Oxytocin is the hormone that lets mothers and babies bond. The reciprocal release of oxytocin lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, and promotes calm. Kinda like Xanax. And I believe my mother got hooked after I was born. She cheats and manipulates, in total disregard to my well-being, it’s out of control. When I made her go cold turkey, she was sick for three days. So, let’s look into the role of oxytocin in addiction.
Oxytocin in addiction
There are promising reports that oxytocin can soon be use therapeutically to treat addiction. It can simply be applied through the nose, and it does reduce cravings for heroin (1). Also, scientists are uncovering the molecular mechanisms in which oxytocin is involved in sex addiction. In alcoholics and sex addicts a specific locus on the DNA is differently methylated compared to controls. This epigenetic difference leads to different quantities of a certain microRNA. A microRNA is a short piece of RNA that inhibits mRNA which codes for proteins. This microRNA is highly expressed in the amygdala and hippocampus. Regions of the brain that are central in the oxytocin pathway (2).
So isn’t it possible that my mother cut out any expensive substances? And instead got herself straight the stuff we all want: oxytocin?
This year at the Europhysiology conference I asked an oxytocin expert about a potential oxytocin addiction. Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg has been an advocate for the role of oxytocin in women’s health for decades. She doesn’t think that oxytocin has the potential to be an addictive substance. However, some mothers breast feed until their child is 10 years old. Which does make you wonder, she said. When advocating women’s health where everything is lavender, I think it is easy to be blindsided. Women are not inherently good. They can cheat and lie just like well … men.
My mother is an addict
My mother is a very irritable and unhappy person. Therefore, nursing her first born and the subsequent oxytocin brought her relief like nothing else had. That is not love, however. She manipulated, lied, and skimmed to keep me dependent on her. That way she could throw me into distress when she needed a hit. Even through there is no such thing in the literature as of yet. I suggest my mother is addicted to oxytocin. She is hooked on the stress relief she gets from me needing her. And maybe more than any other addiction it harms other people or should I say children.
When you take a step back and think about it form an evolutionary point of view it makes sense. We can get addicted to anything that gives us a good feeling. So, it is only logical that we can get addicted to oxytocin, too. Even though when used as intended and not abused it created the social bonds without which we are nothing. And of cause love.
(1) The Effects of Oxytocin on Withdrawal, Craving and Stress Response in Heroin-Dependent Patients: A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial (2019) M. Moeinia, A. Omidia, M. Sehatd, H. Reza Banafshe
(2) Hypermethylation-associated downregulation of microRNA-4456 in hypersexual disorder with putative influence on oxytocin signalling: A DNA methylation analysis of miRNA genes (2019) A. E. Boström, A. Chatzittofis, D.-M. Ciuculete, J. N. Flanagan, R. Krattinger, M. Bandstein, J. Mwinyi, G. A. Kullak-Ublick, K. Görts Öberg, S. Arver, H. B. Schiöth, J. Jokinen
