Posted by jerrympls on November 13, 2005, at 18:58:10
In reply to Re: Opiates for depression?, posted by linkadge on November 13, 2005, at 18:47:30
> There is no difference between the addictive potential of opiates, and benzo's or stimulants.
>
> Significant depression can be a symptom of opiate withdrawl, regardless of weather one considers themselves an addict or not.
>
> LinkadgeI totally agree that increased depression can and is part of opiate withdrawl - and it's something I worry a little about if & when I have to go off the opiate I am taking.
I think in many cases of treatment-resistant depression, one's reward system is "damaged." Right now there are not many choices to help fix the reward system in psychiatric medicine and the use of opiates may be just a temporary and crude fix --what I'm getting at is that more attention needs to be focused on the reward system instead of the basic serotonin/NE imbalance. Perhaps someday they'll be able to synthesize a med that balances out the reward system and that doesn't cause addiction or withdrawl.
Interesting excerpt from one of the links you posted:
"Depressive and dysthymic people often suffer from a dysfunctional opioid system and anhedonia - an incapacity to experience pleasure. Sometimes orthodox "antidepressants" may even make them feel worse. Yet controlled clinical trials of designer narcotics for refractory and/or melancholic depression, let alone their use by "normal" people with "ordinary" mood-disorders, are not imminent."
poster:jerrympls
thread:575925
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051112/msgs/578318.html