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Do all psychoactive substances induce tolerance eventually?
For that matter, do all receptor-binding substances induce tolerance eventually?
It seems certain that different substances take different amounts of time to produce tolerance. Is there a pattern here? Do all receptor antagonists take similar amounts of time, or does it vary by receptor type?
(How do we know medications are not a zero-sum game?)
In general receptor-binding substances cause an "overflow" of your own already produced neurotransmitter. Your brain reacts by reducing the receptors. Also your own neurotransmitter production may be down-regulated by negative feedback. When you take away the "medication" afterwards, there are less receptors together with less neurotransmitter, causing withdrawal symptoms.
When you put in more substance in a control loop, there will always be some sort of "adaption" in order to reinstate a new balance (1). If you take in just enough drugs to balance the neurotransmitter-receptor system in a way, that the signal transduction in terms of nerve pulses remain the same, you have reached a tolerance stage, but not an effect stage. Still, medication is not "useless", since not all receptors will be dissipated. It is a matter of dose rate to increase the nerve pulses; once there is relatively more neurotransmitter (2) available than before medication, one should obtain a constant effect or an effectively altered control loop balance.
