Posted by shelliR on February 15, 2002, at 13:04:37
In reply to Re: opioid stuff and dealing with doctors » shelliR, posted by Elizabeth on February 15, 2002, at 11:12:37
Hi Elizabeth. Sorry to have been so hard on you; I'm just feeling very very depressed and very frustrated. The reason I would say that I was addicted to oxycontin was that I continued to have to raise my dose to get ANY anti-depressant effect. That was the strange part--that each time it lost effectiveness at a dose, it had no effect on my depression anymore until I raised the dose. I suppose it could be called habituation rather than addiction, but it was horrible to get off of. And I had gotten myself up to a $1000 a month habit. There are several suits against the manufacturers of oxy for touting its appropriateness for arthritis, etc. and getting people addicted to it. When I got taken off of it in the hospital, I think I would have robbed someone if I thought they had oxycontin, or any opiate. I went from oxy to methodone and they were supposed to detox me with bupe but it did nothing. I was in horrible pain. A guy who is part of some methodone maintentance program told me that one should never ever use buprenorphine right after methodone--that it will make withdrawal worse. I'm not sure of the truth of that, but I was on the floor screaming in pain.
Shelli
> > Elizabeth, easy for you to say. You seem to continue to find doctors who will prescribe it for you. I have one guy who was prescribing oxycontin who wouldn't let me try bupe and another doctor who thinks all opiates are evil--thinks I'll become just as addicted to bupe as oxy. Maybe she's right. I don't even know any more. Just like to try it.
>
> Do you really think you were truly addicted to oxycodone? That wasn't my impression. Anyone who takes oxycodone regularly, as you did, will become pharmacologically dependent on it (it might be that this doesn't always happen to people taking it for depression; I'm not sure). That's a normal reaction, not a pathological one. Addiction is when people start having cravings, doing things to get drugs that they would never do otherwise, and so forth.
>
> Anyway, I didn't mean to trivialize your problems finding a doctor, and I'm sorry if that's how it came across. Believe me, I do know how hard it can be, and I'm not sure what to suggest. How did you find the guy who prescribed the OxyContin? I'd expect doctors to be more leery of that (especially with the recent bad publicity) than of buprenorphine. I've been calling Johns Hopkins all morning, but their studies seem to be about buprenorphine maintenance rather than bupe for refractive depression.Shelli
>
> I'll think on it and let you know if I come up with any ideas other than those that have been mentioned. I'm very sorry that you're stuck in this situation; it's quite scary not to know how you can get the medication you need. I really do hope that you can figure out a way to treat your depression.
>
> As always, you have my best wishes.
>
> -elizabeth
poster:shelliR
thread:93100
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020215/msgs/94277.html