Posted by missliz on November 20, 2002, at 2:08:06
In reply to Re: So, I talked to my pdoc about opiates for TRD, posted by oracle on November 19, 2002, at 0:45:59
The man could lose his license for handing out opiates- and they don't do so well in the long term, unfortunately. I've actually been on a generous dose of Vikes while the orthopedists put me back together over the last two years, and yes it does help, but as a long term treatment it's a really dirty drug that's fraught with a few problems. I'd love a drug that tickled the opiate receptors without the nasty codeine hangover or grogginess or tolerance/ dependancy problems. Or the crap society would attach to me. Mental illness is enough.
Opiates have been the treatment for mental illness for thousands of years, but this culture doesn't tolerate their use. Dying cancer patients can't get decently medicated either. Why? Some petty bureaucrat made himself a wheel by generating racist hysteria over that demon weed marijuana, then went after opiates, cocaine, everything that's a scheduled drug now. Through the 1920's being an opium eater was not a big deal. Western civilization would not have happened without the stuff.
My doc made essentially the same comment to me but out of the blue, and he was trying to be helpful and figure out how to use that bit of information to tweak my meds to work better. The psychs know that opiates are a great AD for some people, but their hands are tied. The studies are being done- along with research on LSD, psillocybin, peyote, ect.
In the meantime- exercise. Not a stroll, but hard training. Your brain will make a fabulous array of opiate like substances if you work hard. A surprising number of elite endurance athletes are self medicating depressives. I got along like that for years, then got too sick to be ignored any longer.
Something to think about.Missliz
poster:missliz
thread:128192
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021116/msgs/128409.html