Endorphins

One thing I never understood the exact science of that was mentioned in the article was how the subjects ended up in a lot of pain which couldn't be relieved by pain killers because the painkillers would somehow lessen something the pituitary was doing and actually worsen things.

I think this has to do with endorphins. About a week ago, I had a tiny part of a THC gummy about 6 PM. That night I had the worst arm pain I've had so far. It was much different with pain on small movements even in my forearm. I was chatting with Claude, my favorite AI, last night and was discussing how the pituitary could modulate inflammation. Control over endorphins was one way, along with cortisol and many others. Cortisol is easy to check and while mine has always been in the higher band of normal and not circadian like it should be, it has never been "high." Well, it turns out that if you increase endorphins, you lower cortisol.

So, I asked which endorphins the pituitary can control. Turns out these are all pretty exotic things that there basically aren't any easily accessible tests to check the levels. So, I asked what other tests could be used to indicate excess endorphins. One is a challenge test. This test involves taking Nalaxone which inhibits the binding of endorphins, just as it inhibits the binding of opioids. This made me ask if THC had similar inhibiting qualities, to which Claude said yes, but not as strong as Nalaxone. I see this as a potential indication of why THC makes my pain worse and, if so, proves I have excess endorphins, and an issue with my pituitary hormonal regulation.

I can test this theory myself!