Understanding Drug Tolerance

Did you know that with the repeated use of certain drugs, your body can no longer feel its effects? Thus making you feel the need to take more of the substance which can lead to overdosing. The effects of addictive substances decreases the longer a person keeps using them. Those who use drugs or even alcohol for long period of times may or may not recognize the need to take larger doses.

In most cases, tolerance can develop when the metabolism of the drug speeds up and the number of the cell receptors that the substance attaches to or the strength of the bond between drug and the receptor decreases. Drug tolerance is not the same with addiction or dependence. It refers to a strong desire to feel the effects of a substance, therefore making a user a hardcore addict.

The California State University-Fullerton states that there are a total of four mechanisms that contributes to the rising drug tolerance levels. One of which is metabolic drug tolerance. It has something to do with the speed of the liver that breaks down substances in the user’s system. This means that with repeated use, the speed will increase while shortening the length of time a drug remains in a user’s bloodstream.

Behavioral tolerance is the emotional response of the user to his expectations on the effect of a drug. This can affect a user to increase his dosage expecting for a high effect of the drug. Conditioned drug tolerance is the environmental cues that prompts the desire to use addictive substances. The last one is the cell damage. These four mechanisms affect one another and may further increase a user’s drug tolerance over time.

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