Drugs (the legal kind)

[triedit]

Can prescription opiates cause personality change? The doc recently changed my med regiment and I don't even recognize me anymore. Im in a LOT less pain and am doing more, but I seem to have become alternately a simpering idiot or a raving lunatic. And it happened without warning in the space of about 72 hours.

Somewhere inside me there is a nice person screaming to be let out....do you think it could be a drug reaction?

 

[daisygirl]

Definitely...I often wonder who I am anymore with the meds I'm on. That week that I decided to go off all my meds, I actually felt better in that I felt like me again...granted with the old ailments rearing their ugly heads. But wow, did it ever feel good to be me!

 

[Niflmir]

Certainly can cause personality changes, although I am not certain about the time scale. Heck even caffeine can cause personality changes, think of grumpiness in the morning.

 

[Curiosity]

The answer is yes

Prescription and or personally acquired drugs can give different reactions at different times, and over a long period you can (as we all know), build up a need for more.

I am susceptible to a low dose aspirin - which makes me a lucky person - and because I am susceptible I have to be cautious of any medications. When I broke my arm two summers ago, the only pain relief I needed was an aspirin in the morning after sleeping when the pain was the strongest.

Depends upon how long a person has been taking a drug, but yes it can work for some problem areas, but create others (for which the docs will prescribe yet another med).... We have to be our own police when it comes to how we react to meds...and meltdowns are not unusual....but often temporary due to intermittent factors - even a change of seasons can introduce depression.