If you have chronic pain, you need to listen to this episode! Did you know that the body creates it's own opioids? Learn what they are, how they work, how they relate to synthetic opioids, why tolerance and dependence happens and what the future might have in store for next-generation pain medicines

References:

Treating Pain without Pills - Scientific American 

Opioid crisis: powerful but non-addictive drug could replace morphine | New Scientist 

The new pain treatments that may finally stem the need for opioids | New Scientist 

Body’s 'Natural Opioids' Affect Brain Cells Much Differently than Morphine | UC San Francisco (ucsf.edu) 

Frontiers | Endogenous opioid systems alterations in pain and opioid use disorder (frontiersin.org) 

Scientists Take Another Step Toward Creating Better Pain Medications | Newsroom (unchealthcare.org) 

Endocannabinoids and exercise - PMC (nih.gov) 

Wired to run: exercise-induced endocannabinoid signaling in humans and cursorial mammals with implications for the ‘runner’s high’ | Journal of Experimental Biology | The Company of Biologists 

Anthrax toxins regulate pain signaling and can deliver molecular cargoes into ANTXR2+ DRG sensory neurons | Nature Neuroscience 

Mutations in SCN9A, encoding a sodium channel alpha subunit, in patients with primary erythermalgia | Journal of Medical Genetics (bmj.com)