QuestForFire is my new blog. I am an addiction specialist and would like to share some thoughts with you…Life through the lens of neurobiology. My teachers are my patients. They are like snowflakes, no two are completely alike. I feel honoured to work with them and not a single day goes by that I don’t learn something new. I’m sure I learn more from them than they learn from me.
Addiction refers to those experiences that are so engaging that once we taste them, we become so enthralled that we quickly find ourselves planning our next visit to this wonderful place. If we are not careful and if we are vulnerable to addiction we soon find ourselves seeking to recreate that initial high, not withstanding the harm that this might cause us, or those around us.
Addicts continue to use their “drug of choice”, despite negative consequences.
Before there were drugs, there were likely other pinnacle experiences that our ancestors had, and sought to repeat. I imagine that one of these occured the first time they tasted glucose from a sweet overripe fruit, first time they mated, or the first time they were able to harness fire.
I imagine that after any of these experiences, they were probably so excited that nothing else mattered. In fact, they may very well have forgotten to eat or sleep for days when they were right down to it. That sort of engagement, while not dysfunctional per se, is the kind of intense focus that accompanies the first hit of any highly pleasurable substance/ behaviour. So that’s why I’m calling this blog about addiction, “QuestForFire“.
Cheers, A
Dr. Anthony Ocana MD, MSc, CCFP, ABAM Family Physician, Addiction Specialist drocana@telus.net
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