Taking Hydrocodone For Depression (Page 22)
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I am wondering if anybody else out there has taken Hydrocodone and noticed that symptoms of depression are alleviated? I find that many of today's anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs come with unpleasant side effects, whereas while taking Hydrocodone they aren't there. The caveat to all of this is that yes, I know that Hydrocodone and opiates in general can be addictive. So long term use would result in withdrawal symptoms. I'm just wondering who else might agree with me on this?

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Hello Everyone,

I have read many of your posts and appreciate your input.

To get right to the point, I currently take Hydrocodone for chronic pain. I have tried nearly every type of medication available and none has worked like Hydrocodone. No brainer! With that said, Hydrocodone does, indeed, elevate my mood and decrease my depression levels, too. However, I know I could never rely on Hydrocodone as an anti-depressant because I know it starts to wear off within hours and it results in terrible withdraws that make me feel even more depressed! As much as I would love to rely on it as an anti-depressant, I know I could never due to its withdraw symptoms (even one day).

My question is how do those of you avoid building a tolerance to Hydrocodone? How do you cope with withdraw symptoms if you run out (for even one day)? How do you avoid becoming addicted?

Kudos to you that you can rely on Hydrocodone as an anti-depressant. I wish I could, but I know what the repercussions could be for me . . .

Your input is much appreciated!!

Jasmine

Hydrocodone acts as an opiate by binding to specific receptors (neurotransmitters) in the brain that control mood. The opiates cause the neurotransmitters to fire at a high rate, thus producing more dopamine than your brain is used to. This results in an elevated mood and a decrease in depression for many of us. However, the effect wears off very quickly, resulting in the need to increase the dose quite often.

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Wow.. Real regal of you with your stated 'position' to make threats to people on an online message forum of people that deal with REAL depression every single day and are trying to communicate in an efficient manner about something that truly does help them. We are not on here condoning drug use but rather speaking from our own experiences. You must be one very bored woman to threaten 'IP addresses', but I doubt you would understand what to do, not to mention the fact you need a court order to do anything to even pull and do anything with said IP addresses. Good riddance to people like you Donna!

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Yes hydrocodone Works great for depression I want to figure out how to get it for depression to

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I think it is a Miracle drug. I have been on it for close the 3 years and the most I have had in one day would be 4 10mg. When I don't have it my social anxiety and my IB syndrome comes back full force, but when I do take it my bowel movements are normal, my social anxiety goes away and it actually makes me think faster. Also no depression at all. I feel like I want to accomplish things which I do. I Wish they would make them over the counter just so I could see a hope for my present and my future.

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I take Oxycodone, but it's really ROXYcodone No Tylenol. I mentioned earlier that I can only that since I have liver damage (which was from taking Simvastatin for cholesterol and the enzymes were up to 723!). I could have died. Now they are at 143. I have gotten so that if I take that and it helps me or Modafinil (please all with Major Depression, I urge you to check that out. I get it overseas w/ out a prescription, but my Doctor knows about it) or whatever, I don't even care what the long term effects are. With the Major Depression in full force for me, I WASN'T LIVING, I WAS EXISTING! Good luck to everyone on what you take. Please be careful of the addiction of some of these medications. Thanks for reading.

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If hydrocodone can make this many people and more, not want to kill themselves, get stuff done you would never do, enjoy life and the people around you, and sleep eat and function normally than why dont they stop looking for alternatives and give us the help we know to work. We are all wired differently and hydros arent for everyone, but i would rather keep my hydros over what else is legal right now. (Cigs and booze). Have been taking hydros for about 6 years now after a bad snowboarding accident. Somas, clonazepam, tramadol and 1 more were others ive tried for different problems. Hydrocodone is the ONLY one that kills everything! Pain, depression, eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom and im sure theres more. This shouldnt be a huge deal, its our bodies and our lifes we want to make better. This needs to change. Depression is bad in my family and i dont want to deal with it anymore.

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I have suffered from Major Depression for my entire adult life. I am 56 now. It was determined 10 years ago that I have TRD (Treatment Resistant Depression). If you look it up under your Search Engine, say Google, you will be amazed at all the things I have been through. I was subjected to everything there is for TRD. Five years ago, I had a serious injury and now also suffer from chronic pain. Hydrocodone was prescribed to me at first, and I did get some relief from my depression that no other medication my Psychiatrist prescribed for me. I got used to the Hydrocodone and was switched to Oxycodone. That also relieves my depression. Off the pain medicine subject, the medication that my Psychiatrist prescribed for me as a last resort was Nuvigil and my insurance didn't cover it, so he switched me to Provigil. That wasn't covered either. They are both known to help depression, but are not FDA approved for it, so the insurance won't pay. These are both Stimulants and with samples he gave me, it was unreal how it changed my mood and gave me the drive to do more things. Since he couldn't keep me in samples and I can't afford it, I have been getting it Overseas, under the name Modafinil. So, between pain medicine and a stimulant I got more relief than any psychotropic drug or combination, thereof, ever gave me.

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A few years back I fell into a slump. My entire world collapsed around me. I lost my job. Discovered my wife was having an affair and was diagnosed with cancer all within 2 months. To make matters worse it was right around the holidays which has always been a difficult time for me. I have always suffered with moderate to light depression but was always able to maintain to a certain degree. I got to where I didn't even feel like myself anymore. Didn't want to work. Didn't want to do chores. Didn't even want to play with my kids. The walls were literally closing in on me from every direction. I couldn't breathe anymore. All I could think about was how things got so bad so quick. Finally through some help from some close friends I went to get help. I started on Paxil. That was the most awful drug I've ever taken. Made me feel like a zombie. Them on to Zoloft. Wellbutrin. Effexor. None of it worked. In fact it seemed to do the exact opposite. After having surgery to remove a malignant tumor my doctor prescribed me loritab 10's. The pain was rough for awhile but I began to notice that I felt like my old self again. Was able to get out more and do the things I needed and wanted to do. Had 10X more energy and ambition. Like most of you I too feel that hydrocodone is the only thing that helps severe depression and is the only reason I'm still here today. My only advise is to maintain a high level of caution while using this drug and use extreme discipline because one is never enough. If you're not careful you will find yourself taking more than is needed for depression. I've heard stories of people taking as many as 15-20 a day. If used properly this mediation is worth it's weight in gold. If abused the effects can be catastrophic. I am now a 2&1/2 year cancer survivor that is happily divorced and climbing the ranks of a new job. My best advice to anyone whose experiencing any of what I went through is to never give up hope. Never quit. There's always a way out you just have to find it and work toward it.

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HalfShellie - I want to thank you so much for your posts on here. If you are still active here, you can read mine from today - 1/2/14. I would love to know how you are doing now. Thanks again.

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Wow. I'm just stunned at finding this thread! I had no idea this was a possible treatment until I just googled 'hydrocodone for depression' an hour ago. And the reason being...I've been in & out of a deep depression for weeks. Struggling with it all my life since childhood. All the similar stories - unable to find help. Various diagnoses. SO many trials of different drugs - sometimes a little help, sometimes none. Bad side effects. Good effects wore off. Diet. Research. Pleas for help. Last night after hours of sobbing, my mind crazed with hallucinations and dark spinning, truly in agony...and no one who has never experienced it has no idea..as I think most of you know. Fighting wishes of death to end the pain, I thought 'I've got to get sleep'. The only thing I had was a bottle of Hydrocodone that I'd gotten after surgery & not used. I thought - 'Maybe it'll help me sleep." & took one. I felt peace. And slept. This morning the nausea & pain began to harden in me again, & I took one more to go back to sleep. And in a few minutes I realized my mind had calmed again. For the first time in hours I was not sobbing, my body could move, I could think. Holy Toledo! I've been researching, reading, tring to find answers for 50 years! And yes, tried the 'recreational drug' route. But I had never heard of the chemical reaction of opiates. I will be careful. I know what drugs can do. But this has at least given me hope.
What those who post saying - get some exercise. Do happy things! don't understand is how weak and paralyzed you are when this slams you. It doesn't make any difference how many methods you know that will help - you can barely breathe. I can breathe this morning. i can see the sun shining. I can feel joy. Amazing. I will be studying and working with this. Thank you all.

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You're wrong about the etiology of depression. And saying yourself you've suffered with it for years just goes to show you really don't know how best to treat it either. I agree that you must keep a great attitude as much as you can, and many other factors play into it also. However, depression (and anxiety too) do have a basis in our chemical/neurological/nervous systems, making the condition largely out of our control much of the time. That's why we're all on here even having this conversation. I agree hydrocodone does produce a feeling of well-being, which is why my brother became an addict and eventually died from his addictions, but it was not hydrocodone that was involved at that time. I have safely used lortab for an extended period of pain, and no longer take it. Fortunately, Effexor does work for me, but I can't disagree with anybody that it makes you feel as though things are better in this world. The funny thing is that I've heard people - and I want to say especially doctors - use the term "euphoric" when describing the pleasurable feelings it invokes, but I've never enjoyed "euphoria", just a general sense of well-being, and never felt "high". I can't speak for other opiods, but this one in particular is probably the safest of them all.

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This is an update:

This drug as much as it helped my depression had one fall back. Suicidal processes take control this is a dangerous drug to have around. I would recommend having this drug under a friends control or locked up. I attempted suicide using this drug and was very lucky to be here writing this. Losing a child and finding him dead is a NASTY combination. PTSD ownes my life and I am not curable of it. This is after many professionals have looked at me and ALL have said this.

Hydro did great for lifting the fog and density of depression. Just be careful.

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I read your post and thought I would reply. I also suffer from depression and I've been on every antidepressant med on market and even had ETC nothing helps me. I have always been a very happy person. I had a hysterectomy at age 34 and my health slowly declined. I think menopause is the cause of my depression. I would tell the Dr and they would just brush me off. I finally found two new dr one is OB. They both listen to me and checked my hormones. I had very very little and I was also vitamin deficient. I'm now on estrogen and testosterone. I'm doing a u.a for progesterone, cortisol, adrenal function and something else. The hormones have help me plus I'm taking vitiams that help with depression.

I also suffer from back pain and was given loratab. I found out by taking them how good I felt. I felt normal, happy, productive and wanted to socialize again. So the loratab has kept me from being sucidial. My kids knew I took them, but one day they found them and realized I was taking more than prescribed so they took them away from me. My new dr gives me stronger dose of 10's that I can take 3 times a day. I just hide them and I hate doing that. My children will not do research on depression and they think I can just snap out of it. I wish it was that easy. Who would choose depression over happiness.

I do suffer from severe back pain, arthritis, bursitis etc etc. Working for post office and all the lifting I did ruin my body.

Anyway, I'm hoping HRT continues to help and the vitiamins I'm getting ready to buy also help.

Good luck and hope you feel better.

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To Donna and Tony--

Simply not true. I have severe lower back pain, have taken hydrocodone (and previously oxycodone) for eight years now, no more than 3/day with several off-days between 3-day periods. It's not an artificial high, folks, it's the "What was that all about?" feeling when depression lifts. Almost all the reviews on this page suggest that we haven't yet done the relevant research on the potential of medications not originally designed as antidepressants. So no preaching, please. Depressives aren't just people who should do more yoga, and a positive response to an off-label medication isn't necessarily a "high."

I'm officially a treatment-resistant depressive: my diagnosis after 28 years with an excellent psychiatrist who has tried a huge number of antidepressants and bipolar medications, singly and in combination. No matter what I was taking, the depression would come up like a shark to chew at me for weeks at a time, and I was never wholly free or secure. With my intermittent doses of hydrocodone I'm generally balanced, able to ward off the worst attacks of a chemically weird psyche. (Depression runs through the four generations of my family that I know about.) And by the way, the pain is manageable too.

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OMG!!! I am glad that I found this blog... I thought I was weird. I have lower back pain but not doctor says it is not chronic enough to be on long term hydro pills. When I do have the meds. I am in a better state of mind and besides no pain, I have tons of patience with my kiddos and we sing, dance, and play. I also get lots of house work done and I can remember better when it comes to helping my older kiddos with their homework and doing trigonometry, calculus, and physics.

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I agree completely that it helps people with depression!!!!! I was abused as a child, molested by a cousin. Had parents that verbally and physically abused me. My life life has been a struggle. I have went to therapy i have anxiety meds that numb me and its no life ,but i do what i can to get by. Right now my depression is bad from a car wreak horrible neck pain and i cant exercise or do my normal routine. Its been 30 days dealing with this pain. And true addicts that are looking for a high make it hard for people in major pain to get any relief. I don't want a high i want to be pain free. And when a doctor chimes in giving advice its a good laugh. Go stick your judge mental nose in a book that tells you what to think. What a joke some doctors are, your title means nothing to me.I am so thankful for the internet so i can figure my own things out and talk to people who understand. Pain pills are soooooo bad but go home & take 6 650mg of tylenol LOL Thats what is hard on the liver that is in a hydro correct? But i can get a 5mg/325 that will take my pain/depression away instead of those 6/650mg of tylenol that don't touch the pain.HMMMM i am not a doctor but sounds a little dumb. Oh wait i forgot its addicting too, well i have never had that problem. But i can go get a pack of cigarettes right now and how addicting are those or how many people have they killed? Same as alcohol right?? Damages liver kidneys & kills people but its ok. LOL please. Government, doctors do not care about others heath, it's all a joke!!!

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That would be so great, as I know it is the only thing that has ever helped me feel normal. I had 2 kidney surgeries and hydrocodone was given to me. I had quite a lot left over several yrs. ago and have only used 1/2 pill every other day. It has made such a difference in my life. But now I am almost out and I know that no dr. will ever prescribe this for me even though the antidepressant drugs do not help me. So, I am very happy for you that this is helping you and you feel better - my question is this: how do you get the medication? What do you do if you run out?

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I have been on over 40 diff meds since I was 14, and I am 30, for bipolar and PTSD and can tell you from experience that I honestly have had the worstside effects from many meds and was perscribed every benzo their was toward the end which are horribly addictive and caused me to just sleep, made me irritable and angry, some meds made me suicidal, others I had severe reactions to. None worked. I was put on hydrocodone for swimmers ear and realized that I was able to function like a normal human being, like not only get out of bed and shower but be an active part of my kid's lives, very active. I also take care of my mother full time whom has stage 4 cancer. I only take one 10/325 in the morning. I have never up'd my dose. I disagree that it is any different then any other crazy med that I have been put on and it is the only one that has EVER worked. I have never been able to be a happy, normal, productive person so exuse me if I don't give a s*** about whether it is addictive cause I have been on tons of meds that were either addictive or had horrible side effects. Hydrocodone is no worse and the only thing that has worked so I take it as I would any other psych med.

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Have any studies been done on this because I was on every bipolar, seperate depression and anxiety meds, anti-psychotics, everything possible over a span from 14-27 probably 30-40 meds. In two mental hospitals for 72 hours mental health holds because of meds side effects from a couple of meds. A few hospital visits for reactions to meds. I am on disability for bipolar and PTSD and my depression and anxiety are dabilitating. I have a lot of emotional and physical trauma in my life. I started taking hydrocodone 5's about 6 months ago. I will take two in the morning and have absolutely no depression or anxiety at all all day. It is the ONLY med that has ever worked for me and before I literally could not het out of bed at all let alone get things done that were needed to be done. I am happy an an extremely active parent and involved with the school, activities, keep the house clean all the time, love to cook. First time I have EVER felt normal in my life. I have taken many other addictive medicines so I see no difference and I do not take any more than when I started. I am a prime example that hydrocodone works but am scared to tell a doc because of fear thst they will think I am a drug seeker which is absolutely not the case. If I can be perscribed 3 blue foot Xanax's a day and be absolutely addicted to them to the point of a brain seizure when someone stole them one time, that only made me sleep all the time, then why can I not be perscribed hydrocodone. My father was depressed his whole life. He did different meds too. He tried to kill himself and ran into a telephone pole at 60 mph. He had to have reconstructice facial surgery and had one of the metal on metal hip replacements. Due to pain they perscribed hydrocodones to him. He said he was the happiest he had ever been and called it his 'life saver' after a year or so the doc thought he was taking too many, 3 a day. His doctor took him off of them. 3 months later he took his own life. He had journals and they said he just couldn't go back to being that depressed after finally feeling ok. That was August 20, 2012. I decided to try them in February of 2013. I am hoping I don't have to go back to feeling that way. I quit taking any meds two years ago and can not take SSRI'S now for some reason it anything that releases seritonin in the brain causes serotonin syndrome so most every anti-depressant is not an option at this point now. If there are any studies or a way to talk to my doc about this, please let me know. I want to take meds in a legit way but don't know how to explain to my doctor. Thank you.

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I also observed these amazing effects after suffering a kidney stone. I found it fascinating - and understand that addiction is a real possibility - but the fact that the medical community does not even offer this as a temporary treatment for ACUTE depression is a shame. It is off label for sure but is amazingly effective.

In addition to my normal dosage of SSRI, I took 2 pills a day (once in the AM another in the PM) for 14 days. It relieved my acute depression, allowed me to work and really appreciate the good things. I had been under the cloud of depression for so long, I quite literally forgot what it felt like to be excited or really happy and satisfied.

Most amazingly of all, after stopping my treatment, the pathways in my brain that were created by the drug to allow me to feel happiness and being excited, remain. I feel NORMAL now. Feeling not just normal "downs"...but "ups" too. Nothing extreme. Just normalcy. Amazing.

Side Effects: Highly addictive, causes drowsiness toward the last hour of each pill's its effectiveness.

Some notes on my experience:
1. I took no more than 2 X 10mg/325 pills (Norco) per day. I am 70 inches tall and 235 lbs. So make sure if you are substantially lighter than me - you may want to request 5 mg pills.

2. Make sure your doctor is involved. Describe the effects of the medication. They hear it all the time and can help control dosage. The idea is to get the best depression and anxiety relief with the least amount of the drug. You want to avoid addiction which, depending on your DNA may not be possible - so please be careful and have a professional involved. I found my doctor to be surprisingly supportive and was under his close care.

3. I found that during the peak of the drug's effect (60-90 minutes after taking the pill), that I wanted to maintain that "buzz" and was tempted to take another pill. Don't. I found when I did - it did not enhance, nor extend the effect - it only made things vaguely unpleasant. Hard to explain but I only did this once and that experience was not something I wanted to experience again.

4. Withdrawal from the drug is mildly unpleasant. Even at the low dosage I took, I had 3 sweaty, partially restless nights and a little anxiety during the day. Never intense but something you should be aware of.

Today: I have a small supply of Norco in my cabinet - my doctor has given me a couple refills for physical and now mental pain. I will not have to suffer through acute depression ever again.

Doctors and Mental Health Professionals, please consider a study on this. Addiction is a terrible downside, but the risk may be worth the reward in your most acutely affected patients.

Thanks for your time.

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