Taking Hydrocodone For Depression (Page 6)

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 Rita,

You are definitely not alone!

I recently told my primary care physician that I was taking more of the Hydrocodone that was prescribed for me. I told him that I felt like I was losing control with the Hydrocodone (which I was). Because I know that I have become addicted to it, I had to tell him the truth.

Going back to the beginning: My primary care physician prescribed Hydrocodone for chronic pain. I have been to 30 different specialists for every type of MRI, CAT Scan, bone, scan, blood test, etc. I have tried every type of medication you can imagine. Hydrocodone worked/works the best for pain. However, I had no clue I could become so easily addicted to it. It seems to obliterate any depression or anxiety, as well. With that said . . .

When I told my primary care physician my problem with Hydrocodone, his response was so unbelievably supportive! He told me that studies show that if a random group of people were given an opiate drug, 1/4 of them would become addicted to it!!! He said some people are simply born with certain brain chemistry that is prone to opiate addiction or alcohol addiction, etc. For example, some individuals have brain chemistry that lacks certain levels of serotonin or dopamine or too much or too little P Source. So, when the brain is fed an opiate, for instance, it produces an elevated mood. This is why you feel "normal" when you take your Loritab. This is why I feel normal when I take my Hydrocodone.

Further, my doctor continued to explain to me that he has several patients who have told him that opiate based drugs make them feel "normal." My doctor said that addiction stems from biology, not character. While addiction is not something we are all proud of, we shouldn't feel ashamed of it either.

Anyway, my doctor is helping me taper off my Hydrocodone. He has prescribed Buspar (an anti-anxiety) that helps with generalized anxiety and helps with opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Many people claim that Buspar is too weak and does nothing for them. However, I beg to differ. It does help a little, so far. With that said, there are other medications that can help with opiate withdrawal symptoms or help alleviate cravings for opiate based medications. Wellbutrin is one of them.

My point is this: You should be able to tell your doctor like it is. He or she can help you get in control of the Loritab or help you quit all together. Or, he or she can recommend you to a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction, mood disorders, etc. Hence, a psychiatrist can help you by prescribing the appropriate medication that will help aid your desire to decrease or quit Loritab and find the right anti-anxiety medication or anti-depressants.

Remember, you are not alone:)

Feel free to ask any questions. I am sure many of us can help you gain a better understanding of all of this.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Jasmine

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More interesting information has come to light. As an infant my mother had no tolerance out patience to deal with me, so she procured prescriptions for laudanum to get me to sleep at night. Research shows that infants and toddlers given laudanum for any length of time predisposed the infant to bounce back anxiety, excitability, all sorts of behavior issues that lead to...you guessed it, a predisposition to become dependant on opiates later in life. Basically, mom turned me into an addict as an infant and the opiates make me feel normal.this new info from my father prompted research and what I found blew my mind. Btw, New formulations of hydrocodone are coming out that are shredded release, one pill a day. Id rather take that than an anti depressant that doesn't work. If the dopamine shortage in my brain is what is causing the depression, than I'm all for it being treated with what works as opposed to bring cycles on and off of crap that doesn't work and turns me into a zombie.

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The only problem I see with using hydrocodone to help depression is that the opiates will eventually cause more or start depression in a person. I have been addicted to opiates for over 15 years. They have brought on depression for me.

Although I am now on methadone for 3 months now, my depression has gone away for the most part. I am not stating that hydrocodone will bring on depression but am just giving my experience and that it brings depression if I where to take it now.

I hope this keeps helping you but I'd be careful with it as a solution as it may backfire on you.

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Hello Dunn With Opiates,

You are right! While Opiates produce an immediate sense of relief and satisfaction, in the long run they cause more grief. As you mentioned, the more of a tolerance you build up to Opiates, the more you need. And, the more you need, the more dependent you become on them. The more dependent you become on them, the more you set yourself up for the inevitable dreaded withdrawals. It is the notorious withdrawals that cause acute depression and even suicidal tendencies. In short, the more Opiates you take, the more intense the withdrawals become. There is no way of avoiding the withdrawals unless you keep increasing your dose which will eventually lead to overdose or unless you can stay in complete control of Opiate intake and space out the doses, so you don't build up a tolerance (something I just cannot do!!).

With that said, for those of you who take Opiates because you are resistant to anti-depressants, I am not saying that you will become more depressed. I know you find the ultimate relief in Opiates! I feel the same way:) I am just saying that if you choose to use Opiates for your depression, be very careful about the nature of Opiates and how easy it is to get caught up in the vicious cycle of building up a tolerance, needing more, and then experiencing withdrawals. The withdrawals will cause more intense depression than ever before. If you can stay in control of the entire scenario, more power to you! I know I can't stay in control.

That is why I am tapering off Hydrocodone very slowly. While Hydrocodone provides me with instant relief, it has also caused depression at a new level whenever I have "run out" of it and experienced withdrawals. I no longer want to live in fear of the constant threat of the notorious dreaded withdrawals.

Sincerely,

Jasmine

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Hello Cat,

Wow! The things we find out about ourselves can be astonishing!

Perhaps, learning that you were given Laudanum as an infant/child can help make some sense as to why your body responds the way it does to Opiates!

It appears that Opiate addiction is a genetic element that runs in my family. My grandmother and aunt were addicted to pain killers and my cousin who was only 27 years-old overdosed on H. It is unfortunate to have a predisposition for opiate addiction. Some experts say that individuals can increase their serotonin and dopamine levels through various means: anti-depressants (which don't always work), exercise (sounds too simple, but it's true), and eating certain foods (spicy), and last, find a "flow" in life that is a calming, rewarding hobby or work of some kind.

I am not sure what you meant by the "shredded" medication statement. Does it have to do with a slow acting medication that has a time release to it?

Sincerely,

Jasmine

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Jasmine, shredded was my not smart phone changing words. I meant extended release. I've been on the opiates roller coaster ride for two years now due to back injury. My goal was to keep working, but the pain was intense and around the clock, so my specialist rxd 2 meds, fentanyl patches for 24 hour pain control plus vicodin for break through pain. My job, being a very physical one led me to sweat off the patches... and he was strict. Try telling a dr or phsrmacist that your patch feel off, and they'll laugh at you. So im well used to withdrawl. Finally we found a combo that worked, exalgo (extended release hydromorphone) which saved me i swear. One pill a day, no side effects, no plethora of pills to tempt me to take more. When I lost insurance, I had to come off of everything. Yes I had depression but for other reasons, my mom died, I was out of work and the pain prevented me from functioning. I'll tell you something which helps with the anxiety of opiate withdrawal...I used it to help taper and report the side effect s, especially the anxiety.its otc anti diarrheal, forget the brand name but look up loperamide. Its a cousin to opiates which works in the GI tract. If you Google it you can find more info. Some pple have come up with ways to get it to cross the blood brain barrier and feel high, but it does help on its own with withdrawal. I saw a surgeon yesterday, and after we do new imaging I may, May not be a goidv candidate for surgery. If not, I'm looking at a lifetime of opiate pain management. Add you said, you build tolerance, but I've heard of cases where people are cycled on and off different formulations when that happens. Yes, finding out about the laudanum given to me as an infant and toddler is valuable info that can hopefully he'll my doctors isolate a good combo of meds that will help. I wish you luck, support you fully in your journey to kick the hydrocodone. Try the loperamide, it helps. But you have to take higher dosages than on label so please, scrub the net for as much info as you can get. And no, constipation isn't a concern, lol <3

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Hi Cat,

Thanks for providing me with tips for opiate withdrawals. I will research Loperamide!

If you do go the route of opiate pain management, hopefully you can get back on Exalgo. It does sound ideal.

I understand that being depressed over you mother's demise is much harder than dealing with opiate withdrawal (I am sorry to hear that), however in general, how do you deal with opiate withdrawal? Does it make you feel depressed or hopeless?

I just started counseling today so I could get help while tapering slowly off Hydrocodone. My counselor told me the best way to get in control of any type of addiction is to do it slowly, so the brain can "learn" to live without it again. It is not like I am on a high dose of Hydrocodone, but I can't seem to live without it now!

With all that said, it seems that my biggest concern is addiction while your biggest concern is the pain you are suffering from. Or, perhaps, I am wrong.

I do know that if I ever experience chronic pain again the way I have in the past, I wouldn't hesitate to start over again with opiate pain management. It was and is the only "break through" medication that works for pain, period! Thank God for Cymbalta, though!!! If it weren't for Cymbalta, I would be on more opiate based medications.

Thank you for your advice!!

Sincerely,

Jasmine

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Clear water extraction, gets the APAP out of it.

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I have taken hydrocodone at a very low dose for a few months. It really does work wonders. Depression also involves our natural opioid levels etc. I probably take too low a dose and would like to get off a couple of other psych meds, so I will ask my psych next week if I can slightly increase the dose and lower other meds.
Thanks

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I've been on Vicodin 2x- each time my severe depression was alleviated along with severe anxiety. Some people are more susceptible to addiction than others. Of course with many of the newer anti-depressants, you have to be weaned off the medication so you don't have "bad side effects." I would like to see a study of the efficacy of Vicodin as an antidepressant but I doubt our society would be willing. It's already difficult to get a Rx for Vicodin for pain.......I doubt there would be funding for the study of Vicodin as an anti depressant. It has made a BIG difference in my depression/anxiety the 2 times I've been on it for pain.

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I totally agree. And, I just detoxed myself off oxycodone--30 mgs. 3 times a day. I cut 15 mgs out a day for one week, and continued to do that until I wasn't on any. It sure wasn't easy. I was jittery, I was sweating all the time, and I wanted it so bad when my back was hurting so bad. The oxycodone did help depression. Now that I stopped and am taking anti-depressants, I still feel depressed, but I had to choose if I wanted to be addicted to a substance which would probably lead me to wanting to do street drugs. NO WAY!

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Hydrocodone is a great antidepressant. Hydrocodone is cheap compared to most other antidepressants. The people in mental healthcare use extreme measures such as ECT (brain seizure induction) and DBS (drill holes in your head and attach electrodes onto your brain) but you will never get an MD to give you hydrocodone for depression. Knowing this you can get an MD to give you hydrocodone for pain (most often for chronic severe head or back pain, and for cancer). The high potential for addiction exists. Withdrawal from hydrocodone is one of the most horrid experiences I have ever endured. However, with that knowledge, a judicious use of hydrocodone provides my life with moments of clarity. For me, 5mg of hydro three times a day is "safe." Meaning at this level I can quit the hydro and feel bad but I still have control. The upper limit is 10mg of hydro three times a day(at this level you will be dependent but not addicted). Addiction happens when you have to wake up at midnight and take hydro to prevent your body from going through physical withdrawal. At this point, the hydro makes your life even more miserable. The main reason psychiatrists will not prescribe you hydro for depression is that they fear you might use it to kill yourself. Almost all current psychiatric medicine used today most important feature is not the medicines efficacy but that the patient cannot use it to overdose and kill themselves. Ketamine, especially thru nasal inhalation, is in the pipeline. In emergency rooms and trial studies, intravenous ketamine is already being used with great success in alleviating a patient's anxiety and depression. I hope I live long enough to get to use an antidepressant that works. I have been in the system for over two decades. The cost of my medicines has been astronomical. Amazing given the efficacy has been less than zero. Sorry this is so long and I hope it helps someone. The war on drugs is really a war against those with mental illness. The prisons are full of mentally ill patients. Many antidepressants make people agitated and the antipsychotics are often used to calm the agitation caused by the antidepressants. I speak only for myself and my two decades of observation of the mental health care profession. I'll follow the posts from this site.

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90 %, (or therabouts) are off label. FDA approval isn't the gold standard. Orange book empirical ball park estimates are not my thing Let ME DECIDE ! Its my body. What works for you/me is close enough. " ARE YOU QUALIFIED? " -My answer is: I'm literate, aware, competent, intelligent, well read, stay on the CE's and read Goodman and Gillmans, and buy a new PDR every yr. -can your foreign care giver pronounce, say trimethaprim /sulfameththoxazole

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yes it does seem that use of lortab makes depression go away. However when you stop the drug, the depression only gets worse.

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I am of the belief that one one is in chronic pain, it fosters depression. Inversely chronic depression can foster additional pain. I have taken a few antidepressants as well as anti-anxiety pills such as Xanax. The only noticeable effect of these has been to make me tired. On the occasions when I have accessed the hydrocodone I have found that it alleviates pain and hand-in-hand my depression. Quite frankly I think restricting the use of hydrocodone to people who are in chronic pain is criminal!

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Yes, I as well have major depression, and sadly the only medication that has helped me is hydrocodone- I have a B.A. in Social Work and Sociology, and have studied depression-but not until now do I fully understand what it means to suffer 'crippling depression' -I lost my business to a lightning strike and resulting fire, and am now losing my home, and many days have depression so great and completely beyond my grasp, so that I cannot get out of bed/have no desire in anything, and the only med that helps is vicodin-I wish studies were done to prescribe limited use for those suffering severe depression

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I was taking vicodine for pain from an ankle injury ...and started to notice when i took it at work ,things seemed more managable and my mood became more positive . I started noticing a pattern ...then i googled it and found that they have started to use this as therapy for depression. I dont consider My self as a depressed Person ,but the vicodine really made my day more positive. I was taking the lowest dose of vicodine.

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I'd like to ask if anyone has been successful at obtaining an Rx for hydrocodone as an adjunct therapy for treating depression. I have been on nearly every anti-depressant over the course of 25 years. I currently take Lexapro, clonadine and Xanax (the latter two for sleep BC of anxiety). I also exercise regularly, have friends, a fun hobby, etc... Take supplements and eat pretty balanced healthy meals and see a therapist twice a month (not my meds Dr.). Despite this,I still struggle with anxiety and depression at least two -three times a month sometimes for a week or more.
Earlier this year I had a minor surgery and was prescribed norco 10/325. I can only take half BC a full dose makes me nauseated, but I noticed the mood elevating and anti anxiety qualities of just the half dose. Since then I've been taking one half tablet 2-3 times a week if I feel that I'm slipping into depression or anxiety and I don't want to take a Xanax BC of the sedative properties. I realize the new legislation makes it harder to get-- I'm wondering how to talk to my meds Dr. Honeslty without looking like I'm drug seeking -- i do not experience withdrawals or anxiety about not taking it.... In fact I have no problem not taking it for weeks--it's just been so helpful to me in terms of managing my moods and feeling in control of my especially negative emotions that nothing else has been able to do so effectively. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you .

Also, I do have some "chronic pain" -- Arthritis in both knees (will need a replacement in two years, lower back disc degeneration...but I've never asked for pain meds for this as my orthopedic dr. Doesn't like to prescribe opiates for this type of pain situation -- plus again, I feel like then I'm just put there "drug seeking"

Thank you

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I take hydrocodone for my treatment resistant depression-- I have tried every drug combination over the past 25 years. Most success came from taking Adderall and Lexapro -- took some convincing of my dr, but it helped me tremendously for several years and then I noticed the effects started to taper...so I weaned myself off the Adderall (plus there are no long term studies about the effects of Adderall taken by adults long term). Long story short, I was prescribed norco 10/325 for a minor surgery and had a bunch left over, since I can only tolerate half a pill without getting nauseated. I took a half one evening when I was feeling particularly agitated and depressed as well as having a intense back ache not relieved by icing or prescription Motrin...I noticed the mood elevation and feeling of calm and that effect lasted well into the following day. Since then I take a half when I feel that depression and anxiety creeping up on me - as a rule only in the evening and only a half dose. I have been doing this for five months and have felt like even though I know my depression is there, it doesn't cripple me. I also don't feel "addicted" to the Norco- meaning I don't feel physical withdrawals if I decide to not take it. I read recently that opiates were a treatment for depression before the first antidepressants were created. I find them to be a miracle for me -- I am currently trying to figure out a way to speak with my meds Dr. about prescribing them for me under supervision -- I don't know if this will even be possible. The only other resort I would have I guess is to find them on the streets-- which is something I wouldn't even know how to begin to fathom. Good luck to you!!

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So helpful, thank you for sharing. I am also a high functioning productive woman going through menopause and found hydrocodone helps tremendously alleviate my treatment resistant depression which, despite good medications, exercise, eating right, seeing a therapist twice a month and having a healthy lifestyle, seems to creep up on me and suck the life out of me. I don't know how to approach my Dr. about a prescription -- any advice? My thought is to offer being closely monitored by him and my therapist to ensure they know I am not abusing.

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