HW: Cold Turkey

[flossbac]

> On Thu, 2 Nov 2000 15:23:15 -0500, Rik Rx <hw at CY-B.ORG> wrote:
> >in ref to all the recent drugz talk can i be the first to point out that
> >most of the audience will be on cold turkey at the next gig??
> >
> >......................(leaves quietly)
>
> Actually, this is serious (well, not THAT serious)!  Turkey is an
excellent
> source of Tryptophan (as are, I believe, bananas), an amino acid that has
> several neurological effects including stimulation of seretonin (a
> neurotransmitter) production in the brain.  And one of the neurological
> effects of LSD is to *reduce* seretonin levels in the brain (part of the
> reason why it's difficult to sleep under the influence of that substance -
> and why, for the opposite reason, you get sleepy after eating one of those
> big turkey dinners!).
>
> So be careful not to blow your trip forever if you're attending holiday
> dinners ... (people on-list who actually know something about neuroscience
> please feel free to clarify/correct anything I've written) ...
>
>         -Doug
>          ceres at sirius.com

The bit about turkey is completely accurate, but not about LSD.  LSD is a
blocker of serotonin receptors (a chemical mimic of serotonin, though not
with the same effect).  It is not fully known what exactly it does, but
suffice it to say that once it is locked into serotonin receptors, it does
something different than serotonin, thus producing its effect.  It may be a
simple blockade (no effect at the receptor site) or it may have some
stimulatory effect.  In any case, it disrupts the serotonin system.
John Majka