tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772182113499451603.post4617683867023765770..comments2024-03-27T10:50:53.692-05:00Comments on Real Psychiatry: Why Has Suboxone Turned Into A Problem?George Dawson, MD, DFAPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03474899831557543486noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772182113499451603.post-56383702191901685832014-01-26T18:40:02.870-06:002014-01-26T18:40:02.870-06:00It often seems as if taxiphylaxis is a taboo subje...It often seems as if taxiphylaxis is a taboo subject in medicine, and psychiatry in particular. Physicians often forget that prescription drugs (like all street drugs) merely disrupt a given pathway to attempt to alleviate a symptom of another malfunction. The pathways affected, like all biological pathways, perpetually attempt to regulate themselves back towards a normal state, a process called taxiphylaxis. As long as an external disruption is present in the pathway, it can't reach a normal state, and over time the degree of adaption will cause increasing dysfunction to that pathway. If the pathway does anything important, one will eventually get side effects, drug dependence, and a discontinuation syndrome.<br /><br />I try to look at drug addiction similiarly. The individual is a drug addict, thus they would probably only benefit from getting sober, not by being prescribed another mind altering drug that would prevent their situation from normalizing. Granted, 'getting sober' is far from a simple procedure.<br /><br />I like the way you put it in the closing, very good.Clarknoreply@blogger.com