Posted by Dr. Peter on December 31, 1998, at 15:27:41
In reply to Narcotics and depression, posted by Scott on December 18, 1998, at 22:03:41
> I used to abuse narcotic pain killers. In that period of my life, I had a tremendous amount of anxiety and tension. I was later diagnosed as a manic depressive. In my case, manic depression. After taking a few Vicodins, Percocet or a handful of tylenol with codeine, I became calm and relaxed. A feeling of well being would come over well being.
> Yet, other people I knew siad that these pills put them to sleep, made them nauseous or made them feel horrible. That got me thinking about alcoholics and how they could drink endlessly, but, for me, the thought of drinking a fifth of scotch by myself at home was repugnant to me. I'd feel weretched after a couple.
> It became obvious that everyone is wired differently and will have a different response to different substances. As for me, I belive that while painkillers but a certain type of person to sleep, etc, for me they brought me down to calm and sedate level becasue I operated at a higher level to begin with.
> What was my point again? Oh yeah, I think that painkillers definitely have an antidepressant/antimanic effect.
> My two cents.Actually there is a literature on the use of narcotics to treat refractory depression. The one about which I have seen the most is buprenorphine. I also used to treat a bipolar woman whose depression would only respond to Vicodin, a synthetic opiate. Not all opiates are effective antidepressants and different individuals responds to different ones.
Their use should be limited to the most treatment resistant cases given the current political climate and risk of malpractice suits.
poster:Dr. Peter
thread:11
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19981201/msgs/1944.html