Hi,

I have taken hydrocodone for about a year now. Maybe one or two 7.5 mgs. a day. Does anyone know if an anti-depressant will help (your mood) to stop taking pain killers. I have OCD and it just seems like they relax me enough to calm down some a the anxiety cause by my OCD. I am a little leary on trying them but if it would help, I might.
Also, could you get withdrawal symptoms from taking as many as I do? It does not seem like alot, I feel more mentally addicted to them right now.
Thank you

Kim

Hi Kim,

All I can tell you is what was told to me. It was believed that my addication to hydrocodone was an effort to self medicate a low level depression that i have perhaps had my entire life. I was perscribed WellButrin to help support the dopamine pathway while I am getting off the drugs. Since I haven't started taking the well yet, can't tell you if its useful or not, but the rest of the story sounds reasonable. Is there a professional you can discuss this with...I can't remember what drugs are used to treat ODC...but vicodin seems to 'cure what ails ya'...at least for awhile. I bet some others will have more usefule information. Keep writing

dp

If you are just taking that much you should have very minimal side effects. Also if you are taking them to self medicate a problem an SSRI would definitely help. I have been told by docs that I have OCD as well. But with me a bottle full of pills would burn a hole in my pocket and I would count them at least every hour even though I knew how much was in there. I am still bad about counting my ciggerates and the meds I am taking now also I am weird about some other stuff as well, I am taking Lexapro for depression and anxiety and it is really helping my what it was prescribed for and I believe in time it will help with the OCD as well. Anyway, good luck, you still have a very good chance of kicking those pills. Better do it now, trust me, it gets worse.

i have ocd also and it never even dawned on me why i counted my pills like 20 times a day. what a realization. that makes so much sense. i thought i was doing that because of the addiction and making sure i had enough to last each day. sorry, i wont ramble on about this on this thread.

I tell you what else is crazy. Any other drug like pot or coke I used to do, I would put it into individual baggies, 1 for each day of the week or til I re-up.
But the silly thing is, I would get into those bags and make all new rations decreasing and decreasing until it was all gone while counting them obssevily.
I also used to put pills into individual baggies and do the same thing. I never said I would obey my ration schedule lol. Well, I am sure that is part of the addiction as well but I dont think anybody else in their right mind would do that like me.

no, i don't think that's part of the addiction. i think it's ocd. i have this huge smile because you sound just like me. it's crazy. since i don't do pills anymore i do it with with my budget and money. i'll count it like 10 times a day. i write every bill for like six months down and then look over and over sometimes up to like 2 hrs a day. sounds nuts saying it but it's so true. i just wish i had this problem with cleaning my house. lol.

p.s.

when i did pills i would put them into one of those pill boxes that go day by day and do the same thing. take 1/2 of a pill today that i had put back for tomorrow etc,etc,etc until i had none. talk about freaking out. and god forbid someone who did pills too ask me for one. that would send me over the edge. i don't miss this part of the addiction at all. lol.

I think some of that is the natural part of the addiction.i am not OCD but boy can I relate to THAT obsession.part of the addiction IS obsessing over the drug you like most.Do I have enough?where can I get somemore?I better count them again just to make sure I have enough for the week,or day?Hmmmm.It is all a big part of addiction.But I could see someone with OCD going into overdrive with all of the obsessing.

I just wanted to mention that there was some sort of a study done a few years ago that revealed that(and I cannot remember the exact number)like 85% of addicts,on any drug, are cliniclly depressed and end up self medicating their depression with some sort of drug,be it alcohol,pills,pot, you get the picture.I was actually suffering from post partum depression when my addiction started,go figure?God, that was over 22 years ago.God I am old.Just one of those interesting factoids.Getting onto an antidepressant along with finding a really good shrink will help tons.I don't know what I would do without my therepist and Lexapro.