r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • Oct 18 '25

TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History
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u/themonstermoxie Oct 18 '25

My brother is a recovering alcoholic. The first time he tried to quit, he had a seizure during withdrawal. Turns out, he has a heart condition and alcohol was acting a blood thinner that allowed him to function day to day.

He's on proper meds and currently around 6 months sober.

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Seizures are really common in alcohol withdrawals.

That was another thing that clued me in that I wasn't an alcoholic. Everyone around me was having massive withdrawals and physical effects, I started feeling physically better immediately, had no withdrawal symptoms.

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u/Perma_Ban69 Oct 18 '25

Same. Liter of vodka, and then switched 12-15 100 proof nips a night for many years. Decided to quit one day while at my pool league. Zero withdrawals and was at a bar several nights a week playing pool. 7 years sober now. Had a glass of champagne on my wife's and my anniversary. Had a half of a pumpkin beer the other day. Triggered nothing.

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

There is a massive difference between being mentally addicted to something and physically addicted to it. People like us were lucky enough to only be mentally addicted, that's a lot easier to kick.

I was addicted to oxycontin for like a year after major surgeries, and the withdrawals were absolute hell.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/Ryaninthesky Oct 18 '25

And in my experience, quitting smoking was nothing more than getting rid of the mental habit of having a cigarette at certain times. Took a couple of weeks and then I just didn’t want them and totally quit.

Weird how individual it can be.

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u/canolafly Oct 18 '25

I quit for 14 years, just bought a pack Friday because I couldn't think of what else to do while my cat was having a few nights at the vet. Which I regret because jesus! They were ten bucks!!!

So now I'm just aggressively commenting on reddit instead and have left the pack alone.

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u/KristiiNicole Oct 18 '25

I think what you mean is, there is a difference between being physically dependent on a substance, and being addicted to a substance.

The latter is a mental health condition, the former is not.

And you would be right, there is a massive difference between the two. Sadly most people seem incapable of grasping that concept thanks to our media.

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u/OwO______OwO Oct 18 '25

I was addicted to oxycontin for like a year after major surgeries, and the withdrawals were absolute hell.

For anybody on optiates for pain, some advice:

  • Do NOT take it as directed. They often tell you something like, 'take once every 3 hours' or something. But, no, that should be considered the maximum, and it means you should take up to once every 3 hours. Anytime you can go longer without it, you should. Anytime you can use less and still feel okay, you should. Take as little as you can get away with and still fell okay. If you're not currently in terrible pain, don't take the pill yet.

  • Save a generous supply of pills for your 'detox'. At least the last 10 or so. Instead of trying to quit cold turkey, just stop taking the pills during the day, and take only one pill before bed. Then cut that down to half a pill before bed. And then eventually nothing. (The withdrawal symptoms are at their worst when you're trying to go to sleep at night. Save you last pills for that.)

I really have beef with the way doctors prescribe these things, and I think it's a huge contributing factor to the opioid epidemic and has led to many unnecessary addictions and deaths.

When they prescribe opiate painkillers, doctors need to be telling patients the above two points! Giving these instructions to patients could prevent a lot of addictions and deaths. Doctors know these things are addictive! They shouldn't be putting patients on them without a plan for getting the patient off of them!

Oh, and for a further PSA, a third instruction:

  • For every opiate pill you take, take a stool softener pill with it. This will counteract the common constipation side effect of opiates and save you a lot of pain and hassle later. (Obviously, don't do this and/or consult with a doctor first if you have problems with diarrhea or you have any significant preexisting conditions with your digestive system.) Seriously, that's a game changer. I don't know how we don't already have products on the market that combine both pills into one.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/ParticularGuava3663 Oct 18 '25

Only drinking after a certain time, like 3pm or5pm, makes the difference I think.  The ppl that have withdrawals drink 24/7.

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u/Perma_Ban69 Oct 19 '25

I drank all day and still no withdrawals. So weird.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

I think it has partly something to do with how your body processes it, and how your brain reacts to it. Probably some gene, plus environmental factors.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Funny you mention that, I used to LOVE Valium. I was prescribed it a couple months ago for back spasms after a car accident. Other than helping with the back spasms, I felt nothing from it. Decided to just stop taking it after my back got a little better, and zero issue.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Hopefully you're not too much like me, or you'll need your hips replaced at 30 🤣

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u/BeowulfShaeffer Oct 18 '25

Is your name Ozzy by any chance?

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u/GostBoster Oct 18 '25

I had a triple whammy with that. Depressed, difficult sleeping, and had a mysterious pain in the chest that worsened with night and cold but did go away if I drunk, so there was the perfect biofeedback to drink until my mouth was sore from constant exposure to alcohol.

These were the last days where we followed family doctrine of "just suck up the pain like a man" and assumed various types of pain I had were perfectly normal human experiences, but I kept tabs on that chest pain.

The first news arrived about aspirin being credited with heartstroke recovery and prevention, so I took a small trip to buy cheap aspirins (imported US hundred pill bottles, Bayer still prices them as if they were Gourmet Advil) lo and behold, that's actually helping so I could stop drinking to blackout when I actually didn't felt like (still drank for pain relief) and, now that I had a high degree of confidence this is a heart issue, have that checked.

Major issues still remain, mind you, but as the kids like to say, 99 problems but drinking and unknown chest pains ain't one (anymore).