Posted by Elizabeth on April 11, 2001, at 9:36:09
In reply to Re: opiates » dougb, posted by ShelliR on April 10, 2001, at 13:01:24
> That is not at all good. Do you realize how much you are taking a day? Then when that is ineffective, you need to increase. You're developing tolerance and unless you stop you will just continue to keep going up. You mention your height and weight, yet a quarter pill was sufficient at the beginning, so this doesn't have to do with body type. This has to do with tolerance. Sorry, but I think you're looking at an addiction, Doug. (Can't you see that by the amount you're increasing?)
This is a common misunderstanding. Most pain patients who take opiates for any length of time will have to increase the dose. Different people develop tolerance at different rates. Some people who take opiates for depression (even full agonists, like hydrocodone, oxycodone, or morphine) do not have to raise the dose at all. But anyway, tolerance alone does not mean that a person is addicted. Addiction refers to compulsive drug use that results from intense psychological craving. It has little to do with the particular drug being used (although some drugs are much more addicting than others).
I didn't mean to say that there is no problem at all with prescribing opiates or that doctors will (or should) be willing to prescribe them for any patient, but rather that it is okay in some circumstances. Your doctor has to be comfortable with it, obviously. In my experience,
most doctors who are familiar with the use of opiates for depression are comfortable prescribing them in certain cases when people have severe depression and haven't responded to standard ADs.
poster:Elizabeth
thread:57821
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010411/msgs/59410.html