Using opiates for anxiety and depression?

[patagon84]

So I have had pretty serious anxiety and depression issues for as long as I can remember. I am 22 years old, and I have spent everyday of those 22 years obsessing over things that are completely out of my control. I have been diagnosed/misdiagnosed as having multiple disorders; GAD, agoraphobia, borderline personality disorder, and finally as manic depressive, which I think is the most accurate.
During college, I saw multiple university mental health doctors, most of whom just offered me a bottle of xanax, clonopin, or ativan and sent me on my way. Among these meds, I have also tried: lexapro, paxil, zoloft, seroquel, lamictal, xyprexa, buspar, and welbutrin. Currently I am taking depakote er, which actually seems to be working fairly well. It makes the anxiety bareable, but doesn't do much for my depression.
However, there has always been one thing that has relieved all my symptoms; pain medications. First I would like to say something that Im sure everyone knows; these medicines are very addictive and should not be abused. Unfortunately, they are the only things that work for me. The make me completely calm and relaxed, and not wozy and out of it like benzos do. I have never tried to obtain them illegal or without reason, but have come to this conclusion on occassions when I have been given them for legitamate pain. I am curious to know if someone can offer any scientific or medical explaination as to why opiates are so effective. I am also curious whether there are any anxiety medications that incorporate opiate therapy.

[Konabear13]

First off, How can you generalize ANY drug??  Its chemestry!  None of us are identicle, so we can not expect identicle reactions to a drug.  It pisses me off to see people post that "all opiates are bad for all people" and that " the high is just that, a high".  If you suffer from Major Depression Disorder, or Bipolar Disorder or Mood Disorders of any kind, you can testify that there is NOTHING on this earth that compares to the HELL that you live with everyday.  You are stuck in a body that has a dysfunctioning organ(the brain) that just so happens to control your mood and how you process information coming in and going out.  It is the worst thing  that has ever happened to me and I can honestly say that I would WELCOME cancer (as I have many family and friends fighting cancer) in place of depression.  Why? Because you know your enemy and you can fight with your heart and soul still intact.  As for depression, you are ROBBED of your very soul.  It is truely HELL ON EARTH. And I will go down fighting if someone keeps me away from ANYTHING that will stave off dpression and its nasty choke hold.  I can not function in life with this desease.  I can not "talk myself into" feeling better.  I can not meditate my way to feeling happy or relaxed.  Its like asking some one to meditate thier severed leg back on. Its just not possible....for me.  Vicodin, in plain english, gives me my life back.  It LETS me feel something other than despair.Would you tell a loved one that you would rather watch them suffer slowly and agonizingly under the curse of depression rather than give them a chance to feel good??? I would take 5 years of happiness over 30 years under the heavy blanket of Depression Disorders.  If taking a med is considered dangerous to my health, but lets me have the quality of life I so desprately crave (and that so many just naturally have) then I say, sign me up.  They always say it is quality not quantity in life and I firmly believe that,  Give me the tool to really LIVE and I will take the consiquence that comes with it.  But God in heaven, dont deny me the oppertunity to see life as it was meant to be, not the torturous hell that this desease inflects on its desprate victims.  And all of you out there looking at this opiate option for depression as it is disgusting and drug seeking filth, you most obviously DO NOT have this debilitating desease.  You are just bummed out and need to go exercise.  Us fighters of this desease will carry on and continue to be the bravest people in the world. Next to our solders of course.  God bless all of you fighters of Depression.  No one really knows what you go through and no one ever will unless they are cursed like we are.  And if get a chance to live life, even for a limited time, live it and dont regret!! Good luck to us all, we are going to need it in this ignorant society that judges so abruptlyand  that simply doesnt understand.  

[Lycas7x]

I have been taking an opiate for tention headaches.  I have cut way back and now I have noticed arthritis in my knees and a tendonitis in my foot that comes and goes... and I'm having break thru crying jags that last a minute or so... I have been on a meds for depression for years.... it took me three years to get off the pot.... I needed something and became expossed to the opiates intentionally.  I actually worked very hard to get off them after a car crash shorly after getting thru the worst of the dope addiction.... I don't want to go thru PAWS with opiates. The first time I only took them for seven weeks. I haven't taken a drink in almost 25 years.  I lived with two alcoholics, or they lived off me.  Physical pain or emotional pain?  Be careful with anything that is addicting!

I lived vicariously thru them and am quite fimiliar with the recovery process.
I just had my first tooth pulled from bone loss in my gums.... my teeth are fine. I forget to floss every night.  ouch.

[Reshtel]

Thank you so much for the information NN30!  I'm at work or I'd pontificate a bit! Just wanted to say thanks very much for the reply!

[NeuroNerd30]

References to scientific studies/journal articles on opiates in psychiatry-

The following are human studies:

• Buprenorphine treatment of refractory depression. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. February 1995- Volume 15- Issue 1- pp 49-57

• Dysregulation of Endogenous Opioid Emotion Regulation Circuitry in Major Depression in Women  Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:1199-1208

• Opioid receptors and limbic responses to aversive emotional stimuli. 7084–7089 PNAS May 14, 2002  vol. 99  no. 10

http://www.womensradio.com/articles/using-Buprenorphine-(subutex-suboxone)-for-treating-severe-depression/4390.html


• Stress Responsivity, Addiction, and a Functional Variant of the Human Mu-Opioid Receptor Gene. Molecular Interventions.  April 2007 Volume 7, Issue 2
• Regulation of Human Affective Responses by Anterior Cingulate and Limbic µ-Opioid Neurotransmission. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60:1145-1153
• Psychotherapeutic Benefits of Opioid Agonist Therapy. Journal of Addictive Diseases, Vol. 27(3) 2008
• Altered levels of basal cortisol in healthy subjects with a 118G allele in exon 1 of the mu opioid receptor gene. Neuropsychopharmacology (2006) 31, 2313-2317
• Emotional perception modulated by an opioid and a cholecystokinin agonist Psychopharmacology (2008) 197:295–307
• The Dysphoric Component of Stress Is Encoded by Activation of the Dynorphin -Opioid System The Journal of Neuroscience, January 9, 2008 • 28(2):407– 414 • 407

• Variation in the -opioid receptor gene (OPRM1)is associated with dispositional and neural sensitivity to social rejection PNAS  September 1, 2009  vol. 106  no. 35  15079–15084

Will list additional human studies and some good animal studies as well...

[NeuroNerd30]

Hi Reshtel,

Thanks for the link. Yes, I have actually seen this book before. This may be an interesting book since he offers his own experience with patients and opiates. He probably also builds a scientific case for his book with citations from the literature. In a similar vein, I will post the titles of some of the more pertinent journal articles I've read (most of which are available for free download from internet or I can email them as PDFs to anyone who is interested).

Below I'm going to post a link to a blog post by Dr. J Burson, where she asks the question is Buprenorphine an antidepressant? Following the article she and I get into a civil discussion which is similar in many regards to what I have posted on this thread. In both instances though, many of the arguments I make are not actually addressed by the people who disagree.

http://addictionblog.org/the-news/is-buprenorphine-an-antidepressant/#comment-10398

[Reshtel]

Opiates can work long term.  Please visit www.theopiatecure.com

I just finished his book and it is very interesting.