Tramadol for Depression

[balmeral]

I am not sure what the laws are regarding doctors prescribing tramadol for depression but I have noticed that it really helps. I have never been on a real antidepressant but opiates always help lots. Anyways has anyone heard of someone being prescribed tramadol for depression, and how likely are doctors to allow someone who hasnt taken any antidepresents yet to try this? I am a college kid so I am thinking he will just say to himself that I am a drug using kid that just wants to mess around with it. Thanks alot.

[ZodiacKiller]

I agree with you that opiates themselves are great anti-depressants--wish we could get doctors and the government to realize this---but I'm not sure about the whole Tramadol thing.

There was a recent thread started by Cornburglar about the negative side-effects of mixing SSRIs and Tramadol, and the general consensus was that mixing the two is a bad idea. There has also been much discussion as to whether Tramadol is even an opiate at all. It's generally agreed that it shares some of the same properties as an opioid, but that it also can produce antagonist effects as well. Which is how it affects me, to the point that I generally have no use for the stuff--I've had some bad reactions..

Others seem to love it, however, so if you're one of them, more power to you. However, I don't think that going to your doctor and asking for it specifically by name to treat depression would be a good idea. It's generally Rx'd for pain, and asking that way just might get you tagged as a 'drug-seeker'. You don't want that. There are some online sources for tramadol, but this forum is not the place to ask for links like that. Use a search-engine and you should be able to find it. Good luck.


Edit: btw, you're like the 3rd person who has that avatar...not trying to bum you out, but you may wanna try something a bit more original. Sorry, and I'm not trying to be a dick, just pointing it out...

ZK

[alowishus]

Just got done w/ a couple rx'ed ultracet (tram. & asp.) had to take at least two for it to help w/ the pain (had my toe worked on) seemed to work alright but after an hour or two I was asleep.

That stuff just knocked me out.

I was reading up on it because I've never used it, which all good drug user should do, and I remember it saying something about "Tramadol has been shown to inhibit reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin" which is what an ssri does. So it would have those properties, however weak that they are.

Although the fact that how it works "is not completely understood" in this day and age is a little disarming.

[Curio]

Just got done w/ a couple rx'ed ultracet (tram. & asp.) had to take at least two for it to help w/ the pain (had my toe worked on) seemed to work alright but after an hour or two I was asleep.

That stuff just knocked me out.

I was reading up on it because I've never used it, which all good drug user should do, and I remember it saying something about "Tramadol has been shown to inhibit reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin" which is what an ssri does. So it would have those properties, however weak that they are.

Although the fact that how it works "is not completely understood" in this day and age is a little disarming.

It's actually amazing how many drugs they use that same old explanation in discussing mechanism of action!

also, the inhibiting of norepinephrine's reuptake (norepi is the precursor to epinephrine aka adrenalin) can help explain how some people get irritable or suffer seizures while taking tramadol.

[Sitar]

IMO, Tramadol is a great medicine. It was actually the very first opioid that I ever tried. There's a certain chunk of the population that gets no pleasurable effects from it, but I'd imagine that a lot of them also have a giant tolerance to stronger opiates. In that case, Tramadol isn't gonna do much.

But if you have little or no tolerance to opiates, Tramadol can be quite nice. And yes, it does make a great anti-depressant. Effexor is said to be chemically extremely similar to Tramadol and that is a widely-prescribed AD now.

As for Tramadol being prescribed as an AD, I don't believe that it is being prescribed as such in the US, however, other countries do prescribe Tramadol for depression. I can't quite recall which countries, but I seem to think that Russia is one of them. I believe there are some European countries that also prescribe it for depression in addition to pain.

Tramadol is similar to buprenorphine in that it is only a partial or weak mu-agonist. It is addictive, although not as severely so as full-agonists like morphine or oxycodone, and it takes a longer period of time to become addicted to it than regular opiates.

Good luck in getting some. It's not hard to find on the internet, but you'll have to look hard to find the good prices. It's not a controlled substance at the moment, but I think the powers that be are looking into changing that soon, unfortunately.

Let me know if you have any questions about Tramadol.