Hydrocodone or Opana

Question

I have sciatica real bad. My doc perscribes me 30 5/500 twice a month.

It turns out that they are not taking care of the pain anymore after a year or so taking them.

I am going to tell my doc that the vicos dont work and that I heard about Opanas.

I am assuming they work better than vicos do. I am just afraid that 1) if i ask her for these it may seem like i know too much, im thinking just to let her bring up the subject 2) i dont know if its OK to take these during the day at work. I tend to nod after 3 to 4 vicos, but it sucks because the pain is ever present.

Feedback BL-ers...

This would be almost stupid on your part. You are on way to low of a dose to switch to opanas. Might wanna ask for oxy or a higher mg hydro.

Hey OP I definitely agree with RoxisLover (edit: not the stupid part though ). Vicodin itself goes up to 10/750 or something and you can get oxycodone preparations in even 80mg per pill. Increasing the dosage of these weaker opioids would be the next step before heading up to the hydromorphone/oxymorphone levels.

dont ask for anything. just say the vicodins arent working anymore. she then should give u oxys or somethin

Directly asking for something more abusable will set off a red flag as Methadone84 was saying...

The doctor will naturally entitle himself to give you a higher dosage or make a switch...

Discussion about what to say to doctors to get prescribed certain drugs isn't allowed. If the original post only somewhat refers to that and also asks legitimate questions about relevant strengths of opioids, please don't focus on - and especially don't full out answer - the part that is not allowed.

No way will your doctor go from vicodin to Opana. Just tell you doctor the vics arent helping with the pain & he will probably take you up to 10/325's (Norcos)

^ agree.

no need to jump your tolerance to way high levels. If the pain is chronic and stays with you and cant be surgically fixed, you will work your way up the opiate chart naturally anyway.

Moving to the 10's will probably help. as much as people here do not like APA, I take tyleonl with my opiate to control the pain better and longer. A soma and a bendryl helps too.

Thank you all for the feed back. I was just inquiring on the progression of the opioid scale so I would know what to expect.

I asked about Opana as I know they have an extended release formula and the amount of vicos I take concerns me as I have to take quite a few to feel any relief. To be honest, they never really worked but I knew asking the doc for something strong was out of the question and moving up the pain med scale is a gradual thing and I would have had to start out with the 5/500's anyway.

I took two vicos yesterday evening along with a naproxin and the naproxin just messed my stomach up.

I dont think there is any surgery for sciatica anyway since it has to deal with nerve endings and trying to fix that is comparable to extracting a needle from a haystack.

It's more likely that your doctor would either increase your hydrocodone dose or switch you to oxycodone (Percocet, etc). You won't get scripts for stronger drugs like morphine/hydromorphone/oxymorphone until your tolerance level gets that bad.

Well I hope she does increase it. I've already taken three vicos this morning and my leg/back is still hurting and now having muscle spasms. I dont want to take any more for a few hours as I'm already feeling the nod I bloody hate this.

You mentioned muscle spasms. Have you ever taken or been prescribed anything for this? Once in a while my doctor would give Soma. I have sciatic trouble too and I get the hydro 10/325 (120 a month) One thing that helps me sometimes is half a 800 mg motrin. It extends the pain relief for me anyway.

misszee007 said:

Question

I have sciatica real bad. My doc perscribes me 30 5/500 twice a month.

It turns out that they are not taking care of the pain anymore after a year or so taking them.

I am going to tell my doc that the vicos dont work and that I heard about Opanas.

I am assuming they work better than vicos do. I am just afraid that 1) if i ask her for these it may seem like i know too much, im thinking just to let her bring up the subject 2) i dont know if its OK to take these during the day at work. I tend to nod after 3 to 4 vicos, but it sucks because the pain is ever present.

Feedback BL-ers...

Click to expand...

To be honest i have been taking opana's lately and i am a big fan of hydrocodone which is my main choice, but Opana is worthless when taken orally. You have to IV it or snort it to get any real effect and its still not even a good buzz. Now i will tell you that the pain killing abilities are said to be 8x that of Oxycontin (which means a red 10mg Opana pill will work as well as an 80mg OC Not the High but the painkilling properties. The rush is much less intense even when IV'd.) I'm telling you from experience though that the percentage of the pill you would get when administered orally would only be somethin like 6-8 percent which is like rough taking a Lortab 7.5 if you wanna cross tolerance. When IV'd though it can be enjoyed to a point but it takes at least 15 mg IV'd to have any real effect on me. I have a much higher opiate tolerance than you do though as i have to take about 80-90 mg at a time to even get a decent buzz (well over 120mg if i want to nod) I do CWE because of the apap content but i agree with most of these other people, you are only on Vicodin 5mg and you can get up to like one person said somewhere around a 10/750. Switching to Oxycodone may be an option for you as well but i wouldnt go in asking for Oxymorphone (Opana). You have many more options before thats neccesary. I hope this helps you at least somewhat

Good luck. Pain is a bitch.

I prefer to the hydrocodone or other opiate with less APAP and add my own acetaminophen on top as necessary. It does boost the pain killing mechanisms so the relief lasts longer. With me in control I can use less acetaminophen at times and worry less about the effects of it on my liver.

Think long term. Some pain issues become chronic and it becomes a matter of managing the pain and the pill intake.

hey may switch you to Percocet, but i HIGHLY doubt he'll jump all the way to Opana.

misszee007 said:

Well I hope she does increase it. I've already taken three vicos this morning and my leg/back is still hurting and now having muscle spasms. I dont want to take any more for a few hours as I'm already feeling the nod I bloody hate this.

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Yeah, she'll probably increase it to 10 mg hydrocodone (Norco), which only got 325 mg of APAP to 10 mg hydrocodone. You can take Ibuprofen for extra pain relief, take 600-800 mg of ibuprofen in addition to your hydrocodone (whether you got Vicodins or Norcos). But eat something before taking that much ibuprofen - anything, a slice of bread would suffice.

You're a long way from being scripted morphine, hydromorphone, or oxymorphone.

I was scripted Opana ER only after spending 2 years on 15mg Oxycodones (240 per month). You might look like a drug seeker if you ask for Opana. Be careful so your doc doesn't freeze up and cut you off completely. Some docs do that.

Scared Straight said:

I was scripted Opana ER only after spending 2 years on 15mg Oxycodones (240 per month). You might look like a drug seeker if you ask for Opana. Be careful so your doc doesn't freeze up and cut you off completely. Some docs do that.

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I agree with Scared Straight here, dont seem too eager or your gonna end up having to go doctor shoppin just to get the pain medication that it seems to me you actually need. Opana is roughly 8x stronger than oxycontin when it comes to the painkilling abilities so just suggest a possible increase in hydrocodone dosage or switching and trying oxycodone (which their is a wider range of doses(mg's) for you to be able to move up when the dose your currently at isnt enough). Ibuprofen or Naproxen (aleve) work well as breakthrough meds with hydrocodone or oxycodone so give that a shot before he starts gettin stingy with that script pad and you go through hell! The best advice would be to ask for 7.5 or 10 mg hydrocodone with less Acetominophen and some prescription strength ibuprofen (600-800mg) for breakthrough pain (this is what my dentist always does for me when i have a tooth pulled or get a filling or get a root canal and it really does work wonders)

Thanks nicksoutherland90 for the info on the cross tolerance. I dont think I would IV any of this stuff, I'm a bit of a chicken even though I wont lie I love the opiate feeling

Yes I definitely wont bring up to my doc that I was looking into Opanas, especially if she will think I'm seeking drugs. Opana was something I had seen on line and was wondering about but it seems to be WAY too heavy for me at this point. I know its a sensitive subject to talking to docs about pain meds without sounding like a druggie but its a nessesary "evil".

I'm glad she has prescribed me as many vicodins as she has with out regular visits. I just want something that works so I dont have to keep taking so much vicodins all day long to feel normal. Especially all the APAP im sure is doing a number on my liver. I'm glad I dont drink to often like I used to.

I just took my 6th vico of the day along with an 800mg ibuprofen and it seems to have worked well. I agree with J.G. and Kokaino on the addtl. dose of the ibuprofen does help.

definately opana

I have been taking opana er for about a year now. MIRICAL DRUG is all I can say. I started with the 5mg. They are time release and are a fantastic around the clock pain med. I still take norco 10mg for breakthrough, but if your dr is willing to write u opanas..dont hesitate they are fantastic