Taking Hydrocodone For Depression (Top voted first)

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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Oh my gosh - so nice to know I'm not alone on this- I have tried all ssri's too- Paxil, Lexapro, Prozac, Ativan, and even mixtures with Ritalin, but I truly have never felt like me except when I have taken hydrochone- I only had 30 from a surgery, and then one day I took 1/2 of one, and I my depression was gone- I could actually focus, I was motivated and I felt like a normal person. I was trying to see how I could approach my doctor about perhaps putting me on this and he can monitor me, etc. Does anyone here know if there is any research on this or not? If so what are the links? Thank you all for sharing! I wonder if it has to do with brain chemestry and maybe that is why it works on some of our depressions? I will keep checking back here to see if there are any updates. Thanks again

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Well you go through withdraws from the anidepressants too, so whats tha difference. besides the fact you might have to increase your dose a little faster. Whatever works I say.

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Absolutely yes , hydrocodone has improved my mood better than any anti-depressant ever has and I've been on a lot of them. It also helps w/ chronic diarhea . I agree w/ Teri, whatever works!!

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Yes yes Hydrocodone works for depression! I've been on every antidepressant known to mankind with minimal good results. Now I take hydrocodone for chronic pain and it's been amazing. I.ve taken the same dosage for yrs. and it works. I don't feel high or anything , just normal. Getting this used for depression would be a major problem though, because you can barely get Drs. to prescribe it for pain.The Gov. is so busy trying to protect us from ourselves.....

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I have had severe depression for years and no resulty from anything. I had an enlarged protrate and the severe pain was helped a little from Hydroco 500mg. But the side effect was I felt really good about myself and life. Since I really would not mind dying, this is the best way to live a normal life. Which is worst? I think this medice is a God sent. I am just trying to find out how to get more.

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What doctor would prescribe it for that though? Everyone's so stingy with narcotic distribution.

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I take hydrocodone 10/325 for rhumetoid arthritis pain, it not only does a great job on the pain but it is the only medicine I have ever taken that truly helps with my depression and anxiety. I have been able to remain on 4 to 5 pills a day for the last 2 years and have not had to increase my dose, however I also take Tramadol to help with the pain as well. If I didn't have the pain I think I would still be suffering from severe depression without the hydrocodone. My doctor is very cautious with the hydrocodone so sometimes I do go through withdraw symptoms which are nasty, mainly with depression and pain. I'm not sure which comes first the pain or the depression. I am going to a pain specialist again and I pray that he or she will allow me to stay on hydrocodone. It's a Godsend and I really could care less if I'm addicted, life is very hard to live without it.

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When I was taking Hydocodone for pain, I noticed a significant difference in my mood. I have suffered from depression for about 30 years and was surprised at the benefits I received from this med. I told my Psychiatrist about this and he said that he has had several patients reporting a decrease in their depression. However, because you tend to need higher and higher doses of it, he felt it was not a good alternative for current medications. I wish the would look into it further.

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I take Prozac and Wellbutrin everyday and it seems like most days it isn't working and I am so lowI can't get out of bed. I was perscribed Hydrocodone apap5/325 because I need a knee replacement. Just had shoulder surgery, have had a hip replacement and have arthritis in my back very bad says the Dr. While taking Hydrocodone I am not depressed , what on earth should I do. My directions say for pain in my knee take 1 every 6 hours. Should I tell my Dr. all this and see what he thinks.Plus I don't have the pain.

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I have taken dozens of antidepressants as well as been prescribed antipsycotics and other meds for off-label usage, and nothing has worked effectively over the past 15 years.

I will take hydrocodone for a chronic pain condition, and, YES, oh my goodness, YES, it seems to make me immune to a depressive episode.

For obvious reasons, though, I don't take it until the evenings, so I don't get the benefit for most of the day. And I GENERALLY don't take it unless I'm having the physical pain, because I'd have to explain to my doc why I'm going through it so quickly.

I was actually on this site looking up info about Saphris, the latest med I'm trying for off-label use. I'm thinking the side-effects, if they continue, are not worth it at all.

At least we know what too much hydrocodone will do.

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I have been taking Hydrocodone for the past two years for cronic pain and I do agree because when I don't take it I become depressed and lethargic.

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I found, accidentally, that - YES - hydrocodone could do wonders for my depression. I was taking some for lower back pain. Besides helping my back pain, I found myself feeling awfully good mentally. I googled to see if I was having a unique experience. No, I was not. I knew this was a drug that had recreational potential, but what I found out on the Web was that others, like me, who were not trying to get high, incidentally found themselves greatly relieved of psychic angst. My back problem resolved just fine, so I no longer have a prescription for hydrocodone. It would be against my principles to lie to an MD just to get a script, which I knew I could do. I am able to get hydrocodone from a friend whose legitimate permanent access to the drug provides a few more tabs per month than are needed. So the unused tabs are available to me. I use them for severe depression only. At times, the hydrocodone, will interrupt a severe depressive episode and allow me to get back to a more normal level of functioning. For that, I am EXTREMELY GRATEFUL. I have longstanding serious issues with constipation, so I am not tempted to use the hydorcodone, except under severe duress. It always binds me up in the gut and I take stuff for that. But I don't enjoy getting my constipation aggravated beyond the problem it always is. However, if I get bad enough, hydrocodone is the only thing I have ever tried that actually relieves my mental distress. I am very, very lucky that I can get such benefit from just an occasional dose.

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@ Donna. I can't speak for anyone else. But the depression relief that I get from Hydrocodone is not a high. The first couple moths that I was taking it, there was a type of high. Personally I don't like being high. That's why I don't drink. What I do get from Hydrocodone is feeling like myself. Before my depression started so long ago and during the few short periods of relief I had when antidepressants kind of helped, I enjoyed my life, I was a hard worker, loved spending time with my family and most of all attended Church pretty much every Sunday. I was also very involved in my church. The problem with the ssri's that did help, the relief was very short lived. I also know from experience that the relief from the Hydrocodone would only last another 6 - 12 months, then I would have to try more antidepressants. After a year or so when they either didn't work or they quit working, I would go back to the Hydrocodone for 2 or 3 years. And yes I know exactly what the withdrawls are like. I am fortunate that my doctor will wean of off over a period of 3 months making my physical withdrawls milder. I still deal with the psycological(spelled wrong). But for someone that suffers from Major Depressive Disorder, it is the lessor of 2 evils until something better in psycotropic drugs comes along. I don't believe that any of us on this page that are talking about using Hydrocodone for depression relief are interested in a high. Just a chance at a somewhat normal life.

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I have been taking Lortabs for 4 years now. I got in a really bad motorcycle wreck and messed some stuff up. Lortab definately help me with depression. When I take them I feel better about everything. So yes I do take them for depression as well.

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Dear Tony,

I mean no disrespect but you are wrong about depression. My depression is hereditary. Here's my story:

I have had depression since I was a young adult and was able to keep it in check via exercise and eating right however when I started menopause my depression changed. No matter how much I increased my exercise and meditation or ate foods that were menopause healthy I was suffering every day. My thoughts were abnormal and not mine at all. I have always relied on talk therapy through any extraordinary life crisis and started seeing the therapist I had been seeing since I was first diagnosed with depression. The therapist recommended I see the psychiatrist to maybe find an antidepressant. My therapist knows that I am anti pill so when he gave me this advise I was surprised and felt that maybe I was even worse off than I thought. I went to the psychiatrist and went through about 5 different types of antidepressants of which all made me feel suicidal. For the record, sadness is not a symptom of my depression. The depression that came when I was/am started menopause was exponentially worse. I was having thoughts that just didn't belong to me. I am high functioning and productive and was in fear for myself. I accidentally found that hydrocodone relieved and/or eliminated most of the symptoms of my depression. It does not help with my concentration and I had to increase the number of books I read in addition to keeping a daily journal and doing mind puzzles with a nintendo - big brain academy tool. I take 20mg of hydrocodone everyday, 10mg twice a day. Being my depression is hereditary I have to stop taking it every 3 months for 7 days so as to see if my chemical makeup has returned to normal and I have no withdrawal. My doctor told me that she was hesitant to prescribe this at first but opiates were prescribed to depression patients until the 1950's with success. The reason opiates stopped being prescribed for depression is because of the emergence of heroin during this time and heroin is an opiate. It has been a little over 4 years that I have been using hydrocodone for my depression and I thank God that there was something available for me. It took convincing on my part to get this prescribed but being I have had depression since a young adult and had beaten that depression with food, exercise and meditation or kept it in check and that my depression is hereditary I was able to convince her. I have taken the same dose, 20mg daily, for the entire 4 years.

This is the first time I have spoken up about using a pain killer for my depression because I don't want people to know. I fear that people will view me different if they think I am taking a narcotic however they are wrong. I never have a feeling of euphoria and have never abused my medication. I do not forget the year and a half I spent trying to find a chemical answer because it was, without question, the worst year and a half of my life. I have been considering starting a website to address this because there are so many other people who have refractory depression or TRD (treatment resistant depression) and this information could save someones life. I believe that if a person has followed protocol to help them with their depression then an opiate should be considered and there shouldn't be a stigma attached to it. Like I said I am a high functioning productive women and would have lost my life and never would have been able to make the contributions to society that I have if this medication were not available to me.

In a way I have thank Tony for being obtuse because if I had not read their post I wouldn't be speaking out. I hope that my story and information can help people understand depression better and get the proper treatment. I don't give medical advise but I do give personal advise and if anyone who has depression is reading this then my advise would be not to give up. Do not give up! Move heaven and earth to help yourself. Be sensible. Don't let the monster of depression change who you know you are. Fight the thoughts you know are wrong and not you. Just don't give up......

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I also find benefits of alleviating drepression symptoms from taking hydro's. When I take it I am better at everything: taking care of my kids, keeping up with housework, activities, and feeling a general purpose for my life. I take Cymbalta now but have been on Prozac and effexor but nothing comes close to the hydro's. But like someone mentioned before what doctor would prescribe hydro's for depression? I just wish I could get it regularly.

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I have 2 problems hydrocodone tends to manage(besides pain). I have never been prescribed long term but when i take hydro i have complete remission of depression and chronic throat clearing/motor tics. I was diagnosed with depression several years ago and tried many SSRIs. They made me hazy, sleep alot, no motivation at all. They did get rid of tics and made me eat. I've always had trouble sleeping, always fidgeting, never relaxed, never task oriented. I always feel like a bee stung my central nervous system. We tried stimulants. Currently on Ritalin 20mg/day. It helps with the depression, anxiety, and tics althought when it wears off at night i'm constantly shrugging shoulders and clearing throat. Hydrocodone makes me want to accomplish tasks, want to talk to people, relax on the inside, never angry with anything, no motor tics, focused, no physical/psychological pains. Seriously with 5mg twice a day i will be awake when i want to be awake and sleep at night. And for those wondering how this works, it kills pain by binding to opioid receptors but it changes your outlook,motivation, and well-being through the dopamine reward system. FYI suboxone is written off-label for treatment resistant depression(by a few psych mds). However, I don't want to go this route bc it's a pretty strong narcotic and i think it's pretty expensive.

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It's also true of antidepressant medication that you cant just STOP wothout feeling a withdrawal effect, you have to usually wean off it, so while taking hydrocodone causes physical dependency, like any other antidepressent or most psychotropics, that's NOT same as 'addiction'

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If you are experiencing depression every day then you should try taking 5mg twice a day. Taking a double dose probably does give you a feeling of euphoria and that's not good either, it only distorts reality. I am certainly not telling anyone what to do but if your depression is like mine where it never goes away then why live with it?

I take 10mg a day, 5mg 2x's a day, and my depression has been in remission for 4 years. I did try to take oxycodone as a substitute for hydrocodone. It made me feel sad. There is something in hydrocodone that isn't in other mem opiates. I am sensitive to chemicals and the relationship I have with body/mind is close. I rely on this relationship to guide me, so to say, when trying anything new especially medication.
I have to say this....It bothers me to hear someone say that they will report someone else if they think that person is abusing pain medication. I want to point out as well that this person is not qualified. Untreated mdd leads to not only physical abnormalities such as shrinking of the brain but psychological abnormalities as well. Not only that, why does one happy healthy American want to deny another the same? Unless they are not a happy healthy American. There is no abuse going on here but off label use and that's legal. If there is a medication that saves your life but you can't take it because that isn't what the medication is meant for is absurd. No physician in the world would not give you that medication. Hydrocodone saved my life. My life was circling the drain (to my standards) until I started to take it. I challenge anyone who would try to take that away from me. I am more than happy to give you my name and address and save you the trouble of trying to find me from an IP address.

Up to 40% of people have treatment resistant depression - TRD. What does that mean? It means that a little over 1 million people are walking around not living up to the American standard. Who knows what contributions these persons might make if they weren't suffering? I'm outraged at this. Taking 10mg of hydrocodone does not make anyone a drug addict. Drugs are not bad it is abuse that is bad. Really, I haven't read something so ridiculous in years, since I was a teaching 11th grade and they had an excuse. It doesn't surprise me that person is a "state leader". It should remind us all to vote even in the smallest elections.

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Very well said. It's crazy how good people who have legitimate pain are treated like drug addicts or dealers when trying to fill a prescription. Meanwhile there is a liquor store on every corner and alcohol abuse kills more people than hydrocodone!

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