Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:09 pm

I agree to exorphin. Buprenorphine certainly does have anti-depressant qualities about it, as do all opiates. I notice that I always get a mild mood-lift after I take my doses. But it also goes beyond that. Many of us first got addicted to opiates because they had some kind of "calmative" or positive anti-depressant effect on our mental health issues. However, being full agonists, things got out of control very quickly. Suboxone provides that effect, to a lesser degree, while being sustainable in the long term. It’s really quite a profound drug like that.

But we should also be wary of its dangers too. If someone who’s not previously been exposed to opioids gets put on Suboxone for depression, it could potentially be their introduction into the wider world of opioid addiction. And IMO, Suboxone is more difficult to taper off than the strongest of SNRI’s. Imagine RB’s hype-marketing department going nuts with a new indication like that? "Grey skies? Have a Suboxone!"

That being said, I still have hope/faith that I will be able to manage my mental health & addiction issues without Suboxone one day. My addiction came as a result of untreated mental illness as a teen, bipolar type 1. Only in the last two years have I accepted I will need mood stabilisers for life, and that the doctors were right. Given I’m now treating the cause of my addiction, I’m hoping that I will not need to always medicate it. Ever since I fully accepted & adhered to my psych treatment, without self-medication, things have been improving in my life.