Opioids and pain perception concept. Am i missing something?

[Bleepbloopblop]

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This is my understanding:
Injury leads to inflammation (prostaglandin, leukotriene, bradykinin, etc.) which stimulates afferent nerves to release substance p and glutamate, which in turn propagates the pain signal, causing pain perception. Afferent neurons will also cause release of endogenous opioids. Opioids decrease pain perception by blocking release of substance P and glutamate. In the brain, opioids cause release of dopamine which can stimulate the reward pathway.

Why is the reward pathway stimulated when pain is what caused the initial endogenous opioid release? Wouldn't you want to avoid whatever elicited the pain?

 

[ForestGumma]

Endogenous opioids are a water hose at max. Pain can be a candle flame or an apartment fire. More importantly, pain (substance P) has a WAY bigger impact on memory than any (endogenous) pain killer...you ever forget that something hurts like hell?
Pain PILLS, on the other hand, are a different bag of worms.

 

[studentdocftw]

Would you want to feel pain forever? Once you were aware of the potential hazard, wouldn't you want the pain to go away so you could act? It's been too long since I've touched Neuro, but Blumenfeld proposed a similar phenomena for why we rub our body when it hurts...he proposed a mechanism that involved increasing afferent signaling to drown out the pain signal. Ultimately, the end goal was to reduce pain after the initial stimulus, presumably so we can react. I'd imagine the reward activation is for a similar reason.

 

[Crayola227]

no pain, no gain, essentially

you want the organism to balance tissue damage vs the need to endure some in order to attain necessary goals for survival

all about homeostasis, yo