Long story short:
I use to have a script for codeine, 60 x 30mg a month.
Now I have a script for dilaudid, 120 x 2mg a month.
Both are for pain, but also to help me sleep at night through the pain.
I am disappointed in the dilaudid in its 3 main areas of effect: analgesic, mood enhancing, and sleep inducing. The dilaudid seems to do more for sleep enhancing when absorbed anally, while the only way I get close to a reasonable analgesic effect is by nasal absorption. I think. I get the idea that I get almost nothing from it orally, but that might be because a pain of a level of 8 to 9 on 10 is something that makes me impatient. Go figure. 8)
Also, I had used the codeine for 2 months on end before starting the dilaudid, for which I am finishing off a month's supply, to my great anxiety, for my pain level is quite something. Other than that, I had used up to 120mg codeine for the occasional migraine, say about once a week for a year. No other experience with opiates or opioids. When my pain gets severe, I can take 20 to 24mg dilaudid within a 2 hour frame time, and still be moaning like someone being tortured. I seem to get some pain reduction, but possibly not always, and usually far less than I would need in order to be able to sleep, even with such "massive" doses. I have no idea if theses doses are massive or not, because I am new to this drug.
I also weigh 285 lbs, due to liver and metabolic disease. It is worth noting that this liver disease is enabling me to metabolize alcohol, for example, in a crazy quick amount of time. For example, 12 oz strong liquor within 30 minutes gets me tipsy, but 20 minutes later I am back to baseline. I think for most people the effect of alcohol is much longer lasting.
Finally, as last piece of the puzzle, I give you my doc's script, which says take 1 (2mg) pill every 6 hours upon need, for pain. There is no way in hell this drug is lasting 6 hours for me, not unless I take at least 6 pills in one go, orally.
So, could it be that my liver disease is making me metabolize the dilaudid much more quickly than it should, just like, I surmise, alcohol? Could it have been HELPING codeine?
What are things I should look into before going to my doc and trying to explain why 2mg dilaudid feels like 5mg codeine to me. Then again, my pain level fluctuates a lot, so there is a lot of subjectivity and potential for randomness in my attempt at assessing effectiveness.
I know there are some very smart people on here, and I look forward to your advice.
I use to have a script for codeine, 60 x 30mg a month.
Now I have a script for dilaudid, 120 x 2mg a month.
Both are for pain, but also to help me sleep at night through the pain.
I am disappointed in the dilaudid in its 3 main areas of effect: analgesic, mood enhancing, and sleep inducing. The dilaudid seems to do more for sleep enhancing when absorbed anally, while the only way I get close to a reasonable analgesic effect is by nasal absorption. I think. I get the idea that I get almost nothing from it orally, but that might be because a pain of a level of 8 to 9 on 10 is something that makes me impatient. Go figure. 8)
Also, I had used the codeine for 2 months on end before starting the dilaudid, for which I am finishing off a month's supply, to my great anxiety, for my pain level is quite something. Other than that, I had used up to 120mg codeine for the occasional migraine, say about once a week for a year. No other experience with opiates or opioids. When my pain gets severe, I can take 20 to 24mg dilaudid within a 2 hour frame time, and still be moaning like someone being tortured. I seem to get some pain reduction, but possibly not always, and usually far less than I would need in order to be able to sleep, even with such "massive" doses. I have no idea if theses doses are massive or not, because I am new to this drug.
I also weigh 285 lbs, due to liver and metabolic disease. It is worth noting that this liver disease is enabling me to metabolize alcohol, for example, in a crazy quick amount of time. For example, 12 oz strong liquor within 30 minutes gets me tipsy, but 20 minutes later I am back to baseline. I think for most people the effect of alcohol is much longer lasting.
Finally, as last piece of the puzzle, I give you my doc's script, which says take 1 (2mg) pill every 6 hours upon need, for pain. There is no way in hell this drug is lasting 6 hours for me, not unless I take at least 6 pills in one go, orally.
So, could it be that my liver disease is making me metabolize the dilaudid much more quickly than it should, just like, I surmise, alcohol? Could it have been HELPING codeine?
What are things I should look into before going to my doc and trying to explain why 2mg dilaudid feels like 5mg codeine to me. Then again, my pain level fluctuates a lot, so there is a lot of subjectivity and potential for randomness in my attempt at assessing effectiveness.
I know there are some very smart people on here, and I look forward to your advice.
