From: "T-Rex" Subject: The "need" theory. Date: 1996/09/24 newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard There is a psychiatric theory that has been batted around that people who become addicted to Narcotics, may have natural endorphin deficiencies. This would parallel them to those with Serotonin deficiences who require prozac, Dopamine deficiencies to certain tricyclics, etc. Some people take opiates to combat depression, only to have it return when they kick. Some people do not find relief from depression and dysphoria from any "antidepressants" other than opiates. Would Rx opiates be indicated for such people? I think that there may be more to junkies just being junkies for the hell of it. Some may actually "need" it to be "normal", just as with any other illness, requiring medication. They function much better as addicts, than "clean" people. I happen to know such people. And I think the theory has some validity. ==================================================================== From: cdrain Subject: Re: The "need" theory. Date: 1996/09/24 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard [...] > I happen to know such people. And I think the theory has some validity. i think this was probably what was my case.. i had chipped around for years, but it wasn't until i fell until the deepest depression of my life that i turned to dope full-time. it really did help my depression, and i feel it did in a way beyond just euphoria..it really did have a stabilizing effect at first, enabling me to go to work when i was at the point where i couldn't face getting out of bed from depression. of course, doctors will laugh at you if you put out this theory. and actually, i feel that later on it actually made my depression worse, but by then i was in a considerably more desperate situation, with a massive ($150+ at least a day) habit... ==================================================================== From: "zaphraud@dev.null.net" Subject: Re: The "need" theory. Date: 1996/09/26 newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard > > There is a psychiatric theory that has been batted around that people who > > become addicted to Narcotics, may have natural endorphin deficiencies. > > Some people take opiates to combat depression, only to have it return when > > they kick. Some people do not find relief from depression and dysphoria > > from any "antidepressants" other than opiates. I have seen studies that showed that Methadone was effective as both an antidepressant and an "antipsychotic" (prolly psychotic depression or rage disorder really) in some people unresponsive to imipramine, MAOIs or other antidepressants. Curiously, pentazocine didnt work, morphine didnt work long term with discernable efficacy, and (get this) propoxyphene worked, but not as well as methadone! > > Would Rx opiates be indicated for such people? Dunno, thats a tough question. I'd say addiction under a doctors care is better than suicide, though... it'd definitly be last-line treatment though. I think, as a person, I'd rather chance the opiate route than something wacky like Electroconvulsive Therapy (which is making a comeback, its apparently effective for depression. It 'went away' for many years because it was abused in treating schizophrenia) On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, crash wrote: > I started using for that exact reason and am convinced I have an endorphin > production problem. Your entire post, including what happened after > discontinuing opiates, describes my situation to the letter. Thanks for > posting this......it is very true. > Unfortunately, I know of no non-opiate (non-addictive) method to solve the > problem. **If anyone does please post it.*** the health nuts claim that DL-phenylalanine (not l-phenylalanine, the natural stuff, but dl, the synthetic racemic stuff) can act to promote endorphin production. Dunno if its true or not. ==================================================================== Subject: Opiates for the head, revisited (was Re: Kicking H) From: smisch Date: 1996/06/10 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard In article <4ph8qe$o70@tribune.concentric.net>, Mikrob@concentric.net wrote: > I am an interested person. How would one go about contacting the good > doctor? I have read about studies that shed evidence that many opiate > addicts suffer from a chemical inbalance og endorphins and possibly other > chemicals. Unfortunately, finding "the good doctor" is made rather difficult by the provision in Federal Law (CFR Title 21 291.505) that "methadone products, when used for treatment of narcotic addiction in detoxification or maintanence programs, shall be dispensed only by [centers] approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the designated State authority." However, you need not lose hope completely. A friend of mine is currently on a methadone script (nominally, 10 mg/day) for "depression" from a psychiatrist. There are many of the psychopharmacological persuasion who believe that psychiatric problems of a variety of flavors respond well to opiates. And more than you might imagine are agreeable to prescribing opiates (but preferably long-acting agents) to patients who do not respond to "traditional" psychotropics. It's not an easy "sell", of course: "the good doctor" needs to be confident that "the good patient" will not return the next day, claiming to have accidently flushed all his meds down the toilet...(There is also the problem that there are very few long-acting opiates on the market: I can only think of methadone and buprenorphine, where the latter is only available in injectable solution in the US, but see below) Below is an excerpted study I posted some months ago in a.d.h. If you are interested in this subject, you should pick the article up at your friendly neighborhood medical library and use the bibliography as a shopping list (citations are not included in the posted excerpt -- no scanner, it was a labor of love). Then, of course, there are databases like PsycLit and Medline, but this article is as good a place as any to start. [[*see "Features" above]]