(no subject)

[mandrakescreams.livejournal.com]

This may sound like a weird question but does anyone know if using heroin effects the menstrual cycle?

Comments

[mercurysmile.livejournal.com]

that's very true, but let's not put heroin into that category, okay?

[http://users.livejournal.com/-irreverence/]

mm.. well i think it's good that it's not you know, available at your local supermarket or whatever. and it is incredibly addictive and very dangerous because of this. but it is used in other countries as a pain medication for cancer patients and such, so it does have some positive effects/uses (though i do realize also that most people using it here do not have cancer, but c'est la vie. they can do what they like).

i just meant that a lot of times people are quick to judge about drugs, being such a touchy subject especially in this country. we're kind of forced into thinking ALL DRUGS = BAD! EVIL! YOU WILL DIE! and other exaggerations, and yet thousands of people do these kinds of things daily and live normal mostly healthy lives. and i just dont agree with that kind of propaganda.

[punk-is-so-dead.livejournal.com]

and heroin is essentially the same thing is morphine which is used in hospitals all the time. i don't remember *specifically* how close they are, but they are very very similar chemically.

[mercurysmile.livejournal.com]

yes, and there's no particularly good reason to keep heroin out of hospitals.

but the whole issue is pretty far removed from recreational drug use.

[punk-is-so-dead.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. I mean, the fact that morphine does the job is, I'm sure, a factor in keeping heroin out of hospitals, but I see no reason why, in a controlled environment, they can't use it.

Pharmacology babble!!

[sweet-tea79.livejournal.com]

Actually, while morphine and heroin are in the same category of drugs, they're metabolized in a slightly different manner. Heroin's metabolite (6-monoacetyl morphine) is actually what causes most of the effects of the drug, and because different people have different amounts of the liver enzymes that metabolize this drug, there's no way to tell ahead of time how much of the active metabolite will be produced. The active metabolite also has certain properties that regular morphine doesn't have...it crosses the blood-brain barrier, and therefore causes more problems with respiratory depression than does morphine, and makes it stay in the body longer than regular morphine. It's not as controlled or as predictable as morphine, and not something I'll be giving my patients.

Apologies for the ramble, I have a board exam coming up this week and these sorts of medical/pharmacology blurbs keep spilling out. Too much studying is bad.

Re: Pharmacology babble!!

[sweet-tea79.livejournal.com]

my apologies to the OP for thread-jacking.

[mercurysmile.livejournal.com]

No, I know. It's really frustrating, because when people preach this "all drugs are evil and will KILL YOU!" bullshit, and then kids see their friends smoking pot and not spiralling out of control and destroying their lives, they think "well, that was all a load of crap, then." But some drugs are genuinely really dangerous, and it's too bad that nobody seems to be bothered to tell the truth about the effects.

So I think I agree with you here, but I also think it's dangerous to downplay the dangers of certain illegal drugs. Personally I don't hold it against someone if they want to do heroin, but I also don't think it's "okay", if that makes sense. I basically hold the same position on it as I do tobacco...I don't go righteous tirades to my smoking friends about the evils and dangers of it, but I also disapprove and would never do it myself, and support initiatives that deter people from forming the habit.

This is rambly and off-topic though, so I'm gonna stop.