Posted by BrittPark on September 28, 2002, at 21:44:03
In reply to Re: Opioids and Depression » BrittPark, posted by Jerrympls on September 23, 2002, at 23:32:52
Since there has been little response I think I'll add some more grist to the mill.
It has been found that extremely low doses of naltrexone (an opiate receptor antagonist usually used to treat ODs or as a blocker of opiate effect in detoxed opiate addicts) in combination with an opiate (morphine and oxycodone have been specifically looked at, I think) produced stronger analgesia at lower opiate doses, and seem to inhibit tolerance development. On the strength of this research a company has been formed and is in stage II trials with two combination drugs.
In some people, opiates produce a strong antidepressant effect. They were the treatment of choice for depression before the discovery of the first MAOIs, remember. The difficulty is that most people develop tolerance to opiates with continued usage, such a strong tolerance that the antidepressant effect is lost. I think these new combination agonist-low dose antagonist opiates show promise as a future AD treatment.
I'm currently on a titration run with Lamictal (100mg so far), and I think I'm starting to feel an effect. I hope it continues so I can get off a number of band-aid drugs I'm taking (Ritalin, Benzos). If the lamictal doesn't work I'm thinking of asking my Psychiatrist to let me try a more aggressive opiate treatment (oxycontin), perhaps with low dose naltrexone.
I'm still looking for more people's experience with opioids for depression. There have been several protracted opioid threads in the past. Let's get the latest news. If some of you are hesitant about posting on a controversial topic, send me your stories directly and I'll summarize without names or identifying information.
Britt
poster:BrittPark
thread:120871
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020922/msgs/121456.html