was taking it, I could also take it or leave it, I would only take it when my back pain was bad, and always had like 1/2 a bottle left when I'd get my next script. It was sometime after those 2 yrs. that I found myself taking the entire bottle and eventually more than prescribed, and i didnt even have pain anymore. When the hell did that happen? how did that happen?