Scientists discover potential cure for alcoholism in the brain

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: GoShredAK
And they are powerless over the addiction.

That AA stuff is just brainwashing propaganda designed to promote religion. As comedian Doug Stanhope says, "There's no such thing as addiction, only things that people like doing more than life." Which when you honestly think about it, makes sense because life is an ongoing horror that only gets worse with time and eventually leads to a miserable end.

Addiction? Well, most people agree that heroin is pretty addicting but a study they did of US servicemen who were "addicted" to heroin in Vietnam showed that once they were sent home and out of the stressful environment, approximately 95 percent of them quit cold turkey.
www.npr.org...

So don't give me that nonsense about anything being too hard to quit. Maybe a tiny bit of it has to do with physiology. But most of this kind of behavior is a result of a combination of environment, access, social interactions and good old fashioned willpower and not whether or not a person degrades themselves before a deity of some sort.

But hey, maybe these guys working with alcoholic mice will find other areas in our brains to burn out with a laser that will help us quit all of our bad habits. No brain = no pain.

I agree NA and AA are slightly cultish however, there is a lot of good and truth in the program as well.

They do not promote religion at all.

They promote spirituality l, and finding a higher power of your own understanding...

They are all inclusive and never exclusive...

Nothing is too hard to quit with the proper resources.

A true addict in the depths of the disease cannot stop using with their will power alone.

Taking the right steps and following directions is the only way......

a reply to: one4all

I drank alcohol about 4 days a week for over a decade. I just got tired of it and it became boring so I stopped drinking it. Same with smoking, but that was a 20 year thing. I can't even think about drinking alcohol now without getting tired. It's weird, but it works for me.

a reply to: Blue Shift
That is all good but it is still the stress driving the person to drink.

People who search for physical causes and solutions are looking at it from another angle.

Anxiety is definitely a root cause of addiction...

This is certainly the case for myself..

Drug and alcohol abuse is a symptom of something else...

Drug abuse is a coping mechanism attempting to cope with some trauma....

An absence of the ability to cope healthily is where the seeds are planted..

originally posted by: Grenade
I got so drunk one night i woke up next to a girl who looked like a cabbage patch doll.

Alcoholism cured instantly.

Nice... And it's worse if you can't remember if you did anything with her or not. I've woke up next to a 50 year old, unaware of what happened the night before, when I was 24 and she wasn't good looking at all. But not just that, I started to hate waking up and regretting something I'd done, or not remembering. I don't even like a buzz anymore.

Me, my wife, my sister, and my brother-in-law drove out to Arlington, TX to watch the Clemson/ND playoff game last December (our AT&T rep gave us 4 tickets to watch from the AT&T suite) and while everyone drank the free beer, I was chugging on Keurig coffee the whole time. I had a lot more fun that way.

a reply to: Phage

Coffee guy, eh? Same here... Are oyu immune to the effect yet? I can make a pot at 10:00 at night and after drinking almost the entire pot, I can go right to sleep.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
They do not promote religion at all.
They promote spirituality l, and finding a higher power of your own understanding...

As long as it's God in some form. I'm sure they wouldn't be too cool with somebody saying, "I used to be an alcoholic, but since I started reading "Mein Kampf" and attending white supremacy rallies, I realized that my alcoholism was really hampering my efforts to rid this country of inferior races, so I cleaned myself up!"

Stanhope's joke is that after admitting that you are powerless against alcohol, that pretty much defines it as a "higher power." Surrender yourself to the alcohol!

Alcohol is just a chemical. What makes you drink it is your environment.

a reply to: GoShredAK

That is the most simplistic perspective I have ever heard...ya gotta be a kid....how did you sneak up to the big table?

originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: one4all
You talked about an onslaught if an anti-parasitic isn't used but I posted about a case, which I witnessed fist hand, where the person discontinued "pharma poisons" without using an anti-parasitic and didn't experience what you propose for 2 months.

Sorry, if you can't accept that maybe not every case of alcoholism fits your theory.

You are trying to pick fight that will never be available.....slow down man.....if you are inadvertently and unknowingly adding healthy anti-parasitics to your diet when you stop driniking you will actually remedy these symptoms not just mask these symptoms the same ways Pharma pills will...there are many thousands of combopnation of plant/food based anti-parasitics…..more case data is needed for your argument to hold water.....but you seem to need that data not I and not the people I know who have kicked alcohol in the nuts....anyone who even mentions big pharma or pills is so screwed already its not worth discussing IMHO.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: GoShredAK
They do not promote religion at all.
They promote spirituality l, and finding a higher power of your own understanding...

Alcohol is just a chemical. What makes you drink it is your environment.

Your environment is definitely part of it but what pushes someone to drink to alcoholism is mental well being and ability to cope with stress.

a reply to: one4all
Opinion noted.

I'm not trying to fight. I am pointing out inconsistencies in your theory for the others reading along.

For example, why don't people get hooked on the anti-parasitic treatments used to wean off the booze? According to you it should stimulate the brain in the same way as alcohol.

You are the one with a theory that doesn't hold water. Lot's of people (more than 6) have kicked alcohol in the nuts as well just by going to AA, rehab (with and without pills), some even taper with alcohol itself.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
Your environment is definitely part of it but what pushes someone to drink to alcoholism is mental well being and ability to cope with stress.

Exactly what I said. We agree.

a reply to: Blue Shift
Sure but what happens when a person's physical constitution makes it so that they have difficulty handling stress regardless of their environment?

That is what the info in the OP is about. You can't tell someone who is bi-polar, "change your life, go somewhere were you can find the middle. Hey schizo, find a place where you no longer hear voices. What? you are having an asthma attack, get outta here. You don't need an inhaler just go somewhere where you won't get those attacks, jeez people these days."

originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: Blue Shift
Sure but what happens when a person's physical constitution makes it so that they have difficulty handling stress regardless of their environment?

What do you want me to say? "Well, in that case, drink heavily?" I said earlier that there are much better alternatives out there than swilling highly toxic ethanol. But we live in a society where drinking alcohol is not only accepted without stigma, but actually encouraged, and has been for millennia. It's relatively cheap and available almost everywhere. It's going to take a while for that to change, but in the meantime, I think trying to get out of your current situation and finding alternatives is still better than having some doctor go in and burn out that "bad" part of your brain that makes it like alcohol.

a reply to: Blue Shift
I thought discussing the info in the OP was the point of the thread.

Nobody is actually talking about burning out parts of peoples brains. Well, someone did, but it was a joke.

Optogenetics is not burning out parts of the brain, it is light stimulation but even before it get's to that, just recognizing the situation/deficiency and treating it with medication, as proposed by Dr. Ameisen, can be beneficial to some.

Why the hyperbole?

originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: Blue Shift
Nobody is actually talking about burning out parts of peoples brains. Well, someone did, but it was a joke.

That's exactly what they're talking about.

Why the hyperbole?

Because this is the worst kind of junk science. It's really just trash. Digging around in people's skulls to find out why people don't like stress and address the problem with alcohol. And as is typical with medicine these days, the goal is to light up (or burn out) a chunk of somebody's brain so it doesn't interfere with them going to work in their stressful, crappy job and keeping the economy going to stuff the pockets of the global elite. In the 60s they had "mother's little helpers," pills to keep moms docile and doing their wifely job. Now we want to buzz people's brains to keep them nice, productive members of society. Productive being the key. I don't care for it.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
That's exactly what they're talking about.

No they are not. It is more like implanting a pacemaker that uses light instead of electrical pulses.

Because this is the worst kind of junk science. It's really just trash. Digging around in people's skulls to find out why people don't like stress and address the problem with alcohol. And as is typical with medicine these days, the goal is to light up (or burn out) a chunk of somebody's brain so it doesn't interfere with them going to work in their stressful, crappy job and keeping the economy going to stuff the pockets of the global elite. In the 60s they had "mother's little helpers," pills to keep moms docile and doing their wifely job. Now we want to buzz people's brains to keep them nice, productive members of society. Productive being the key. I don't care for it.

So your answer is to make better life choices and get away from things to arrive at the same place, happy productive people. Strange.

originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: one4all
Opinion noted.

I'm not trying to fight. I am pointing out inconsistencies in your theory for the others reading along.

For example, why don't people get hooked on the anti-parasitic treatments used to wean off the booze? According to you it should stimulate the brain in the same way as alcohol.

You are the one with a theory that doesn't hold water. Lot's of people (more than 6) have kicked alcohol in the nuts as well just by going to AA, rehab (with and without pills), some even taper with alcohol itself.

Yes,you are still trying to engage....forget it....lol...you are getting kind of silly now....and there are no inconsistancies other than the static you are clearly manufacturing ….lol...we are ALL hooked on FOOD....antiparasitics are found in food/plants.....lol...its not big pharma BS majic…..it does stimulate the brain...we call it a craving...and everyone knows what a food craving is like some more than others...…..I have seen AA meetings and I say to each their own if it works for you great...but again you are silly man, I am not presenting a theory I am presenting experience....you want to keep it in the theory bucket....lol...silly.....and of course different methods work for different people there is always an easiest way and a hardest way to get to the same destination...so what about that> it is a given and you are grasping at straws trying to engage in a conflict....and it has not worked.

a reply to: one4all
If you didn't get the hint then I will say it straight out. You don't have to reply to me. The only reason I reply to you and/or quote your posts is because I want the other readers to know what I am referring to. Not to engage in some meaningless discussion that you want to see as a pissing contest.

I find your theory lacking and the fact is that your 6 cases may have or may not have been because of anti-parasitics. Doesn't matter because we will never know.

Besides there are not only two ways. If someone want's to use a gabab agonist (baclofen or maybe an herbal alternative) or even an LED shoved into their grey matter because it gets them to the same place. Why would that ruffle anyone's feathers?

originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: one4all
If you didn't get the hint then I will say it straight out. You don't have to reply to me. The only reason I reply to you and/or quote your posts is because I want the other readers to know what I am referring to. Not to engage in some meaningless discussion that you want to see as a pissing contest.

I find your theory lacking and the fact is that your 6 cases may have or may not have been because of anti-parasitics. Doesn't matter because we will never know.

Besides there are not only two ways. If someone want's to use a gabab agonist (baclofen or maybe an herbal alternative) or even an LED shoved into their grey matter because it gets them to the same place. Why would that ruffle your feathers?

Overcomplication is = fiscalisation = manipulsation = incarceration of the mind.

The path of least resitance is ALWAYS THE OPTIMAL AND HONEST....despite the fact there are different paths to the same destination.....the benefit of the doubt is wiggle room to lie or misdirect.....seeking the path of least resistance eliminates these wee little opportunities....so we seek causality we do not go on goose chases after symptomology.....the current research an be backed up by data but it is NOT the path of least resistance....a similar dynamic was Tesla and Edison.....Tesla was giving us wirelss transmission of unlimited power and Edison was giving us a path of most resistance t the same path that could be metered and priced then sold.....same with the technology we are seeing developed here....but it is not needed....it is vetted by repeatable data sets but it still remains less than the optimal methodology or path. They are quantifying and screwing with primal messenging to the brain...they are trying to fiscalise manipulating it....which is a dangerous thing to do.....that messenging is critical to us.
All feathers still firmly in place...lol...