TRI-5, Wk13, Day 323 & 324 - Tue & Wed

I wish I had more time for these blogs but, school is taking up maximum head space right now. I think we only have 14 more test to finish out this semester. Lot's of stuff to study ...11 class days left - finals start next Friday with Lab Dx and Basic III.

Phys Dx is going to take a lot of work as will Lab Dx but, I'm not as sure what to study in Lab Dx.

Diversified needs to go well and that's what I practiced tonight with my parents.

I talked with Dr. Sanders the other day about the mechanisms behind chiropractic and, as of yet, the exact mechanisms haven't been proven and Dr. Sanders pointed out that we didn't know how aspirin worked for over 20 years after it's discovery but that didn't stop people from using it because it showed benefits in the area of pain relief.

Speaking of pain, I think of Dr. Christy who again pointed out that one the pain neurons get firing that there seems to be a cascade effect which makes it easier for subsequent firing of the pain fibers ...I went over this in some detail in a previous blog BUT not all neurons work that way. In the case of dopamine receptors, as are found in the brain, when there is a an abundance of dopamine then those receptors decrease in number. So, if something hurts and keeps on hurting then it will be easier to continue hurting but, if something feels good then it will take more to keep feeling good. The 2nd part of that statement is kind of a basis for addiction.

But, I was wondering - what if the dopamine receptors did become sensitized and lesser amounts of dopamine could accomplish the same job or if levels were kept high and additional receptors were made in the cells the it would be easier and easier to get those good feelings drom dopamine and, I guess the same thing could be said for substances like serotonin.

Then I was thinking about general life stuff ...I didn't think it through completely but I knew I'd thought about it before ...kind of a philosophical take on things.

Think of it like this ...which would feel worse, (a) never having a million dollars in the bank OR (b) having a million dollars in the bank and then losing it?

IF pleasure type receptors were to increase then that would be like having the million dollars in the bank BUT, since those type receptors decrease when there is an abundance of feel good type chemicals then we're kept closer to homeostasis, ...closer to never having the million dollars in the first place which would actually make quitting a habit such as smoking (which does provide extra dopamine production) easier to quit.

The craziness comes from quitting something like smoking is that our extra dopamine is cut back when smoking is stopped BUT our receptors for dopamine are still diminished because the body got used to all the extra dopamine. So then, we have fewer receptors with less dopamine and that doesn't feel too good.

Gotta get to bed and get ready for day #325. :)