Injured Soldier needs some advice

[Boosted4Banger]

Hey, new member here and I have an issue and some questions.

I am a Solider that was injured while deployed, I have been taking pain killers for awhile. I went from Norco to Oxycodone and I am now on Hydromorphone. I was taking about 60mg of Oxys before telling my doctor that they just weren't taking away the pain anymore. He has me on 4mg of Hydromorphone now and to be honest I have started taking about 6 pills at a time. Now I get 120 pills for a month and that is a decent amount as I don't take pills on the weekend and only take 1 dose a day to get e thru the work day. But the problem is I am not getting much pain relief and I have yet to feel a buzz or anything. I don't even get drowsy on these like the 60mg of Oxys would do to me. SO I was considering snorting my hydroporphone to get more of an effect but I'm just curious how much I can try and snort before it becomes dangerous.

I do not want to inject anything. I am not gonna judge anyone that does but injecting my medication is the line I wont cross. I still have about 200 or so Oxys and Im thinking about going back to those and trying to snort them, how many would I want to snort if I was taking 60mg orally?

Oh I should probably add I am also currently taking Gabapentin 300mgs 3x daily, 50mg of Zoloft EQ and 300-400mg of traZODone HCL as well. I don't know what HCL means or if its significant but I figured I'd put it.

 

[nAON]

First off, are your pill extended release or IR?

Snorting drugs in general makes the effect stronger, but doesn't last as long (only a couple hours), so may not be ideal if using it medically. If I remember correctly, the BA is also higher snorted than oral, so you'll have to adjust your dose accordingly (if your pills are IR, i'd start by snorting about a quarter of your usual dose).

Oxy is similar, except the BA is lower than snorted, so it tends to be a lot less efficient, and is only really useful if you're chasing a buzz.

 

[Boosted4Banger]

It doesnt say ER or IR just HCL. I snorted 2 (8mg) and waited about and hour then chewed 3 (12mg) more so thats 20mg I ingested within an hour and still not really getting any pain relief. Is it possible that this particular drug has no effect on my body?

 

[Oxide]

Excellent points made by nAON, when you're using opiates to manage your pain, crossing that use/abuse line can make things much more difficult and complicated for you in the long run. That said, the intranasal bioavailability of hydromorphone is indeed higher than the oral bioavailability, and you'll want to start with a lower dosage than you might take orally. Starting slow and working your way up will not steer you wrong.

You'd get more out of the oxycodone orally than you will intranasally, nAON pretty much hit that nail on the head as well, so I'll stop parroting him now.

EDIT:

Is it possible that this particular drug has no effect on my body?

I think the switch from high-bioavailability oral oxycodone to lower-bioavailabity oral hydromorphone is what is causing the issue. It's not that the drug has no effect on you, it's that hydromorphone doesn't have the same 'legs' so to speak, and the lower oral BA might be leaving you "unsatisfied."

DOUBLE EDIT: Thank you for your service.

 

[cj]

I would switch back to oxy Hydromorohone just isnt very effective unless your shooting it. It also has an incredibly short half life so only taking it once a day isnt gonna be effective at all.

 

[Boosted4Banger]

Well thanks for the support and the advice. I appreciate it.

 

[Hybris]

You could also request a higher dosage of oxycodone and look into oxycontin IR for breakthrough pain. I, like you refuse to IV drugs and from everything I've read hydromorphone is a very potent narcotic however when taken orally its effects are sub par. It seems like your doctor is willing to work with you so I'm sure you'll find the right combination. Nucynta is also a new drug a lot of pain management doctors are trying. The reviews on it are wildly up and down so I would be cautious if that is suggested for you but then again maybe you'll be one of the few that love it.

 

[YellowPolkaDotHalo]

doesnt do advice op.

see a doc.

 

[Doug2113]

When you snort the dilaudid (hydromorphone), be sure to snort it in small lines over a short period of time, allowing the powder to absorb into your mucous membranes instead of dripping down your throat. You'll get some drip, but anything that drips is just going to be digested as if it were swallowed...

I tried snorting 4mg dilaudid all in two lines and had the same disappointment-snort a bunch of small lines.

 

[Pjkt2501]

^ Doug also makes a good point about hydromorphone. The pills, being mostly binder, absorb very poorly in the nose as well. I would break a single 2mg pill into 5-6 lines each, and wait ~5 minutes minimum between lines. Yeah, it's going to take a while like this, especially for pain management.

In my opinion, you should stick to a med you can take orally that will suit your needs to manage your pain. Not to say that you will have problems, but as Oxide said, the line between using meds for pain management and abuse is quite thin, unfortunately. As one person pointed out, an ER formulation of oxycodone w/ IR oxycodone for BT pain is probably your best bet.

(Dilaudid is fairly terrible when taken orally, for what it "should" be.)

 

[Epsilon Alpha]

Abusing your medication will make it much harder to effectively manage your pain. One thing you could do though is look at POTENTIATION, which will help you get more out of your meds while staying a bit further from full out abuse.

Off the top of my head grapefruit juice will increase the plasma halflife of most opiates.

 

[Oxide]

^solid advice.