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To: FJB who wrote (20215)	8/15/2012 5:18:47 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 39297

Addiction of pain killers. I think it is selective, like booze. I hope so, anyway. I was on Oxycontin for four months, and got scared and went off it when I dropped the weight, which the articles said was a sign you were an addict. Getting off it my problem was IBS, which I found out after getting off that I could control very well with Miralax. After being off it for a month, and realizing that this weight drop made a big difference in my back pain, I went back on it two weeks ago. It controls my pain very well, and I have normal, unassisted bowel movements with it. Every other opiate gives me IBS problems. My appetite is already starting to drop. Only side effect is that I sleep more, which I can control to times that I don't care if I am out of it. Dancing is the best it has been in 12 years. "Sleep all day, dance all night." :>) I only take two 10mg tabs a day, which, compared to what I have read, and my son's experience, is very little. I have never had any "push" to take more. My goal is to stay on it long enough to lose another 25 pounds. I am at 203, down a couple of pounds from when I went on it two weeks ago. That is about a 26 BMI. At 180, I will be a 23 BMI. 180 is about what I weighed from 18 until I stopped smoking at 45. That's when I went up to 200, and looking back now, that's when my back started hurting. I was always very slim, so the low BMI is not a worry to me. My health, otherwise, is good. I am active, with a positive mental attitude. When I hit my weight goal, and barring any problems with the Oxy in the meantime, I will assess what I should do long term. Do I stay on it for the rest of my life? My initial thinking is to cut the Oxy in half to one pill a day, in the evening. Hopefully that will handle what pain I do have left, and help me keep the weight off. Any sign that I am "hooked," and being pushed by my subconscious to take more, and it's gone.

To: FJB who wrote (20215)	10/4/2012 12:03:08 PM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Respond to of 39297

SCIENTIFIC METHOD / SCIENCE & EXPLORATIONBlack mamba venom could contain a fantastic painkillerAs effective as morphine, but with fewer downsides. by John Timmer - Oct 4 2012, 8:33am CDT LIFE SCIENCES 38 Utah.edu Most people, if asked to contemplate a snakebite, would probably imagine a world of pain. But the venoms of snakes are very complex mixtures of chemicals, many of which have unexpected effects on the body. Now, researchers have dug through the contents of venom from the black mamba, and found it contains a potent painkiller, as effective as morphine, but lacking some of the side effects. Black mambas in general have a fearsome reputation. They're one of the largest poisonous snakes in the world, as well as one of the fastest moving. But their reputation is enhanced by their venom, which contains potent neuro- and cardio-toxins—ones that can cause paralysis and an irregular heartbeat. Nevertheless, a group of French researchers included some black mamba venom in a screen they were doing. The goal was to find inhibitors of acid-sensing ion channels, proteins that appear on the surface of some nerve cells that are associated with the ability to sense pain from a variety of causes (not just acid). When triggered, these ASICs allow charged ions to enter nerve cells, starting a nerve impulse that can make its way to the brain. The authors purified two small proteins (57 amino acids) that stuck to ASICs, which they termed mambalgins. They used the protein sequence to identify the genes that encodes them, and found they belong to a larger group of venom proteins called three-finger toxins. Most three-finger toxins kill the nerve cells they stick to, but that doesn't seem to be the case with mambalgins. In fact, animal testing revealed that the mambalgins "do not produce motor dysfunction, apathy, flaccid paralysis, convulsions or death upon central injections." What they did do is quickly inhibit the ASICs expressed both in the brain and those found on sensory nerves in the periphery. That translated to a pain-killing ability that was roughly on par with morphine in some experiments. It also worked both when injected at the site of injury and when given systemically. That indicates it can block pain in sensory nerves and the relaying of pain signals by the central nervous system. The central nervous system effect appears to act independently of that pathway that mediates the effects of opioids. In fact, the authors argue that the mambalgins reveal the presence of a previously unidentified pathway in the brain that relies on a specific combination of ASICs. It's impossible to ask a mouse about any side effects of being injected with these proteins, but the authors argue that the mambalgins are "powerful, naturally occurring, analgesic peptides of potential therapeutic value."