Posted by psychobot5000 on November 14, 2011, at 15:08:11
In reply to Re: opiates and major depression » europerep, posted by Chairman_MAO on November 10, 2011, at 5:45:36
Europerp: throughout this conversation I find your responses to the very helpful and knowledgeable Chairman_MAO to be rather haughty and ungentlemanly (or unladylike?). I don't see the need for any of it.
As for some questions earlier about buprenorphine's pharmacology, I don't think I saw them answered. I will attempt to do so. It's a partial agonist of mu-opioid receptors (meaning it only partway activates those receptors once it binds, so there's a lower 'ceiling' to its effect, no matter how many receptors it binds to), but has -very- -high- affinity for those receptors, so, yes, it attaches to them strongly and can displace some other medications. It's also, if I remember correctly, a kappa-opioid antagonist, but I'm skeptical about how important that is to its mood benefits.
I have been prescribed suboxone for TRD, and a quarter of a 2mg (so .5mg buprenorphine plus whatever nalaxone was in it) pill bowled me over. I'd recommend starting from .2mg and building from there.
Also, for that matter: there was confusion, above, about the second ingredient in suboxone is. It's nalaxone, the opiate antagonist used to prevent abuse by injection, not nalTREXone, the opiate antagonist used for various other things, including, I've heard, preventing tolerance.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:81414
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111110/msgs/1002549.html