Posted by Q (198.64.206.92) on January 17, 2000 at 19:23:28:
In Reply to: That's not a theory. posted by Hal on January 17, 2000 at 18:19:11:
Proposition: What IF CH-pain is not a primary condition, but rather a mechanism to get to some other objective?
Abstract: CH is a complex disorder. The pain itself seems to mean nothing -- there is no injury or threat of an injury as with ordinary pain. Ordinary pain is treated by curing the injury. In the case of CH there is no injury to treat. The CH pain is based upon a false condition. Therefore, attempts to control the pain as the primary condition fail. The pain is orthangonal to the real problem.
What IF... The real goal of the CH process is to get to the sometimes byproduct of the pain process -- that being the release of euphoria producing chemicals, principly endorphines?
The CH process follows a complex and adaptable pattern, therefore it has some intelligence. This is not a pure chemical process, although chemical processes are involved. The process is not controllable at the conscious level, rather being involuntary, perhaps even cellular. Drugs loose their effectiveness over time. The seasonal and circidian features of CH seem to be opportunistic, leading furhter to a linkage to higher-order functions, but below the level of consciousness and reason.