Posted by Q (198.64.206.92) on January 17, 2000 at 11:54:05:
In Reply to: Where are the endorphins? posted by John B on January 17, 2000 at 08:10:49:
Ordinarily, I assume that pain has some built-in resistance mechanism which governs its process. The injury stops, the pain stops. Pain-killers arrive, the pain stops. Endorphines are the body's natural pain-killer. They seem to be many times more powerful than those in ordinary drugs, like morphine or Stadol. Ordinarily, the release of these chemicals is a reaction to the pain and not the objective of the pain process.
In the case of CH there lacks the normal pain-cause, such as an injury or threat of injury. What is there is the memory that the brain can be flooded with pain-blockers if the signal is just the right intensity, frequency and duration, adequate for that particular brain.
In the case of CH, the brain does not have to achieve the euphoric high, it only has to try to do so. I may have done it only once and remembered the effect which it seeks again. It may have been born that way, acting only on instinct.
This pure pain is not likely to kill the brain-host. Pain is not supposed to kill. Besides, if the brain killed itself via pain, it would cut off its supply of euphoria. The brain's survival instinct is strong.