Opiates and Mood Swings

I know I'm not the only person with mood swing issues who also manages chronic pain, and hope I can get some advice.

I began treatment for mood swings and obsessing on memories a few months after my husband asked for a divorce. In eight months I'm still completely devastated and having a hard time moving forward. Since starting mood tracker I've discovered I'm cycling about every eight days. My lows are extreme and dangerous for me.

My wonderful doctor has me on gabapentin for obsessiveness and now is trying lamictal for mood swings. In addition, we're titrating me off prozac, which I've taken for ten years @ 20 mg per day.

This is all being complicated by the fact that I take a low dose of oxycontin (15 mg) every day, along with Motrin, to manage debilitating arthritis and tendenitis. After several surgeries to remove recurring bone spurs I decided to manage this pain with opiates after all other options failed, and have been taking my oxycontin for two years.

Oxycontin elevates my mood to immediate euphoria lasting about 30 minutes, then I go down to 'mildly elevated' for several hours, then down to baseline by bedtime. The opiate-induced daily upswings are different than my overall mood swings, but they are complicating my treatment plan.

Any thoughts or advice? Thank you for reading...

OMG! I take hydromorphone and our pattern sounds similar. I know my pain management therapy throws the monkey wrench in my cycles. I'm with you on the topic. Pretty sad when we do not have a choice anymore when it comes to piano meds. Wishing you the best.

I wish you well, Mtntrek. I am moving in six months to another part of the state and will no longer be able to see my pain doc every month. I'm having TERRIBLE anxiety about this: my pain doc warned I probably won't find another doc who will continue my pain management therapy, only pain clinics who will insist on trying all the other options which have clearly failed. I freaking hate the DEA for doing this to those of us who really truly suffer.

I'm thinking about asking my pdoc to help me just wean off my oxycontin and be done with hit. I don't know how I'll cope with my arthritis but will have to find a way. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how cessation of opiates affects my mood swings: I'm predicting the downswings will get worse, which is bad, bad.

I wish I could start life all over.

You guys, it took me 7 years, but I actually found some doctors will manage pain without opiates! Why this isn't an "advertised" profession, I will never know. I have terrible problems with pain in my neck that runs up into my head, ear and eye. I was treated with opiates for years, until I realized I was truly starting to have major problems with addiction, and my depression was only getting worse. I used to be such a ball of energy, and now I'm divorcing, jobless and not quite the person I want to be. I just went to a clinic and they will treat you on an inpatient basis to find out what meds work for you, without using opiates. Not to mention, they completely monitor your psych drugs and pain levels until you feel like its manageable. I'm only about 4 months into the program, but I'm starting to feel a lot better, plus I can remember things and all that stuff. I totally didn't believe it at first ( partially I think because I don't think I wanted to get off the opiates) but it does work if you find the right doc. There were literally people from all over the world there. I just can't say enough about how wonderful they were, they don't let you sit there in pain, and the approach was fantastic, all the way down to the nursing staff. I'd be willing to tell you more if you want to email me. Just think about it!