Opioids Ibudone VS Norco

[ZombieAssassin]

I have a question that maybe someone could help me out with. I've been taking 4 10/325mg Norco's for the last 3 years or so for pain in my knee's. My knee's get swollen almost everyday so on top of the Norco I take any where from 2-4 200mg Ibuprofen to bring the swelling down (which works). My problem is I have acid reflux and the combination of the Tylenol and Ibuprofen upsets my stomach. I can take one or the other and not have a problem, it's just when I mix the 2 that bothers me. It sucks cause I need to take the Norco for the pain and the Ibuprofen helps with the swelling, I could careless about the Tylenol cause it doesn't even help. I go to see my doctor tomorrow and I'm thinking about asking to be switched to Ibudone 10/200mg instead of the Norco. Do you think this would be a good route to go? I know Ibuprofen is suppose to be harder on your stomach than Tylenol so I don't now if I should even switch sense some days I only take a couple Ibuprofen's vs some days I take 4 (the days I take 4 is when my stomach really gets upset when coupled together with the Tylenol). With me having acid reflux I just don't know if being on something like Ibudone for a long period of time would be a bad thing sense everything I've heard suggests Ibuprofen is worse than Tylenol on your stomach. Any opinions or help with this matter would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Mike

 

[crestfallen]

I've always felt ibuprofen was easier on my stomach and more effective at relieving common pains/aches. Tylenol is just nasty imo and I'm almost positive its way worse on your liver than ibuprofen is.

I say go for the Ibudone, especially if mixing the 2 is causing GI issues. But taking that many NSAIDS daily is going to wreak havoc on your body sooner or later. Maybe ice your knees/try something natural?

 

[sekio]

Definitely make the move to ibudone/vicoprofen if the acetaminophen is an issue.

 

[bronson]

First off I'd just like to ask, what if anything is being done to help deal with your acid reflux?

It sounds like the primary issue is the ibuprofen causing havoc on your GI system, and it has less to do with the APAP. (Based on the original post saying that the stomach upset increases on days when you have taken more of the ibuprofen.) This would lead me to believe that perhaps the current regiment you are on now is fine aside from taking the NSAIDs.

My suggestion would be to talk with your doctor and explain that you need something in addition to help cut the inflammation, but that it can't be too hard on your stomach. Here are a couple of other suggestions I happened upon.

Non-NSAID pharmacologic treatment options for the management of chronic pain.
Chronic pain affects 75 million US citizens. A number of pharmacologic treatments are available for chronic pain that does not respond adequately to nonpharmacologic methods. Long the mainstay of chronic pain management, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are known to be associated with gastrointestinal (GI) and renal toxicities, a particular problem for the elderly population, which commonly experiences chronic pain, such as that associated with osteoarthritis (OA). Several non-NSAID, non-narcotic therapies are available for noninflammatory pain. Acetaminophen is as effective as NSAIDs for the management of mild-to-moderate OA pain and is the recommended first-line therapy by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Propoxyphene, widely believed to be safe and effective, may, in fact, be no more effective-and perhaps less effective-than acetaminophen or ibuprofen. (Has been taken off the market in Europe and the US due to concerns of fatal overdoses and arrhythmias.) {Source} A relatively new analgesic, tramadol, appears to be a useful therapy for patients who do not receive adequate pain relief with acetaminophen and are at risk for NSAID-related side effects. For localized chronic pain associated with OA, topical capsaicin is also an effective analgesic. (Source)

Hope some of the suggestions help, and check back in to report on how you are doing.

 

[ZombieAssassin]

Just thought I would give everyone an update. I went to the Dr today an she switched me to Ibudone 10/200mg 120 pills 4 times a day. The shitty thing is that this medication is not easy to find I went to 4 different pharmacies an no one carried it. Eventually I found a pharmacy that was willing to help an try something different. They didn't have Ibudone either but they had Vicoprpfen 7.5/200mg so what they did was call my doctor an explain the situation. Anyways so what they came up with is this, they decided on giving me 160 7.5/200mg every 4-6 hours (is how they ended up wording it) Vicoprofens to make up for the 300mg of hydrocodone I would have came up short if they had only gave me 120 7.5/200mg pills vs 120 10/200mg pills. All in all it ended up working out ok, except I'm taking like 5 pills a day now instead of 4 which isn't to big of a deal. I'd rather take 1000mg of Ibuprofen than the 800mg of Ibuprofen coupled together with the 1300mg of Tylenol I was taking. I've already taken a few today and so far so good.

Thank you for all of your input,to answer you question Bronson, yes I'm on acid reflux pills 2 20mg Omeprazoles a day. Thanks again everyone, you can close this thread now if you'd like.

Mike