Why do only amphetamines make her happy?

December 12, 2008 6:12 AM

My wife only feels normal and happy when she is taking one of my Adderalls (generic), phentermine (prescribed as a diet pill), or Oxycontin (knee surgery). She is not popping these like candy by any means. Neurologically, why does she need to be buzzed to feel normal, and what should our next step be?

She has always suffered from various levels of low grade depression. Lately it has been a little worse. She is often pervasively negative and unable to see the positive sides of things. What is lacking in her brain and what is the best approach for "fixing" it?

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (19 comments total)

I believe your next step should be to consult a mental health professional.
posted by jquinby at 6:24 AM on December 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

Being buzzed feels good, being depressed feels bad, it's not a neurological problem. I think she should see some sort of therapist to address her depression and she should stop taking unnecessary prescription medications and/or alcohol in the meantime. Life is really hard sometimes, especially when you're depressed, and those medications are a way for your wife to avoid dealing with her life. I imagine to some extent, they're also preventing her from getting better, because they make her normal state feel even worse when she compares it to her altered state on drugs.
posted by robinpME at 6:26 AM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, mental health professional. And oxycontin is not an amphetamine.
posted by electroboy at 6:26 AM on December 12, 2008

That's a set of questions best left to a doctor or mental health professional, any arm chair diagnosis you get from people over the internet based on three not particularly descriptive sentences isn't going to be worth very much.
posted by The Straightener at 6:26 AM on December 12, 2008

I used to have a part time problem with dexedrine- an amphetamine-based ADD medication similar to Adderall. I can confidently tell you that, although she's not "popping these like candy", that there is a problem, and she needs to seek professional help.

I did not get treatment for my drug use specifically, but have felt a lot better since getting some talk-therapy and taking Wellbutrin for the depression and anxiety I developed as a result of my amphetamine use. Of course, I struggled on and off with depression before this, but there was definitely some cause-effect here. I suspect the wellbutrin works because it is a dopamine-reuptake inhibitor, counteracting the damage I've done to my receptors using dexedrine.

I should probably note that I took this drug at therapeutic doses (5-15mg), by no means daily. I would however, perk up at the mere mention of the little orange pills, and take up any opportunity to get some. You might not call that addiction, but I know better.
posted by sunshinesky at 6:30 AM on December 12, 2008

jquinby nailed it. None of us can diagnose your wife, but I believe getting professional help will greatly improve your wife's quality of life.
posted by owtytrof at 6:31 AM on December 12, 2008

Because depressed people like anything that distracts them from depression. Your drugs arent some revelation into some mysterious chemical she needs, it should be a big hint that someone in your life is suffering from depression and the DIY approach via random drugs is not a solution. Talk to a doctor.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:36 AM on December 12, 2008 [5 favorites]

Obligatory mention of Feeling Good.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:37 AM on December 12, 2008

Another word of caution: if she keeps using these medications like this, eventually the unhappiness will return even *on* the drugs, then she'll have two problems to deal with.

Yes, next step: mental health professional.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:42 AM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Amphetamines have a regulatory effect on a number of neurotransmitters. It's hard to find but there is increasing evidence regarding the psychoactive properties of common food and diets. Perhaps the most well-documented is the psychiatric effects of the omega-3's.
posted by norabarnacl3 at 8:11 AM on December 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

Yeah. Your wife feels good when she takes speed or hillbilly heroin for the same reason that anybody else feels good when they take speed or hillbilly heroin: getting high is fun. This isn't some big insight into her neurological makeup except to the extent that she has a history of depression. Being depressed sucks. Being high is more fun than being depressed.

Don't read more into it than there is but, as others have indicated, perhaps this will motivate her to get treatment. Maybe a Prozac or Lexapro or just some talk therapy will help.
posted by Justinian at 9:55 AM on December 12, 2008

Both amphetamines and opiates have been used to treat depression at one time or another. Amphetamines are still used sometimes to augment other medications in severe treatment-resistant depression. Opiates also have a history of use as antidepressants and there have been a scattering of trials over the last 20 years. It's also been suggested that some forms of depression may be due to dysfunction of the endorphine rather than the serotonin system and that some proportion of functioning addicts are self-medicating their depression rather effectively.

But feeling good when you take drugs that make people feel good isn't an indicator of anything much. So yeah, next step should be to see a doctor.
posted by xchmp at 10:20 AM on December 12, 2008

All of these medications are extremely addictive. Amphetamine is one of the most habit forming compounds known to man.

A psychiatrist is, indeed, the next logical step for your wife. She should not be taking these medications except under a physician's guidance. She will get into trouble.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:01 AM on December 12, 2008

We live in a world that's pretty removed from the world we evolved in. People get far less exercise and natural light, and especially in the late 20th C., and early 21st C., we don't have the close communities we used to have.

I've had bouts of depression as long as I can remember, so I now take an anti-depressant all the time. People have strong feelings about anti-depressant use, short- or long-term, but I'm quite grateful to have them.

It's a very bad idea for her to use other people's meds, and pain meds, for depression. I think it could lead her to far more trouble than depression.
posted by theora55 at 11:08 AM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I've taken prescribed adderall before, and it doesn't make me high or euphoric, I just feel "average" or "normal." Does that mean I'm now a junky?

I also know a friend of a friend who was prescribed Phenter-whatever as an anti-depressant. The doctor was apparently barred from giving prescriptions for six months.
posted by mecran01 at 11:18 AM on December 12, 2008

I've taken prescribed adderall before, and it doesn't make me high or euphoric, I just feel "average" or "normal." Does that mean I'm now a junky?

The idea isn't that amphetamine elevating your mood makes you a junky, it's that virtually anyone you give amphetamine to will have their mood elevated by a certain amount. Give it to a happy person and they'll be even happier. Give it to a depressed person and maybe they'll just feel not depressed. Increase the dose enough and, yes, the depressed person may well be euphoric. The idea behind the presciption is that it isn't high enough of a dose to cause that sort of euphoria if taken as prescribed.

But that doesn't change the fact that it will elevate your mood as it did for the OP's wife. That isn't evidence of a neurological problem.
posted by Justinian at 12:13 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ah, that makes a good deal of sense.
posted by mecran01 at 1:35 PM on December 12, 2008

I'm a former cocaine and heroin addict and person with depression. Although oxycontin is an opioid (depressant-- not in terms of creating depression, but makes you calm, tired, satiated) and amphetamine is a stimulant (makes you more alert, excited, active, desirous) both can relieve aspects of depression.

Some people think addicts want to go either up or down-- most of us just want "out." I kicked coke and heroin in 1988 and had bouts of depression which finally led me to try antidepressants. Now, I'm on Prozac (one of the calming meds, at least for me-- some people have opposite effect) and Wellbutrin (one of the stimulating antidepressants) and this combination has been highly effective.

I don't get the euphoria I got from coke and heroin-- what I get is the sense of safety, comfort and "OK ness" that I never had on my own and that caused me to seek constant reassurance thereby making my social life impossible and keeping me from finding safety, comfort, etc.

So, yes, it's true that these will get anyone high-- but it's also true that if you find that "click" from a drug, you should stop taking it if you don't want to be an addict and examine your life as to what is missing and if you are depressed, get the approved meds which don't have the problem of causing compulsive behavior and being illegal for such use.
posted by Maias at 1:58 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Your wife may well benefit from various types of therapy, but her chances for success with therapy may well be enhanced by an appropriate prescription, which she will have to get from an MD. Who you talk to first is your choice. If someone you trust makes a recommendation for a good therapist, you can start there. Or, you can start with your family doctor.

Whatever you do, you should take action soon. Currently, your wife has only found relief with Oxycontin and Adderall, both of which are Schedule II drugs. This is not good. First, schedule II drugs are the most highly controlled drugs (other than Schedule I drugs, which often can't even be legally acquired by researchers). She is unlikely to be able to get a steady, legal supply of these drugs for her purposes. Second, these drugs are quite addictive (which is a big part of the reason they are Schedule II). Third, these drugs have strong effects unrelated to treating her depression.

Some people might object that anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs also have strong side effects. This may be true for some people on some drugs, but it isn't true for all people on all drugs. People may also object that such psychological drugs are addictive. Even if they are as addictive as Adderall and Oxycontin, from a purely practical point of view, they are much easier to deal with than Schedule II drugs. They are commonly prescribed, eliminating the need to acquire them illegally. Also, unlike prescriptions for Schedule II drugs, you can have your doctor phone in the prescription. With Schedule II drugs, the doctor has to hand write a new prescription every month, which then has to make its way to the pharmacy
posted by Good Brain at 11:58 PM on December 12, 2008