Does taking vicodin make depression symptoms worse?

yes! I have been taking vicodin for 2 years now for severe back pain.I have degenerative disc disease. before I started taking vicodin I was a very happy person all my life. could not even imagine what depression felt like. even through my back pain I was happy. in pain,,,but happy.

my Dr. gave me vicodin. I saw no harm..so I took 1. and just 1 made me feel really happy. I did that for about 2 weeks. one morning I decided to take 2 because 1 was not working as well. no biggy..2 pills a day. the bottle said I could take no more than 8 per day (500 mg).2 worked. it has been going up over the past 2 years I am now at 5 or 6 a day. they do not work anymore. they do not give me that EXTRA  happy feeling. they have caused me to be so depressed, unsocial, I don't like to go out of my house anymore. I get mad if someone knocks on my door.I want off of these pills they have turned me into a diffrent person. I am so scared. it is very hard to get off. I am sorry to tell you..I believe your aunt is going through the same thing as me. vicodin caused severe depression in me and my mom. and we are both normally very happy people.

Vicodin is bad!!! and they hand it out like candy. and once you are hooked they tell you just taper down. or you call somewhere to get help and they want 25,000 bucks!! I am not kidding!

I hope your Aunt gets better. I would seriously try and get her off of those. it may take a month of no vicodin before your aunt will open her door to you.

I would have to say what you are noticing is not because of her vicodin. Vicodin is an opioid mixed with basically tylenol. The opioid ,hydrocodone I believe, causes minor feelings of euphoria and a relief of pain, if she has become dependant or addicted to it as Darcy obviously has then yes it could be adding to the antisocial tendancies of depression. But, in truth I would say that you should be more worried about her if she did not seem to change drastically. You must remember she just lost her daughter, a child she loved and raised since a baby, this kind of loss is rediculously damaging to a persons psyche. If you have ever lost someone dear to you, multiply that feeling by four to ten times what you felt and that is somewhere abouts how she feels.

If anything the Vicodin is probably helping her if she is taking it in a non-abusive manner. Anyways removing it from her would not really help, unless you want her to not only be in emotional pain but also physical pain from her disease. I would advise just giving her some time, and make sure she knows you are there to support her when she needs it. I would suggest treating her as if she is just massively depressed, because her symptoms seem more in line with that than with vicodin addiction. It is "normal" for the severely depressed to lock themselves away and even to refuse food or sleep for days on end. It is a possibility that she may start abusing her medication in order to get an opioid high, but I doubt that will happen. Vicodin is relatively well watched, being a schedule III controlled substance, so if she is abusing her medication her doctors will notice eventualy.

In short, dont worry about it, just be there for her when she opens up. She is depressed not an addict, and vicodin is more likely to make her feel BETTER than worse, atleast until her body develops a tolerance or dependancy on the medication. Just try to keep in touch with her and let her know its not the end of the world and that she has family that loves her and that she is important and needed. Dont be so quick to blame everything on the pills the doctors prescribe, depression can make you do things that few outside chemicals can achieve. Locking yourself away from friends and family is not out of its reach, and neither is suicide, substance abuse, and a score of other things.

I don't think that now is the time to worry about her pain meds. She really needs love and support right now. Not people making her feel bad about using something that her Dr gave her to help with pain. Also, Not everyone who uses pain meds is abusing them. Some people really need them. She is using them for the reason they  are prescribed. It is like if you judged a diabetic for using insulin. It is her medicine. I agree with the above post that her reaction is totally normal. She needs to greive. If she was over using her meds she might be emotioally numb and show no emotion.

  Even if she is abusing her meds, now is not the time to worry about it. Deal with the meds in the future if you still think it is a problem. But you certainly can't base anything on how she is acting right now. Everyone reacts differently to tradgedy. This is not her normal behaivior. Just be there for her as much as you can and help her through this horrible time in her life.

Much love to the whole family. I am sorry you are going through this tragedy. Best wishes.