Author: Gary Jackson

Opioids and Anxiety: What’s the Connection?

Overdoses are unpredictable and can occur regardless of how long you’ve been taking opioids or how high your tolerance is. New research suggests that opioids also act on receptors inside of cells — specifically, receptors in the Golgi body, an important area of your cells. This means opioids might actually be changing your cells from the inside out.

Table 2. Multivariable MR Results of Prescription Opioid and Nonopioid Pain Medications Use on Risk of MDD and ASRDa,b.

1. For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided here.
2. This can cause a number of effects, including a decrease in your ability to feel pain and a sense of euphoria.
3. The clinical implication is that the duration of opioid analgesic use and the dose should be minimized whenever possible.
4. As proposed in Figure 1, with long-term opioid therapy, the ability to experience natural rewards is reduced, and the threshold for feeling normal, or not distressed or depressed, increases.
5. For example, existing CDC guidelines for safe opioid prescribing exclude patients with cancer-related pain who have distinct pain management needs that may require relatively high doses of opioids 69••, 70.

A 2022 study examined how often people took prescribed opioids during the first 90 days of treatment and their risk of depression. People who used opioids daily, or on at least 81 of the 90 days, had a 40% higher risk of depression than people who used them only occasionally, or on less than half of the 90 days. Pain can mask depression 29, and patients may blame pain for their depression and, as in the case of hyperkatifeia, mistakenly interpret opioid-induced euphoria as an antidepressant effect. A critical first step in mitigating risk of opioid-related emotional disturbance is to screen for depression, dysthymia, and anhedonia, not only before initiating opioids but repeatedly during opioid therapy.

Links to NCBI Databases

Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus. Finally, as an unlikely possibility, acute opioid withdrawal with mood, anxiety, and physical symptoms, could have contributed to some patients receiving the diagnosis of MDD shortly after opioids were discontinued.

To compensate, it will keep producing norepinephrine at a higher volume, so you may start feeling anxious and jittery all the time. Read on for an in-depth exploration of how opioids affect your psychological health, along with some guidance on getting support. The clinical services offered through this website are provided by Bicycle Health Medical Group, PA and Bicycle Health Provider Group Inc., that are independent, physician-owned medical groups. For more information about the relationship between Bicycle Health, Inc. and the Bicycle Health Medical Group, PA and/or Bicycle Health Inc. and the Bicycle Health Provider Group Inc., click here. This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Immediate effects of opioids

Our science-backed approach boasts 95% of patients reporting no withdrawal symptoms at 7 days. The authors would like to acknowledge all the survey participants without whom this study would not have been feasible. The prevalence of opioid use was stable over the first 12 years, followed by a significant drop in the last two years (see Table 2). Genetic instruments selected from MDD and ASRD GWASs, selection threshold P less than 5 × 10−6, pruned at linkage disequilibrium R2 less than 0.001 ( kilobase pair window); N SNV differs across outcomes depending on number of genetic instruments found in outcome GWASs. Symptoms of opioid overdose include slowed breathing, clammy skin, and unconsciousness. A person’s lips or fingernails may look discolored and they may make gurgling or choking sounds.

Opioid use disorder

If you or someone you love is attempting to treat a depression disorder by self-medicating with opioids or if opioid misuse has triggered depression, treatment is available. With comprehensive care that addresses opioid use disorder and depression simultaneously, you can achieve recovery on all fronts. Major depressive disorder, ASRD, and self-reported pain medications (opioids, NSAIDs, anilides, and salicylic acid). While further work is needed, this genetics-based study supports conventional observational literature suggesting prescription opioid use increases the risk for depression. Using opioids only as your doctor directs, for the amount of time they recommend, can help minimize your risk of opioid use disorder. If you’re finding it difficult to stop opioid use on your own, a mental health professional specializing in recovery can help.

The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires that detailed information about payment and other payments of value worth over ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospitals be made available to the public. It’s essential you always take opioid medications as directed by a doctor, never share them with anyone else, and cease usage (or move to another medication) when possible. If you have had a bad reaction to, or dependency on, opioid medications in the past, inform your doctor.

They may not have access to appropriate mental health care or may not find that traditional therapies are working or working quickly enough. Because of this, they may take the drugs as a way to manage the symptoms on their own. Even if you don’t experience major mood symptoms while taking opioids, these drugs still pose a high risk of dependence, tolerance, and opioid use disorder. Anxiety and depression can also complicate treatment, so it’s important to get support sooner rather than later. Many people leave treatment early due to the emotional stress of anxiety and depression during withdrawal, but support from a mental health professional can help you cope with these symptoms during opioid use disorder treatment and recovery.

Compared to people who took opioids for 30 days or less, people who took opioids for 31 to 90 days had a 25% higher risk of TRD. People who used opioids for over 90 days had a 52% higher risk of TRD, researchers found. According to 2016 research, the longer you use opioids, the higher your chances of developing treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a type of depression that often doesn’t respond to antidepressants. Opioids can cause anxiety even if you take them exactly as prescribed, but anxiety severity can depend on which opioids you take, the amount taken, and the amount of time you use them.