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Mental Health
My husband and I both take pain medicine and I just found out that one of the side effects is CNS Depression. I'm not sure what that means. Any help would be very much appreciated.
CNS depression doesn't refer to a mental illness. The word "depression" in that term refers to a decreased function of the central nervous system, not clinical depression.
That being said, opiate use CAN cause depressive symptoms, especially when trying to taper off. Are you guys running into anything like that?
Certainly, some chronic pain conditions require use of narcotics, but, all efforts should be made by the doctors to find a regimen that addresses the pain levels with the least amount of narcotics as possible, none is even better.
A lot of people who have been on narcotics long term actually are pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of times, they didn't need the amount of medication they were prescribed, and some docs don't even TRY a non-narcotic analgesic before resorting to opiates.
That being said, opiate use CAN cause depressive symptoms, especially when trying to taper off. Are you guys running into anything like that?
Certainly, some chronic pain conditions require use of narcotics, but, all efforts should be made by the doctors to find a regimen that addresses the pain levels with the least amount of narcotics as possible, none is even better.
A lot of people who have been on narcotics long term actually are pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of times, they didn't need the amount of medication they were prescribed, and some docs don't even TRY a non-narcotic analgesic before resorting to opiates.
Perhaps this problem has nothing to do with mental health, if it is to do with your central nervous system. Do you feel you both have mental health problems, or is it pain?
Thank-you very much. I'm going to check it out, and hopefully it will answer some questions.
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