Opioids

[Guest guest]

I was reading <a

href= " http://chinesemedicalpsychiatry.com/articles/article_heroin.html

" >this article</a> on the TCM view on opiates and I noticed that they

have many common characteristics with hard liquor. (Even in their

pain relieving effects). However, one part in particular intrigued

me.

 

" Although opioids' nature is warm, because they scatter and disperse

yang qi, ultimately they result in vacuity cold. Thus, if taken

continuously, the vessels and network vessels become cold and wet and

do not move "

 

Recently I'd finished reading part of a book on colonial medicine, in

which the reason for drinking Bourbon in the Deep South was explained

in a similar fashion. (During the colonial period, the United States

still carried a few remnants of Greek medical theory, whose " balance

of the humors " had many parallels with traditional chinese medicine.)

 

So my question is, for those of you who perhaps covered opiates more

extensively somewhere, when is the " cut off point " so to speak in TCM

for when opioids' warming nature turns cold??? I'm hoping through

understanding this I can perhaps figure out an equivalency for

alcohol.

 

Yes I know this is something of a complex question, but unfortunately

I'm a bit out of the loop with whom to ask, so I'm posting it

wherever I can. Any help (including other places to ask) would be

greatly appreciated.

 

mbanu