Side effects - The Dope Munchies

[IntrepidTraveler]

SWIM is aware that many users experience nausea on smack and other opiates/oids, and are thus unable to eat much while doping--so this thread is not for these poor unfortunate souls! On the contrary, SWIM and most of his friends love indulging in some yummy foods whilst on a nice run. Personal experience and various anecdotal evidence had long led SWIM to believe that opiate users tend to crave sweet, sugary foods. It turns out there is scientific backing to this, as evidenced by numerous studies like this one: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...9.story?page=2 For those who do not wish to take the time to read the entire article: Basically, when scientists administered morphine to mice, the mice demonstrated an immense increase in their desire for sugary and high-fat foods. In this specific article, the researchers theorize that the correlation between opiate intake and the increased desire for sweet foods can be attributed to an intimate relation between the pleasure centers in the brain activated by the two different substances (morphine and sugary foods). Makes sense. A side question to all you SWIYs out there: if opiate consumption triggers cravings for sweet foods, will eating sweet foods, in turn, uncover latent dope-cravings in an X-heroin addict?


SWIM finds all of this intriguing, as it directly mirrors his own experience. While high on gear, sweet foods like apples, cookies and skittles taste absolutely orgasmic to him. A slice of New York Style cheesecake will send him directly to heaven. However, if SWIM had to pick one favorite, it would have to be one of the many fruit slushes available on the Sonic drive-in menu. It seems like theres one for every type of buzz! SWIM will be binging over Spring Break and wants to hear everyone's suggestions as per their favorite foods to enjoy while using opiates/oids.

Lastly, I think it is in order to develop a working definition for the "dope munchies." An opiate-naive individual could perhaps mistakenly liken this phrase to the insatiable, Ill-eat-any-amount-of-anything-until-Im-sick "munchies" that one experiences with Cannabis. The two are quite dissimilar, and should be properly differentiated. While high on opiates, the user does not necissarily experience a great increase in overall appetite ala marajuana, but instead simply derives greater pleasure from particular foods and might experience cravings for foods that he might rarely think about while sober. Eating becomes a highly pleasureable activity, though the craving for food does not hardly rival those experienced with Cannbis. Also, cravings for opiate users tend to center on sweet--as opposed to salty--foods, though many individuals may deviate from this norm. This is an extremely crude definition, and I hope some people can help clean it up! Anyways..discuss.

[OhCasey]

Swim experience's an increased appetite while on opiates, but swim take pills so it might be different then say someone who slams opiates. Though its not neccesarily for sweets, though Swim perfers Fatty foods to sweets in his everyday life. But hes never understood how people say they can skip meals while on pills. While he was in the hospital and on a morphine drip he could barely force himself to eat, but on pills he'll get an upset stomach if he doesnt eat.

[moda00]

Swim agrees- she'd always felt the opiate munchies, since she started using, and has never experienced nausea on opiates, so perhaps it's one or the other, an individual is susceptible to. She never really thought about it as being sweet foods though, although once aware of it, it proved true.

Before she tried any drugs, however, she also had quite the sweet tooth... ie. putting like half a cup of sugar on her cereal, or eating bowls of cookie dough.. lol. Someone at one point mentioned this to her, saying something about it originating in Pulp Fiction?? about junkies eating tons of sugary stuff.. lol.. but apparently this idea was around before the research backed it up, although I'm not sure if that is truly where it originated in the public consciousness- I saw the movie but don't remember anything like that being mentioned..

So, if the hypothesis behind this relationship is correct, couldn't it also be true that someone with a predisposition for over-indulging in sweets could also have either a higher likelihood (personality wise) or some genetically based predisposition to seek out other pleasure-activating stimuli?? Intriguing ideas. It seems that it could be feasible.. she's discussed "first" experiences with addicts and non-addicts, and there seems to be a very distinct difference in their response- while most normal users or abstainers will describe their first time drinking, or their first time trying a substance, as unpleasant, or average, or nice but nothing special, addicts light up when they describe it. Swim's own diary of her first time getting drunk reflects this as well- she recalls it as the most euphoric moment of her life up till that point, as well as the most fascinating- the idea that something as simple as drinking a few glasses of wine could make her absolutely childishly giddy with happiness, and feel such sensations. She has similar memories of her first times with many things, but the alcohol was the first time she intentionally ingested a drug and tried to alter her consciousness.

So of course, drugs do specific things in the brain, as a fact. For example, causing the stimulation of the brain's pleasure centers, releasing feel-good neurotransmitters, etc. So thinking about this issue.. heroin (or another opiate) undeniably causes a very specific reaction on the neurobiological level, which results in euphoria, pleasure, whatever you want to call it. But yet, some people become addicted, and speak with longing about their first time. And others don't- they may think it too intense, or dislike the nausea, or rationally decide that the risks outweigh the benefits, or whatever it may be- I do believe that there is a genetic or biological basis of some kind that causes this difference- while personality factors, environment/exposure, and/or free will likely have their roles, it seems to me that the strongest reason for this different response to the exact same chemical reaction has to be more deeply rooted. And if one can argue that this is the case, it doesn't seem all that far fetched to think that there could be other expressions of this similarity. Of course there will have to be more research, but such links are fascinating.

As for your question, Swim personally hasn't found eating sweets to cause opiate cravings, but then again, she had sweets cravings before ever trying drugs.. and she is also on methadone maintenance, so that definitely changes the brain chemistry and the concept of cravings on a neurological basis in many ways.

[Ganja Joe]

Just fain some nausea with your doctor and get a prescription for some Phenergen, that's what they put in Mepergan Fortis for nausea.

[davestate]

Oh my god, opiate munchies! Love 'em! A big fat greasy ulster fry or several pizzas just after peak effects will put you in heaven!

[msmogadon]

Originally Posted by IntrepidTraveler

SWIM is aware that many users experience nausea on smack and other opiates/oids, and are thus unable to eat much while doping--so this thread is not for these poor unfortunate souls! On the contrary, SWIM and most of his friends love indulging in some yummy foods whilst on a nice run. Personal experience and various anecdotal evidence had long led SWIM to believe that opiate users tend to crave sweet, sugary foods. It turns out there is scientific backing to this, as evidenced by numerous studies like this one: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...9.story?page=2 For those who do not wish to take the time to read the entire article: Basically, when scientists administered morphine to mice, the mice demonstrated an immense increase in their desire for sugary and high-fat foods. In this specific article, the researchers theorize that the correlation between opiate intake and the increased desire for sweet foods can be attributed to an intimate relation between the pleasure centers in the brain activated by the two different substances (morphine and sugary foods). Makes sense. A side question to all you SWIYs out there: if opiate consumption triggers cravings for sweet foods, will eating sweet foods, in turn, uncover latent dope-cravings in an X-heroin addict?


SWIM finds all of this intriguing, as it directly mirrors his own experience. While high on gear, sweet foods like apples, cookies and skittles taste absolutely orgasmic to him. A slice of New York Style cheesecake will send him directly to heaven. However, if SWIM had to pick one favorite, it would have to be one of the many fruit slushes available on the Sonic drive-in menu. It seems like theres one for every type of buzz! SWIM will be binging over Spring Break and wants to hear everyone's suggestions as per their favorite foods to enjoy while using opiates/oids.

Lastly, I think it is in order to develop a working definition for the "dope munchies." An opiate-naive individual could perhaps mistakenly liken this phrase to the insatiable, Ill-eat-any-amount-of-anything-until-Im-sick "munchies" that one experiences with Cannabis. The two are quite dissimilar, and should be properly differentiated. While high on opiates, the user does not necissarily experience a great increase in overall appetite ala marajuana, but instead simply derives greater pleasure from particular foods and might experience cravings for foods that he might rarely think about while sober. Eating becomes a highly pleasureable activity, though the craving for food does not hardly rival those experienced with Cannbis. Also, cravings for opiate users tend to center on sweet--as opposed to salty--foods, though many individuals may deviate from this norm. This is an extremely crude definition, and I hope some people can help clean it up! Anyways..discuss.

Its true SWIM used to have a savoury tooth. Now her favs are Bounty icecreams fruitcorner yoghurts. Toast with real butter and banana, But swims fridge is pitiful right now

[purejunglist]

yea tell me about it swim always pigs out after my peak effects wear off not only is it satisfying but it helps prevent nausia for me which is opposite for other people

[cuddlesthefox]

Toast with butter and crushed up digestive biscuits made into a sandwich is totally lush. McVities Giner Cake is another favourite and swim shoplifts this from his local corner shop with stunning success whilst on any opiate.
In fact, opiates are quite brilliant to take whilst shoplifting. Except swim does tend to concentrate on very sweet food.

[pillpopper96743]

ahhh the opiate munchies. swim eats alot in the middle of a good high such as oxys or hydro. not so much the morphine though.

[SamIam]

Mmmm. Opiate munchies! Due to withdraws, my cat would starve herself until she got her fix. It would be like, even though she was starving, NOTHING sounded good. So my cat would wait... And then... once she was flying high, all that hunger CAME BACK. My cat would then proceed to eat fried chicken sandwiches and ice cream. Delicious-ness!

[Songcycle67]

This always happens to SWIM. He takes hydrocodone (60-100mg per day) and occasionally roxicodone (30-60mg per day). He gets the worst sweet tooth ever. He's never much liked chocolate or fatty foods while sober, but while doped out he always eats the fattiest, sugariest shit possible. So much so that most of the time he has to re-dose because he's eaten away his high.

Does any SWIY's have that problem? Eating so much they lose their high?