If absolutely nothing has been able to break your cycle of depression, and you are frustrated to the point where you don't know how you can live without getting better soon, there is an alternate theory about your problem you need to learn more about.
I have spent thousands of hours doing general research on moods and the human brain because I am completely fascinated by the subject. I recently discovered something that continues to blow me away when I think about it. Being a victim myself of bipolar depression, terrible anxiety disorders and ADHD, I know what it is like trying to escape the indescribable negative feelings and overwhelming heaviness and terror these disorders create in the mind.
What follows will probably stun you if you have never heard it before, but I think it also proves that drinking and/or drug use and mood disorders --especially depression -- are linked by a natural cause. Here is what I find incredible and am surprised is not that well known or publicized:
It was recently discovered that the human brain and body manufactures morphine in the identical molecular structure as that which comes from the opium poppy. Here is the clearest proof, published in a report just 2 years ago by the Neuroscience Research Institute: "Recent empirical findings have contributed valuable mechanistic information in support of a regulated de novo biosynthetic pathway for chemically authentic morphine and related morphinan alkaloids within (human) animal cells".
The opium poppy, of course, is what the devil's drug heroin is made from. Not coincidentally, I believe that is why it is the most addictive drug on earth. It makes one feel so euphorically happy when they first start taking it, that the desire to feel that way all the time gets embedded in the brain. It is really important that you understand that your brain does not manufacture a chemical that makes you feel like you have taken an opiate -- it manufactures the exact opiate itself.
We know for certain that what the brain manufactures in terms of neurotransmitters or other "feel good" brain chemicals, it unfortunately does not manufacture enough of in people who are clinically depressed. You have undoubtedly heard examples of these other "feel-good" neuro-chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin or endorphins. Too little of these chemicals results in depression, and antidepressants help correct the problem.
Doctors don't know exactly how most of these drugs work, mind you, and some were meant for totally different problems -- but we'll save that for another article. The main point I am driving at is that if some people can be deficient in other brain chemicals, it certainly stands to reason that they could be deficient in their opiate levels. From what I have researched this is being referred to as either Endorphin Deficiency Syndrome, or Endogenous Opioid Deficiency. Not having enough opiates is a subject I have direct experience with and can describe for you, as a bad back got me into opiate-based painkillers and I got addicted to them.
Because you develop a tolerance an opiate drug, you need more and more and more of it over time -- just to feel "normal" after taking the drug for several months. Without it, after taking higher amounts for a while, you go into opiate withdrawal. I don't think there is anything more uncomfortable and frightening than this kind of withdrawal, either. Your body feels like it has the flu times 100, and your mind goes into a state of a tortured paralysis. Doing anything effectively while in such a state is nearly impossible, and your brain is stuck on one thought and one thought only -- how to get more opiates.
One reason people go to rehab is to get some medical relief from such sickness by way of other drugs the doctors can give you to keep you a little more comfortable. You need mental support as well, because your brain function is totally impaired. Depression is also inevitable, and that leads us back to the point of this article.
There are growing numbers of what they call "treatment resistant" people who have got depression. The thinking is that some people are driven into depression by the lack of the naturally made opiate. Every one of the people in this group whose web comments I read experienced what they called an incredibly pronounced and dramatic lift in their mood upon taking an opiate. They are completely convinced it is the only thing that will help beating depression. After trying everything else, they get stuck in a position where they know they need an opiate, but feel very guilty about it because of the attached negative stigmas to the drug.
Fortunately, a drug has been developed that is used for easing people off of opiate addictions and it is called Suboxone. It is made in doses of 1 MG pills, where up to 18 MG might be prescribed for a heavy addict in withdrawal. But I have heard of people going on Suboxone for the long term with very good effects at just 2 MG. It is addicting, but people experienced with opiates say if you run out of your Suboxone you may feel a little achy for a few days at the 2 MG level, that's all. I should mention that obviously Suboxone itself is a type of substitute opiate to help addicts, and giving it to people long term where technically they could become slightly addicted is highly controversial in the medical community. Some docs frown upon this whole notion, while others know it's a life-saver. I am not a doctor, so you need to speak with a progressive psychiatrist about everything I have mentioned here.
Hopefully this knowledge can make a difference in somebody's life, and help bring happiness to those stuck in the awful grip of depression-- if they are truly treatment resistant. How about you? What do you think of somebody taking an opiate type substitute for perhaps the rest of your life. Do you frown on it or believe it should be OK to practice this idea? I pray this information will reach somebody who has not lost hope while depressed. So please spread the word about this and post references to this article in places where people in need might see it, please.
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