Fight or flight
I get asked a lot of bizarre questions about drugs. Whether or not someone has ever used illicit drugs, you can guarantee they have a question related to some aspect of drug taking. Different drugs affect different people in different ways. Often an experience that someone has had can’t be easily explained, as there are so many factors to take into account.
A question I often get asked relates to the need to go to the toilet after using a stimulant drug, such as ecstasy, speed, ice or cocaine. Many cocaine users, in particular, comment on the laxative effect of the drug, with some people believing the drug is actually -˜cut’ with baby laxative. But many ecstasy users report a similar effect. So why does this happen?
It would appear it has to do with a response called fight-or-flight which kicks in after taking a stimulant drug. The flight-or-fight response is a theory that believes animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Here’s an example of how it works. Imagine you are a caveman who finds himself confronted by a sabre-tooth tiger. At the sight of the tiger, your hypothalamus sends a message to your adrenal glands and within seconds, you can run faster, hit harder, see better, hear more acutely, think faster, and jump higher than you could only seconds earlier.
Your heart also pumps faster, sending blood to the major muscles in your arms and legs. The tiny blood vessels called capillaries under the surface of your skin close down, which consequently sends your blood pressure soaring. It does this so you can sustain a surface wound and not bleed to death. Even your eyes dilate so you can see better.
All functions of your body not needed for the struggle about to commence are shut down. Digestion stops, sexual function stops, even your immune system is temporarily turned off. Excess waste is eliminated to make you light on your feet. Your body’s response has enabled you to jump higher and run faster than you ever could before.
As stated above, SNS activation tends to loosen the bowels and lead to increased urgency to defecate. It appears that a major part of our primitive fight-or-flight response is to clear the contents of the anus, probably so we can run faster! So put simply, when someone takes a stimulant drug, the SNS is activated and the body responds by saying get me to the toilet as fast as you can!
Remember, if you do not want any negative consequences, do not use the drug and no matter how many times you have used a substance, never be blas?
If you have any questions you want answered about drugs or drug use, send them to the SSO and we will attempt to find the answer for you.
Some of the information for this article was sourced from the following website: http://www.stressstop.com
