Posted by TJO on November 16, 2003, at 8:48:54
In reply to Re: Oxycodone (Oxycontin) for depression: How much?, posted by hawkeye on November 15, 2003, at 23:50:04
Hi Scott:
Here is the dosage-this is from someone's post on PB
By the way I do take vicodin for depression at 5/500 in the evening. My psychiatrist prescribes it. I think that if I could take 3 or 4 5/500s a day without becoming tolerant it would eliminate the rest of my depression. Alas, vicodin doesn't work that way, at least for me.
Also here is the longer post the above except was taken from-
A large percentage of people respond well to opioids, depressed or not. I've generally looked forward to things like wisdom teeth being pulled because I know I'll be on vicodin for a day or two. The improvement in mood that I get (and I believe many others get) is remarkable. Indeed before the discovery of the first antidepressants opioids were commonly prescribed for depression.
The problem with opioids is tolerance. Almost everyone develops it sooner or later. So if you're going to use opioids to treat depression, take as little as possible and as mild as possible an opiod. In addition take opioid holidays. I don't know how long they would have to be, and they wouldn't feel like holidays. Other possibilities are mixed agonist antagonists like buprenorphine, which is supposed to produce less tolerance, or tramadol a very week opioid that is also supposed to produce less tolerance.
There is some possibly very good news coming from a company called Pain Therapeutics who are in clinical trials of two drugs, one a morphine formulation and one an oxycodone formulation. The trick of these new drugs is they contain very small amounts of an opioid antagonist (I'm not sure whether it is naloxone or naltrexone). On the surface it sounds silly, but the researchers who founded the company found that the addition of microdoses of antagonists with opiod agonists not only improved analgesia in rats but seemed to block the development of tolerance. Now Murphy's law says that along with the lack of tolerance will come lack of euphoria :( I hope not though.
By the way I do take vicodin for depression at 5/500 in the evening. My psychiatrist prescribes it. I think that if I could take 3 or 4 5/500s a day without becoming tolerant it would eliminate the rest of my depression. Alas, vicodin doesn't work that way, at least for me.
In hopes of better living through better chemistry,
Britt
Also this link might be helpful- http://opioids.com/tramadol/ultramantidep.html
Tammy
poster:TJO
thread:280068
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031116/msgs/280239.html