Cocaine and Depression

[jpgrdnr]

I saw that there was a thread on antidepressants and that was somewhat helpful but I'm more wondering as a thought experiment for those with severe (MDD, major depressive disorder) or the likes the effects of cocaine or stimulant use on those that are depressed.

Would its effect be somewhat of a high (on small doses) and then a huge depressive comedown? Somewhat similar to MDMA?

Also interested on ritalin, meth and those people who are depressed, its effect on depression. Thanks for any info.

I have no interest in self-medicating, just interested for thoughts.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Yes, all of these things made me feel good/high temporarily but then caused a depressive come-down, especially the cocaine. The cocaine had the most depressing and anxious come-down for me, worse than MDMA or methamphetamine. I am least experienced with Ritalin, I don't think the come-down would generally be quite as bad for Ritalin but would of course depend on the on the ROA, dose, and how long you take it for (like are you re-dosing), which are also huge factors with each drug. I don't think it's good to use these drugs when you have severe depression, it can be a fast road to addiction and feeling even more depressed than you were before. What other info were you looking for?

 

[jpgrdnr]

Not much more info really. Its curious that cocaine has a worse "comedown" but I could definitely see it. Taking an SSRI for depression seems to be its own private hell although some people have had positive results with Lexapro. There's not really a whole lot on the alternative side of things to counteract depression, beyond exercise, diet, vitamins, acupuncture, 5htp might work. Coffee works wonders.

 

[powerofthemind]

Well I have been prescribed stimulant medications for ADHD since an early age, I also have several mood disorders, the worst being PTSD. In my experience euphoric stimulants, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, tend to make depression much much worse. When I'm depressed I feel really hopeless, anxious, unmotivated, loss of confidence, lost of ability to feel pleasure, regret and sadness. Euphoric stimulants always made me feel really confident, happy, motivated, "in the present", making them the perfect crutch for my depression, and their addictive nature made it become my only care. To me they arent like mdma, mdma's neurotoxic effects and tolerance make it almost very hard to get addicted. So cocaine and methamphetamine from my experience would be bad antideppressants, the comedown would make you feel more depressed than before you took it. The ADHD meds tend to be much more helpful for depression because they help combat the lack of motivation, so I can get stuff done and don't have to worry about falling behind and can just ride out the episode. For me cocaine and meth had me failing school, depressed as hell, and addicted, it got me sent away to treatment, while the ADHD meds saved my grades in school, helped me ride out episodes without having a huge pile of work awaiting me, its hard to try to deal with a depressive disorder and stress from work/school at the same time.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I remember reading somewhere that Cocaine is by some definition the ideal anti-depressant; it exerts re-uptake inhibition on all three major monoamine neurotransmitters. However, we know that this should be taken with many grains of salt. Cocaine usage can not just cause major depression through misuse but can lead to irreplaceable damage of the brain, heart, and nose. Not even Freud, an early Cocaine enthusiast (he would give it to many of his patients for a wide variety of maladies), ultimately thought the drug was good.

Its good that you're not thinking about self-medicating.

Stimulants today are sometimes prescribed off-label for treatment-resistant depression but these are very rare cases. Personally I would never do it (were I in the position) because psycho-stimulants reeeeally drain the body's reserves. Amphetamines and Cocaine in particular might even be toxic at threshold doses.

That said, some people benefit a lot from stimulants. For ADD/ADHD some find stimulants a life-saver; for narcolepsy, they can help; and yes, for severe, treatment-resistant depression, stimulants might prove a god-send. Just not for me. And not for the majority of people.

You might want to ask about Burpropion/Wellbutrin. Its mechanism is similar to that of Ritalin and its prescribed for depression a lot. I was on it for over a year; it worked well. Let me tell you though, there is one giant jump when going from Wellbutrin to Ritalin. They have similar mechanisms but I could easily tell why one is used for depression and the other is treated with much more caution.

There's nothing wrong with having a cup or two of coffee a day. Yerba Mate works in a similar fashion as coffee and might help you, too.

 

[Dreamspaced]

Through some of my depressive states as a result of my slow transitioning bipolarity I have found myself craving cocaine more than even MDMA as means of an escape. Coke has such a way of making you feel confident as hell in yourself as well dumping all the dopamine into your synapses for a rush of satisfaction and happiness. But as one might expect the resulting depression is worse than before on the comedown, and you're back to square one.

What works best for me is to begin a 5htp cycle a little bit into the upswings and as the person above me said, coffee works well as a motivator and can get you going when depression might have you feeling stuck.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

A lot of times people with depression will start using cocaine because it makes them feel SO much better temporarily and at first, the crash/comedown or after-effects are not as bad, or at least considered a fair trade-off but usually this quickly changes and they aren't getting AS high or the comedowns are worse and they start to take other drugs to deal with that, often benzodiazepines or opioids. For a while they cycle through using both but when this becomes too expensive, cut out the cocaine and quickly become physically dependent on the benzodiazepines or opioids and then are forced to use just to keep from getting sick and at best, their depression is just as bad but more likely it's worse AND now they have the burden of physical dependence and/or addiction.

If anhedonia is a large component of the MDD, opioids are even more seductive because of their euphoria and if anxiety is involved, benzodiazepines are extremely reinforcing due to their unrivaled anxiolysis.

Cocaine use among anyone is often a dangerous, slippery slope but if depression is involved, often more rapidly so. If you can find ways to get the depression under control and at most, use the cocaine sparingly, you'll be much better off. If you try to treat the depression with this, odds are you are going to make things much worse for yourself.