Posted by europerep on January 15, 2015, at 15:36:28
In reply to Re: Unique Med in Trials for Depression, posted by burial on January 14, 2015, at 12:54:20
> buprenorphine itself is very effective in resistant cases but causes high degreee of addiction
Meh, I've taken it. It didn't work, so I slowly went off of it again. All in all I took it for 4-6 months in total, which certainly would be enough to develop some degree of dependance, but quitting was not particularly difficult. Of course, it's an opioid, so I reduced my daily dose slowly. And it is true that some people have extreme difficulty going off of buprenorphine, although all people that I know who said that were on it in an opioid replacement treatment. (Then again, I only know a handful of people who took it for depression, so my observations may not be representative at all.)
I'm not sure how effective it really is though. I mean, for those that benefit from it, it is effective of course, but there are really no reliable numbers on its efficacy in a general treatment-resistant depression population. But for some patients worth a try, I think.
About the new drug there with buprenorphine and samidorphan, I just wonder whether the mu-antagonism doesn't interfere with the endogenous opioid system...
poster:europerep
thread:1075119
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150102/msgs/1075130.html