Heroin

General 5: Pain impulses

If you cut your finger, a pain impulse is transmitted through your nervous system to your brain. When it arrivss in the brain, you become aware of the pain and where it is coming from.

Heroin affects the transmission of this pain impulse. Morphine, the breakdown product of heroin, mimics endorphins, the body’s natural pain relievers. But morphine works much better. Heroin therefore heavily suppresses pain impulses on their way to the brain.

Heroin also suppresses the cough impulse. Dust and impurities breathed in from the air will then have more chance to cause infections in the lungs.