Hexenstahl
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2022
- Messages
- 1,014
Like what?There are many other drugs that should be first tried.
Especially since SSRIs completely mess with your serotonin system in the long-term. People often struggle with crippling, adverse health effects long after they have discontinued their use of SSRIs, which isn't the case with opioids. The swiss-german forum Eve&Rave is full of such threads. The mental imbalances caused by long-term SSRI use makes opioids even more attractive in psychiatric use in my opinion. This is why I'm interested to know what other drugs you think are better than opioids, because SSRIs and similar frankenstein ADs cause nothing but trouble for most people. The only downside I see with opioids is simply the incredibly powerful addictive potential, but in a system where opioids were freely available like at the end of the 19th century where no drug regulation laws existed, I see no problem with that.But in the world where SSRIs are norm it's no surprise some come to conclusion that opiates are good alternative.
Many people argue that opioids aren't suitable for treating mental illnesses such as depression because the euphoric response that is so highly sought after by depressed patients (I hate the term recreational because it doesn't illustrate WHY non-pain patients use opioids) diminishes over time. That is a bad argument to make, because a) the same is true for the physical painkilling response in pain patients (known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia) and we don't go around telling people to not use opioids to treat their pain because of OIH, and b) this problem can actually be solved by using either one of three options:
1) opioid rotation (I myself have unintentionally made the experience how switching from morphine to levomethadone during a period where I haven't used ULDN, got rid of almost all side effects and I felt the full effectiveness of opioids again. It was like being my old sober self with all the vitality and libido, while being high af all at the same time. This method is incredibly underrated in medicine). I wish opioid rotation was allowed in substitution therapy. Perhaps one day.
2) gradual dose reduction. If the dose falls below a certain threshold, the G-Protein coupled signalling switches somewhat back from Gs to Gi.
3) and today with the modern advances of science: ultra low dose naltrexone. That is my #1 method to keep opioids effective. I'm using it since 2 years now, daily (with the exception of the twoo weeks when I switched over to levo), and I haven't had to increase my dose even once, OIH went away, euphoria came back (ofc not to an opioid naive level, but that is not even necessary to treat depression effectively) and except itchiness I have no side effects whatsoever. Normal libido, no lethargy, no constipation, no nothing. However, due to the greed of the pharmaceutical-industrial complex, I don't see this becoming the norm in pain medicine as it massively cuts into the profits of said corporations due to the tolerance reducing effects it has on the patients. Therefore the patient must do that all by himself.
So I personally see opioids as the best option when it comes to using a non-toxic antidepressant medication (but I'm open minded, so if you have a better argument, then I'm open for change). I'm gonna have to post some excerpts from opioids in mental illness here in the forum eventually. Too many people aren't aware of the incredibly versatile uses that opioids can have at different dosages.