Excessive opioid use and prolonged consumption can significantly alter how your body manages energy, processes sugar, and regulates weight.
Cravings for Sugar
Opioids interact with mu-opioid receptors in the brain, leading to a heightened craving for sugary foods and drinks. This increased intake of sugar often raises calorie consumption, which can result in weight gain.
Metabolic and Blood Sugar Impacts
Regular use of opioids can disrupt the body's glucose processing, contributing to insulin resistance where the body's cells become less responsive to insulin. Opioids also influence glucoregulatory hormones like insulin and cortisol and can trigger the nervous system, potentially leading to high blood sugar levels, or hyperglycemia.
Physical Activity and Digestion
Opioids induce a sedative effect that leads to fatigue and reduced physical activity, thereby decreasing the number of calories the body burns. Additionally, they slow down muscle movements in the digestive tract (peristalsis), often causing severe constipation, bloating, and fluctuations in weight perception.
Veterans Project publishes general education. Nothing here is medical advice, a diagnosis, or a recommendation to start or stop any treatment, and nothing here replaces your own doctor, who knows your history and can examine you.
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