Genetics and Withdrawal Symptoms

The brain exists in a state of dynamic equilibrium and therefore automatically seeks its own natural balance. Unfortunately, its methods of doing so often wreak havoc on the body when it comes to opiate withdrawal, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and other forms of withdrawal from drugs.

Each person is born with a genetic code that determines the chemical make-up of his or her brain – including its balance of neurotransmitters. When the balance of neurotransmitters deviates from its natural balance, the brain automatically seeks its balance once again.

This process is called up-regulation; dealing with up-regulation is what detoxification as well as opiate, benzodiazepine, and/or alcohol withdrawal symptoms etc. are all about.

In Addictionologist Dr. Von Stieff’s book, Brain in Balance, he explains how the brain functions and how to treat a brain suffering from withdrawal, ascribing helpful rules to the process and clarifying:

Dr. Von Stieff sheds much-needed light on the process and treatment of withdrawal, especially in chapter 5 of his book, Tolerance, Withdrawal, and Detoxification. There he states, “Withdrawal symptoms are caused by an imbalance of neuroreceptors that are reactivating and returning to that person’s original state. Being a painful process, it is as if the individual experiencing withdrawal is giving birth to zillions of these neuroreceptors. […] A neurochemical imbalance of the brain and the receptor sites has been created, and withdrawal is the resulting condition. The next step now is detoxification, which can get precarious with all this neural activity going on. Our job as doctors and nurses is to assist the patient’s brain in safely returning to its natural equilibrium.”