4 ms·

"Narcotic" means numbing, and that's an accurate description IMO. Reports of euphoria are exaggerated. It feels good if you are feeling pain or malaise and it t

"Narcotic" means numbing, and that's an accurate description IMO. Reports of euphoria are exaggerated. It feels good if you are feeling pain or malaise and it takes the pain or malaise away. Otherwise it doesn't feel like much.

Nursie 10y ago
Having experienced euphoria once or twice from codeine (>100mg) I would dispute that.
- elevensies 10y ago
  2nding this, I've been given IV narcotics a couple times in-hospital and it created a noticeable feeling within ten seconds or so. I would say the closet analog I can think of would be slipping into a warm bath, if slipping into a warm bath also made you feel a little drunk. My only experience with numbing is the dental anesthetic they use in your mouth, which I don't recall producing much sensations but it does noticeably take sensation away.
  - chimeracoder 10y ago
    > My only experience with numbing is the dental anesthetic they use in your mouth, which I don't recall producing much sensations but it does noticeably take sensation away. Those aren't narcotics (most likely). It was probably Novocaine or Lidocaine. Those drugs end in -caine because they're all part of the same family as cocaine, which is not actually a narcotic (but does have euphoric effects at sufficient dosing levels!). Topical use of any of those drugs, however, will likely not produce euphoria.
  - mtdewcmu 10y ago
    If you were given narcotics in the hospital, then there must have been a reason. I said that if you have pain, and the drug takes it away, it feels good.
    - elevensies 10y ago
      In once case it was prior to the pain being inflicted -- for a scheduled medical procedure.
      - mtdewcmu 10y ago
        I believe you. I don't think the buzz would happen consistently if you tried to replicate it over and over. It could have been your anxiety going away, or it could have been the placebo effect. One could easily resolve the question of whether opioids cause euphoria by doing a double-blind clinical study. I would love to do that study, in fact.
        opiate_eng 10y ago
        They already do these studies to test opiates vs other painkillers. Opiates kick ass. Or maybe you're right: they just take away pain. But it turns out a lot of us have existential pain so it works all the time.
        mtdewcmu 10y ago
        The worse you feel, the more you will enjoy opiates.
        mtdewcmu 10y ago
        Actually, I remembered that there are relevant results from clinical studies that are available. Here are the side effects of OxyContin.[1] (Euphoria is considered a side effect.) The most commonly-reported side effects were constipation, nausea, and somnolence. If you look down further, you can see that both euphoria and dysphoria were reported rarely. [1] http://www.rxlist.com/oxycontin-drug/side-effects-interactions.htm http://www.rxlist.com/oxycontin-drug/side-effects-interactio...
    - Nursie 10y ago
      I wasn't in hospital, or in any pain. The euphoria is very real. For the benzodiazepine class of drugs it's a little less clear cut - people who take them recreationally may well be alleviating stress or anxiety and finding that pleasurable. Opiates.... nah.
chimeracoder 10y ago
> "Narcotic" means numbing Just to be clear, for anyone else reading this, that's true in the etymological sense. But from a biological or pharmaceutical standpoint, 'narcotic' has a pretty narrower meaning, referring to a specific class of drugs (which tend to produce numbing effects, but not everything with numbing effects is a narcotic). To make matters more confusing, law enforcement, on the other hand, uses 'narcotic' as synonymous with 'any illegal drug', whether or not it actually is a narcotic (in the biological sense) or has a narcotic effect (in the literal sense that you are referring to). For example, the 'narcotics unit' will deal with cocaine, which is used as a topical anesthetic for numbing[0], but cocaine is very much not a narcotic from a medical standpoint. [0] in theory, you could use cocaine for a root canal, but you're more likely to get Novocaine instead.
fragsworth 10y ago
> Reports of euphoria are exaggerated. No, they aren't. It depends a lot on the person, the specific narcotic, and the quantity taken. Some (most in my experience) people feel intense euphoria, others don't.
- mtdewcmu 10y ago
  The "euphoria" is situational. It's like alcohol. Drinking alone is usually not much fun.

Nursie 10y ago

Having experienced euphoria once or twice from codeine (>100mg) I would dispute that.

elevensies 10y ago
2nding this, I've been given IV narcotics a couple times in-hospital and it created a noticeable feeling within ten seconds or so. I would say the closet analog I can think of would be slipping into a warm bath, if slipping into a warm bath also made you feel a little drunk. My only experience with numbing is the dental anesthetic they use in your mouth, which I don't recall producing much sensations but it does noticeably take sensation away.
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  > My only experience with numbing is the dental anesthetic they use in your mouth, which I don't recall producing much sensations but it does noticeably take sensation away. Those aren't narcotics (most likely). It was probably Novocaine or Lidocaine. Those drugs end in -caine because they're all part of the same family as cocaine, which is not actually a narcotic (but does have euphoric effects at sufficient dosing levels!). Topical use of any of those drugs, however, will likely not produce euphoria.
- mtdewcmu 10y ago
  If you were given narcotics in the hospital, then there must have been a reason. I said that if you have pain, and the drug takes it away, it feels good.
  - elevensies 10y ago
    In once case it was prior to the pain being inflicted -- for a scheduled medical procedure.
    - mtdewcmu 10y ago
      I believe you. I don't think the buzz would happen consistently if you tried to replicate it over and over. It could have been your anxiety going away, or it could have been the placebo effect. One could easily resolve the question of whether opioids cause euphoria by doing a double-blind clinical study. I would love to do that study, in fact.
      - opiate_eng 10y ago
        They already do these studies to test opiates vs other painkillers. Opiates kick ass. Or maybe you're right: they just take away pain. But it turns out a lot of us have existential pain so it works all the time.
        mtdewcmu 10y ago
        The worse you feel, the more you will enjoy opiates.
      - mtdewcmu 10y ago
        Actually, I remembered that there are relevant results from clinical studies that are available. Here are the side effects of OxyContin.[1] (Euphoria is considered a side effect.) The most commonly-reported side effects were constipation, nausea, and somnolence. If you look down further, you can see that both euphoria and dysphoria were reported rarely. [1] http://www.rxlist.com/oxycontin-drug/side-effects-interactions.htm http://www.rxlist.com/oxycontin-drug/side-effects-interactio...
  - Nursie 10y ago
    I wasn't in hospital, or in any pain. The euphoria is very real. For the benzodiazepine class of drugs it's a little less clear cut - people who take them recreationally may well be alleviating stress or anxiety and finding that pleasurable. Opiates.... nah.

chimeracoder 10y ago

> "Narcotic" means numbing Just to be clear, for anyone else reading this, that's true in the etymological sense. But from a biological or pharmaceutical standpoint, 'narcotic' has a pretty narrower meaning, referring to a specific class of drugs (which tend to produce numbing effects, but not everything with numbing effects is a narcotic). To make matters more confusing, law enforcement, on the other hand, uses 'narcotic' as synonymous with 'any illegal drug', whether or not it actually is a narcotic (in the biological sense) or has a narcotic effect (in the literal sense that you are referring to). For example, the 'narcotics unit' will deal with cocaine, which is used as a topical anesthetic for numbing[0], but cocaine is very much not a narcotic from a medical standpoint. [0] in theory, you could use cocaine for a root canal, but you're more likely to get Novocaine instead.

fragsworth 10y ago

> Reports of euphoria are exaggerated. No, they aren't. It depends a lot on the person, the specific narcotic, and the quantity taken. Some (most in my experience) people feel intense euphoria, others don't.

mtdewcmu 10y ago
The "euphoria" is situational. It's like alcohol. Drinking alone is usually not much fun.