Harm Reduction The Pain Management Megathread (Chronic and Acute Pain Discussion) Version 5.0 ~ V

[DixiChik]

INDEED...What's the saying? "These hoops are made for jumping through" That's just what we'll have to continue to do.

Cliffy...Ditto, preach it, my friend.

Namnoc...My GP told me in 2013 when I rebelled that Tramadol was worthless, that I would have to see a PM for stronger meds. My Ortho does the Synvisc One in my knees (I need double TKR) and has KNOWN that the spine/bone issues were causing severe pain. She started me on Norco 5/325, but refused to continue indefinitely because of the acetaminophen. She insisted my GP continue prescribing, but NO...he passed me off to PM.

I've been with this idiot PM for close to 1.5+ years, with no progress. This is a cluster fuck circus with no ringmaster.

I know I'm old, but damn...are there no true physicians left? Have we buried them all? My GP for life died this summer, after retiring in 2010. He was a renaissance man...the doctor who chairs the board of the local hospital, delivers babies, performs surgery, and sets your broken bones. He saved my life SO MANY times, if only to hospitalize me for dehydration and starvation ketosis. He found my Stage 4 Endo when numerous GYNs failed. SMFH

 

[Jlosnow]

Speedking- I have not too much experience with oxycodone long term. Right after my fusion I was given morphine 30 ER and 15 oxy IR (I think) and if I recall correctly the oxy worked MUCH better for my pain.

So today I saw PM doc, showed him my pain journal and asked for stronger meds. He told me that his office has a "limit" for prescription opiates of 120 mg/day and I was already at 110. Has anyone ever heard of this? I consider hydro and morphine ER to be low scripts compared to what is out there. He changed my meds around some but that was it. Now I take the following:

30 mg morphine ER 2X daily
Max of 5 hydro 10s daily
150 mg lyrica 3x daily

So I dissolved a crushed hydro 10 and one ms contin30, (the little balls inside the cap), in about 5 MLs of warm water. Shook it good and actually had the hubby plug it for me, I laid on my tummy and he inserted the syringe all the way to the plunger and did a steady push. Laid on my left side for 10 mins and nothing. My tolerance is high, usually need 3 hydros plus 3 morphine to kill the pain but I had read to start low because the BA is so much higher. I even took 600 mg tagamet before hand to try and potentiate. Should I try again with more pills? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated ♡

 

[Jlosnow]

Just saw the other posts and needed to reply

@Namnoc- what regulations?! Le sigh...more red tape is the LAST thing we need

@Cliffy- Amen!

@Dixi- I am sorry you aren't getting on well with your docs, I can relate, I am not happy with my doc atm but am afraid to make waves and get cut off completely. Makes me tempted to try and find myself some good oxy from "other" means...

 

[namnoc16]

I haven't looked up online but my doctor and pharmacist told me they are changing regulations for pain meds in October(they weren't specific but doctor implied that's why he sent me to PM,at this point I barely hear a word coming from his mouth). I'll do a little digging and get back to you guys!

 

[Speed King]

Jlosnow, I'd take the Tagamet, take the morphine orally(better make sure the Tagamet doesn't interfere with the morphine)and plug at least 2 hydro 10's. I also heard to take the lyrica after the opiates. You will feel them after the opiates. Hope this helps.

 

[SixBuckets]

PROGRESS!

Those of you following my adventures with my local pain management clinic will be aware that my life for the last six months has been an ongoing saga of waiting periods and appointments with all sorts of medical and allied health professionals and basically jumping through endless hoops. I finally seem to have gotten one step closer to treatment: my pain doctor has provided a letter of recommendation to my GP saying that she will monitor and support me through an eight week trial of tramadol XR if the GP prescribes it. Unfortunately, I can't get an appointment with the GP for two weeks, but that seems like nothing after the past six months of waiting.

I really hope I get some relief from the tramadol, because I don't want to go through this all again.

Fingers crossed for no more days off work because of pain!

 

[SixBuckets]

Hey, guys!

I apologize if this is redundant; I've been searching through posts but I haven't found an answer to my question, so I figured I'd get specific. Basically, I have a couple of safety questions re: combining medication.

I have fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, chronic migraine with aura, and a congenital defect that causes chronic sciatica. None of them are currently managed because my PCP is a bitch and a half to get in touch with, and when I do manage to get an appointment, she keeps prescribing me antidepressants that are totally ineffective, not to mention dangerous in combination with my SNRI for, y'know, actual depression.

Monday got really bad and I ended up in the ER, and the doctors who saw me were AMAZING and didn't brush it off as being "all in my head", and after a thorough exam, I was discharged with instructions to be really annoying with my PCP until she gets off her ass and on the same page as the rest of my care team (psychiatrist, therapist, and pain specialist) and scripts for small amounts of oxycodone and diazepam to tide me over until then. The oxy is for pain and the valium is to be used as a muscle relaxer. Both were prescribed in 5mg tablets.

Is it safe to take one of each at the same time? My back is freaking out and I had a migraine aura earlier and can feel it creeping up on me, so I figured I'd try the oxy to see if I could head it off. I took it about half an hour ago, but my muscles are still really sore and clenched up. I don't want to take the valium if combining it with oxy is dangerous.

I do have a heating pad on my back and that's helping a little, but not much, and I was also prescribed 800mg tablets of ibuprofen. For reference, I have zero opiate tolerance, but I was coercively made dependent on benzos about five years ago and while I'm working on weaning myself off it, I'm still taking 0.25-0.5 mg of clonazepam every day (although upon recommendation from the ER doctor, I'm not combining the klonopin and valium). I weigh about 117 pounds.

Thank you in advance. I hope everyone reading this is in less pain tomorrow than you were today.

This dosage should be fine (as you found out) but the general recommendation is not to combine opiates/opioids with benzos at all,and preferably to leave a 24 hour window between the two medications due to the long half life of benzos. Potentiation is really unpredictable and more than a few people have ODd at dosages that should theoretically have been safe.

 

[SKR]

Well done Six! I really hope you get some relief soon. To all cpp - wishing you all the best. My PM Doc is proving to be expensive and useless. My GP wants him to dictate my meds and he had his way he would take away all scripts especially the opiates from me. I'm taking 6-10 times what I'm prescribed - if my docs knew this they'd be thrilled cos they would cut me off, label me a junkie ( that's my right) and get me on maintainence and wave goodbye to me. Maybe i should start drinking again.

 

[rokkinrollaa6]

Rokkin- I am so sorry you are going through so much pain and hassle all to treat a DIAGNOSED CONDITION! I agree that we pain patients have a rough go of it just trying to live each day, let alone having to deal with all the hassle just to get the medication we NEED to have any quality of life. It breaks my heart to read that you are contemplating going to heroine or suicide just to end the torture. Please know you are not alone and I beg you to reconsider either or those options as a road you should travel. I pray you are able to get to a good pain doc who will help you and listen to you. Please post anytime you need encouragement, I know others will join with me in their support of you.

Thank you, though I am not sure what will happen. I am seeing a urologist on monday or teusday and so hopefully i will get a proper amount of medicine, but if not I'll most likley go back to heroin use. keep in mind these are Russians, for them a man complaining of pain is akin to practical emasculation. they ave scripted me, but usually unwillingly. hopefully it gets better. to make matters worse, pharmacies are not giving me shit for buying OTC codeine asking me if i am addicted to codeine, and when i tell them i bluntly have chronic pain, they tell me to see a doctor.

why didn't i think of that?

methinks I'll have to go back on heroin soon. sadly.

 

[Runtoparadise]

^the spetzniks, or something right? Haha, what a fn diabolical world we live in. Some more than others.

It's not the first time there's been talk on this thread in regard to heroin, & sadly it won't be the last.

I feel for all of us in this unwilling boat of ongoing pain.

@Sixbuckets, hallelujah woman, it's not for lack of participation on your side is it?! I truly hope, even though you have to wait another fortnight, that you do find some relief. ESP with codeine not OTC here much longer. Can you not call your GP for the script?

@SKR, dear man, I'm missing you. Sorry to hear you too feel your PM dr is wasting your resources. Talk soon.

Rtp

 

[DixiChik]

I'm so damned frustrated with this whole PM farce. I've never tried Cannabis (yes, you can belly laugh). I'm at a point where I'm beyond willing to try. It's not legal in my state, and of course I have no connections. I'm told I need Indica, but even then it's confusing.

It was suggested that perhaps this would be a good adjunct to the Oxycodone, since I take the IR for pain. BTW...ER OxyContin is not an option, as doctor says it won't absorb in my altered GI system.

I'm just sick of being sick and stressed from trying to find PM meds that I can tolerate. Last night I puked my guts up, dry heaved for hours because my supper wouldn't digest. My face is filled with broken capillaries from straining to vomit.

Somebody, anybody...Please HELP ME. I feel as though my screams are like those of a rabbit...shreeking in my throat, yet unheard!

 

[AnnaBanana333]

Cymbalta

Welcome Anna and Lavender!

I hope you both find the support you need here

@Anna- I want a cookie! Lol they sound really good right now. You mentioned a Cymbalta withdrawal, I am currently on Cymbalta as part of my PM regimen and am concerned about your comment about the horrible withdrawal. What happened? Also, I was never told I had an option to let my spine fuse on its own, how does that work? TIA hun ♡

Ugh. My pain clinic is amazing; I really can't complain overall, but they didn't know enough about Cymbalta to prescribe it and therefore taper someone off of it. I remember going on it, and feeling like I was in the Matrix for 3 days. I asked what reaction I would have if I wasn't depressed (certainly been there before, but wasn't at the time). They said it shouldn't matter. I dropped the 10 lbs I gained on neurontin. Helped with my lower back pain and nerve pain for a year. But then I gained 12 lbs back. I'm 5'4. 12 lbs is a lot, and not what my back needed. She said I didn't need to taper at first, and when I questioned her, she said, Oh yes, I guess you should. I was taking 30 mg, twice a day. I tapered by 10 mg a day for a week, because I wanted it out of my system. My husband was so angry. He almost took me to the ER. There was a class action lawsuit against the company, not warning patients of the problems with withdrawal.

Overall, it took me a month to be back to myself, and I'm still emotional sometimes. I surprised myself at how easily I get pissed off at people.

 

[AnnaBanana333]

I'm so sorry people are having trouble finding/getting the meds they need to 'live'. Lying on my couch all last spring was not living. I did enjoy watching all of Grey's Anatomy, though. After a fall down the stairs, I did something to my SI joint, and after several visits to the private ortho hospital that the doctors go to, was told the most conservative option would be to let my spine fuse on its own, since it doesn't appear to be impinging on nerves (even though I have nerve pain).

When I heard the generic of oxymorphone was back, I asked to be switched, and since I have a great relationship with my pain place (it doesn't hurt that I'm a middle aged Asian woman and lower my pain meds on occasion), they let me. But after tons of reading (lurking) I know that the only way it works is by insufflation. And so I do. And I finally get close to pain free. I go through bad boughs (like now, so I asked for the IR as well). I'm managing.

 

[namnoc16]

I'm thinking my family doc decided to switch me to pain management doc because the FDA is changing regulations in October. Anyone know about these changes and if it'll affect the patient?

Can't find a single article to support this bull shit,don't understand why my doctor would bullshit me completely?

 

[bug12]

I want to eat, but I also want to feel my medicine

Hello pain management patients,

Forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place - I'm a bit confused about how to properly post. This is regarding pain management/opioid medication.

I want to take my medication and I also want to eat a bunch of food. I know everyone is different, but I would be interested to hear how eating a meal affects the potency for some of you ... how long do you wait, etc? It'd be great to hear some feedback. Prescribed oxy.

Thanks

 

[Jlosnow]

So today a friend at work offered me sample gummies that her friend made with Marijuana. He extracted all THC so if u pee test it will be negative . I ate one and in 20 mins felt some pretty decent pain relief, she gave me his number so I plan to buy more, I'm just paranoid about getting in trouble.

@Anna- TYVM for the Cymbalta low down. I had no idea u can withdraw from it. I will be careful with it and taper if I decide to go off it. So u insuf your hydro? I wonder if that would work better? Plugged again tonight with 3 hydro and nothing. Don't want to keep wasting pills

@Dixi- I'm so sorry you are so sick, that sounds horrible what you are going through!

 

[AnnaBanana333]

Not hydro

So today a friend at work offered me sample gummies that her friend made with Marijuana. He extracted all THC so if u pee test it will be negative . I ate one and in 20 mins felt some pretty decent pain relief, she gave me his number so I plan to buy more, I'm just paranoid about getting in trouble.

@Anna- TYVM for the Cymbalta low down. I had no idea u can withdraw from it. I will be careful with it and taper if I decide to go off it. So u insuf your hydro? I wonder if that would work better? Plugged again tonight with 3 hydro and nothing. Don't want to keep wasting pills

@Dixi- I'm so sorry you are so sick, that sounds horrible what you are going through!

No, I'm insufflating the oxymorphone. I feel terrible about it, but it's the only way it works. I was swallowing them at first with fatty food, but how often can I do that? And snorting it, it just works so much better. Ugh. I just wish I didn't enjoy it. I never took any other med than other than intended because too much makes me nauseous. BTW, after years of that, I finally had a nurse tell me that if an opioid makes you nauseous to take it with yogurt. Makes a huge difference, I don't know why they don't tell that to people.

 

[Speed King]

I can't guide you on asking for your dose to be doubled(my doc would be skeptical of me abusing) but can recommend for you to ask for the oxycodone without the Tylenol .Thats a lot of acetaminophen!

I'm sure it's not just me, but I actually had more relif on Percocet then straight oxycodone. This was at reasonable, lower doses. I'm still (based on much research) Leila take 10/325's to reduce the apap:

 

[DixiChik]

Hey Everybody...Thanks, Jlos for thinking of me. I've read about the gummies of MMJ, but I've never had the chance to try any of the Cannabis products that could be helpful for pain and for depression.

Just a little relief, yet remain able to function articulately, would be a welcome respite. Hope all of you folks have a somewhat good night, with pain well managed.

 

[Speed King]

What's the difference ( as basically as you can get ) between oxycodone/oxycontin, and morphine/MS Contin? I only once had the ER oxy and a couple times MS Contin.