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Mental Health Opiates: Helping or Worsening Depression

I

Inside_Out13

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Oct 18, 2015
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Do you think opiates helped your depression, or made it worse?

My personal experience was that I started taking opiates because I was depressed, and it got better while I was on them. Then, if I was sober for over a week then the depression would come back even worse, and I'd have to take more opiates to help-getting myself caught into a viscous cycle. So do you think the use of opiates has gotten rid of your depression (not just masked it) or made it worse?
 
No recreational drugs are ever going to cure depression, and in fact most will end up making it worse in the long term. (although I can perhaps think of some exceptions, notably Ketamine which has been used to some success in treating depression in clinical settings...)

I don't have a lot of experience with opiates myself but what I can say is they can be very insidious. Speaking of my very limited trails with heroin, I found it to be strangely soothing. It wasn't particularly euphoric or anything but it just seemed to melt all my concerns away & make me very content. I believe that is one of the things that makes it dangerously appealing drawing many into addiction.

In the end of the day, that feeling is only temporary. The drug is just masking your underlying problems. When you stop using the drug your feelings of depression will come back, and perhaps even worse if you are abusing the drug. Plus let's not forget the inherent risk of addiction when using opiates, something that is of greater risk when you are suffering from depression, it's just not a risk worth taking regardless of any perceived benefits.



For the record, I'd just like to say that using drugs in general whilst one has depression, or indeed other mental health problems, can be extremely counterproductive & in many cases can make things worse. It's something to be very aware of if you are truly wanting to make long lasting progress in getting past your mental health problems.
 
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I was using opiates for depression/anxiety. It would help, but the moment withdrawals hit it was 1,000,000 times worse than when I got on them. Actually, I ended up going to the ER when I quit 10 months ago, my heart rate was 120 sitting still even after they IV'D ativan into me twice. Unfortunately, I got a tooth pulled sept. 1st and I got prescribed 20- 10mg norcos. Well, here I am, back in the cycle. I don't mind it currently. I'm going to take short breaks (ha, let's see how that goes, this thing seriously has me by the balls). I get really depressed when I don't have them. I ball my eyes out and stuff. I don't find things fun without them. yadda yadda.

It definitely makes it worse, IME.
 
Opiates are a terrible way to medicate depression, for a variety of reasons. However, opiates can be used for the right purposes (treating pain) and not aggravate depression. I've taken script narcotics for a few years now (legally) to manage my chronic pain, and they haven't worsened my bipolar symptoms. If anything, being in less pain helps my bipolar to stay under control - if I'm in bad pain and getting bad sleep as a result, my bipolar meds become a lot less effective pretty quickly.
 
Initially, opiates helped, then they didn't, and the overall shit lifestyle made things worse, then, I got on suboxone, which some people claim is useful as an antidepressant, and it worked, for a while, part of this being the euphoria of being out of the shit lifestyle, most likely, but then, eventually, it stopped working and just anecdotally I think it made things worse ... then , after that, post-acute withdrawal depression was terrible, leading me to self-medicate with alcohol and eventually legaly-medicated medicate with a veritable pharmacopoeia. So yeah, I don't think opiates for depression is a good road to go down.
 
In an ideal world, assuming the theory that people will use drugs whether or not they are legal is true, people would have legal access to purified drugs overall so that drug money wouldn't go to violent criminals. Realistic risks and harms would be widespread information. There would (again) be no legal repercussions from drug use. Resources to deal with overdoses would be in close proximity to the user. And so on...

In this hypothetical world, opiates have the potential to treat depression. Whether or not they "mask" depression or not depends on whom you talk to, and what "mask" constitutes. In general, drugs that produce euphoria probably do "mask" the problem more than not.

As with all abusable drugs, discounting illegality, one must continuously raise their dose in order to approximate how they felt the first few times using the substance. That runs into problems of its own...

In the world as it is today, any anti-depressant effect from opiates comes with a host of overwhelming risks for the individual.
 
I think of drugs as like buying emotions on credit. You're taking out a loan, only this is a loan for an emotion or sensation or feeling.

Inevitably though, you will one day have to pay back your debt, and by then it might have grown enormous. A debt costs you what you got from it, a debt of money costs you money, A debt of energy makes you feel run down and like crap (amphetamines), a debt of happiness and freedom from pain costs you happiness leaving you with depression. And a debt accumulates interest, winding up worse than what you originally got. It's not a perfect analogy. But the short answer is no, opiates are not a long term solution for depression, they're a short term answer that could wind up costing you enormously.

As the poster above me said, inevitably you'll be back where you started if you use one dose long enough, then you'll be back where you were paying interest in the form of more drugs to keep from having to pay back the total (withdrawal).
 
I am on maximum doses of fluoxetine and bupropion for unipolar depression, and adderall and librium as adjuncts, both of which I am trying to wean off. My MD gave me some 10 mg oxycontin, which I have split into half, and twice, a few days apart taken, and it is the best I have felt in memory, like decades. There are studies on pubmed.org (Medline) of small cases of people whose depression remitted on oxy; however, I am no idiot, I am proceeding very, very slowly. Or I may decide it isn't worth it. But has anyone used small dose of oxy, along with antidepressants, to help with depression? Don
 
Curious as I'm also on antidepressants (Wellbutrin, Viibryd, augumented with Lamictal) ... did your doctor prescribe Oxycontin explicitly for depression? That would put him in a legally precarious position but if so it's interesting for him to branch out into that territory. There was a doctor a few years back who got busted by the DEA who was running what LE called a pill mill but what he claimed was using opiates to treat depression, it seems pretty clear that it was more of the former but he had developed a whole theoretical basis for it and everything. Questionable TBH. Oxycontin definitely makes you feel good, that's part of it's job. But eventually you run into diminishing returns. As for me having had a real habit, I can attest to that. People definitely have felt an anti-depressant effect of opiates, because they are, in fact, euphoric, not just euthymic,the same could probably be said of amphetamine, which is on very rare occasions and off label (potentially in legally questionable territory as far as the doctor goes) used for depression as well. But the question is one of sustainability and I just don't think that such use is sustainable.
 
Painkillers make you feel good using majority of the time. Your depression will then increase from not taking them and if you get to withdraw it makes depression way worse...
 
you say yadda yadda like it has happened to everyone and maybe it has. Maybe I am so naive and new into it that I didnt realize everyone felt this way. I am a totally different person then I used to be. I got on them for legitimate pain two years ago and feel like ive just gone down a terrible road. I cant get off them, i Dont even want to get off of them. I love them. I feel like they are the only things I love these days. Nothing else makes me happy. Getting high is what I look forward to. I go about my day counting down the hours until I can take my next pill. And this is the first time I have ever admitted this to anyone. Makes me feel a little good to actually get it out in the open and not have to defend myself to all of my family and friends.
 
When your high on opiates depression lifts when not depression worsens so unless pain is causing your depression don't get caught on train of addiction
 
My M.D. did put me on Oxy, just 5 mg. twice a day because I have a history of injuring my back and NSAIDs are hard on my stomach. Now, even though it is for my back, opioids have always been used for depression and there have been a few good recent studies. I know the diminishing returns -- that's why I am on this forum, for the constant reminders. I am careful. But I have been depressed for most of 25 years, off an on vefy depressed for 18 years beforen that, pretty much at least some clinical symptoms every day, especially the complete lack of pleasure, and I am now 61; the risks matter less than the short term benefits. I am careful -- just when my back hurts and no more than 5 mg at a time. I can't get off librium except by going down .5 mg at a time (smallest dose is 5 mg. capsule so a compounding pharmacy had to break it into 1 mg. and .5 mg for each capsule). I have taken adderall most of the time for 25 years. That is next but I can do that by taking a sharp knife or box cutter and taking off a tiny bit each week. The hardest drug to get off was venlafaxine (Effexor), as a lot of people report. It was like tripping, everything looked strange and I had all sort of reactions while on it -- hypomania, and I am not bipolar; then a bizarre reaction as I was almost off--I developed hipcups that went 24 hours a day for almost three days until I got a shot to relax whatever it is that causes them. So I am very careful about dependence on anything other than my antidepressants. That is enough drugs, especially as my old liver, not particularly abused, slows down it metabolization or incompletely metabolizes. I had to give up my one drink of alcohol a day. Thanks, Don
 
Ah man I am bad off without oxy, I don't get out of bed inderectly it caused for my loss of the best job I'll ever have, I lost my mom over a year ago. I have been masking my depression for years but seem to need them even more with out her. She was my best friend, I told her things I wouldn't tell anyone on earth she knew me best and now that I lost my 26 dollar an hour job my ex is going to try and get custody of my son I may loose my house I'm fucked... and now even more dependant on them... the struggle is real, fucked this cycle. I need to quit. My script should last anyone a month even when I try it last 4 days at best. I get another one tomorrow, or so I hope. I PLAN to make it last a couple weeks. I am going to give it hell but in reality, it's SO got me by the fucking balls... life just sucks with out them I'm worthless when I'm out and it's honestly the most expensive habit I have ever had. I have spent 500 since Thurs just to stay even... I'm fucked... but I did it to myself.
 
oxyxanaxgaba,

You're not done in this life.

One thing I notice is that you say oxycodone caused you to lose your job, but your last statement implies that you did all of this to yourself. Which do you think is really is?

This depression won't go away on it its own and it won't go away by popping any pill, snorting and powder, injecting any solution, or smoking any substance--not saying you do these latter three, just added them for effect :). I think you really need to unearth all of these emotions so that someone with a more objective stance can help you positively process them.

My mom means more to me than anything in this world, anything. There is no telling what would happen were she to be taken from me. I feel similarly attached to my mother, so I have an idea of how deep that might go.

Life is crazy ride. In Fall 2012, I never imagined myself being as functional as I am today. I thought my appreciation of the world had vanished, never to come back. Presently, things aren't perfect, but I'm pretty damn close to being satisfied. Pretty damn...

I know you love your son. But realistically, don't you think he should have another role-model while you're trying to recover? Research suggests a host of negative outcomes if a parent raises their child while abusing substances. I'm sorry, as I know you didn't want to hear this, but I believe he'll be better for it in the future. My dad abused drugs while I grew up, and it really damaged me.

Don't plan to make it last. Go to a doctor tomorrow morning and tell them you're an addict. Tell everyone close to you. If they actually care about you, they will support your recovery. It's important to just get the information out there.
When you make it through this, you'll be stronger and more learned because of it, yes?
 
I don't believe any opiates would be good for depression. The use of opiates will certainly lead someone into depression.
As an analogy I think it would be the same as 'prescribing' alcohol for someone who is depressed.
 
Fair enough Erikman, what about drinking methadone the day after you have smoked some meth? As in your not addicted to Heroin your just drinking the methadone to ease the come down off meth.


Also another off the topic question if your liver was fucked or kidneys were failing would methadone be a good alternative to alcohol seeing as methadone is less harsh on the body than alcohol
 
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