Amphetamine is an example of a central nervous system drug. This paper will focus on the working mechanism of amphetamine drugs, and on how it can cause dependence and tolerance to the user. This psychostimulant drug helps people to increase alertness and wakefulness. Physicians also prescribe it to the patients with a habit of falling asleep any time and for long hours (Coon and Mitterer 203). Any person using it may suffer from loss of appetite and body weight, hence why obese people use it to cut weight. This drug also helps during leisure time, for the user to improve his or her performance. When taken by the user, amphetamine applies its effects to the brain by transforming the major neurotransmitters.
The actions of this drug in the brain are very specific. There are receptors that respond to this drug in the brain when one takes it, but they do not respond in other body parts apart from the brain. For instance, the part of the brain that is supposed to form new memories does not react with amphetamine. The primary targets of amphetamine are the neurotransmitters in the brain that focus on the brain reward movements for example dopamine (Edlin and Golanty 115). Physicians have proved that the behavioral impacts of this drug occur due to the effects on the reward pathways. Through understanding the actions of this drug on the regions of the mind, helps much of coming up with the treatments of its addiction.
The major neurotransmitter that bears all the actions of amphetamine is dopamine because it is among the most active neurons in the brain. When one takes amphetamine, it increases the number of dopamine neurons in the synaptic cleft, an act that causes the reply of the post-synaptic neuron to take a relatively long period.
When a person receives an injection of amphetamine, there is a high increment of cytosolic dopamine levels. Amphetamine mixes with the dopamine-containing synaptic vesicle. Amphetamine acts as a substrate to take through the synaptic vesicle. Physicians advise the patients to take this drug according to the prescriptions. If a person takes this drug in larger quantities or for a longer period than required, the reward neurotransmitters act more rapidly than normal (Coon and Mitterer 413). To the mind of the patient, this becomes a habit, and very hard to stop.
Any normal person relies on dopamine in the brain to give him or her good feeling. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that gives other cells a path through which they can communicate. When one takes amphetamine regularly for a long time, the brain cells excrete a lot of dopamine making it hard for the cells to reabsorb all of it. Because of too much dopamine presence, the brain tries to form a mechanism of reducing it. In case the presence of amphetamine reduces in the brain, the user starts feeling lifeless and dull, due to the low levels of dopamine (Edlin and Golanty 515). To find the solution to the abnormally low levels of dopamine in the brain, the user takes the drug again to boost the low level.
By taking more amphetamine, the user thinks he is solving the problem because of the good feeling, but it is the condition getting worse. On the other hand, the brain keeps on regulating the excess dopamine until tolerance grows. At this stage, the user develops resistance to amphetamine such that to get a good feeling he has to use much of it. This happens because the brain is changing from producing the normal dopamine to very little of it.
At this point, the user at one time is full of life when he takes amphetamine, and at another time, he wears off when he skips taking it, forming a cruel cycle of being high and low.
This cruel cycle results in physical addiction whereby the user feels moved to take the drug, any time at any cost. Some at this point may hurt themselves or other people because of drugs excitements. As he continues to take the drugs both the mind and the body rely fully on them (Edlin and Golanty 105). The worst part is when the person cannot think of anything outside the use of that drug, becoming a slave of the drug.
When amphetamine is used for a relatively longer period than the instructions of the physicians, it leads to mental dependence and tolerance. For one to know whether the drugs have caused dependence on the mind, he or she feels a strong need to keep on taking this drug. A person feels like adding more and more amounts of the dosage to get the same impact. When he has a mental dependence on amphetamine, he or she suffers from trembling, stomach upsets, and stress anytime he tries to stop the use of it. The level of dependence on amphetamine in the central nervous system is directly equal to the stimulation impact. Any trial to stop using the drug leads to withdrawal symptoms such as severe headache.
Works Cited
Coon, Dennis and John Mitterer. Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008.
Edlin, Gordon and Eric Golanty. Health and Wellness. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009.