I'm a chronic pain'er, and have tried just about every legit (prescribed/legally admin'ed) opiate/opioid out there except for methadone, and probably a few other things i've never heard of.
I'd rate
1). transdermal Fentanyl (75ucg/hr patch)... best pain medication experience I ever had, though it got pretty strong at times. Totally pain free for 3, almost upwards of 4 days and was buzzed as shit at times... especially when I woke up. I've had the pops too... I wouldn't even rate the pops at all. Had 2 of the 800mcg pops at once and although i was on my regular meds (oxycodone) i felt no difference at all!
2). IM Demerol... this is what I'd get at the hospital... best for intense acute pain. My tolerance to opiates is pretty high, but a nurse administered shot of IM Demerol would have me fallin' out within 10 minutes.
3). IM Morph... this is what I get whenever I go in for evasive tests. Discograms or Myelograms. Sadly, my only experiences with this have been in coordination with some sort of benzodiazipine. Some people like the benzo and analgesic mixture but all it does is make me go to sleep =P. Next time I go in I'm gonna refuse the valium and the anti-histimine so I can see what IM morph is really like
3). Oxycodone... this my old stand-by. I'm currently prescribed percocet, tapering down every month. This works the best for my pain and my situation. Fentanyl actually worked the best, but i couldn't and wouldn't want to fuck with being on the patches at a young age. My doctor offered my OxyContin 20mg but because of the abuse potential I said no. Also, i'd rather be just on the percocet instead of the sustained release AND something else (like percocet) to supplement it for pain-spikes.
4). MSContin (sustained release oral morph)... had the 30 mgs. Wasn't enough.
5). Hydrocodone... was prescribed the 7.5/500 for ~1 year. After being on Oxycodone for 6 months now, hydrocodone doesn't do anything. The "vicoprofren" hydrocodone/ibuprofren is genius though. I have some old hydro laying around for the hell of it... in case i run out of my script early, incase i get bored, etc..
6). Hydromorphone.... useless for anything more than a bee-sting in my opinion. Unless you're in a hospital and they give it to you IV or whatever... i know people who'll only do it recreationally through IV... whatever, not really my bag.
7). Ultracet... I don't even know what this shit is. APAP COATED in an opiate or something? I was scripted it... don't think i ever got it filled... as goes with DARVOCET.
there it is.... my opiate ratings in regards to pain relief and ME. I'm sure what I listed for pain can go hand in hand with what some people listed for recreation. Any other chronic painers who take opiates should post theirs up too... i know for some ailments certain opiates won't do much, while others will... and in some cases (my friend who needed a double hip replacement for example! at age 21 none the less!) stronger opiates did NOTHING for pain. Oxy, hydro, MSContin... wouldn't touch it. TRAMADOL did, however!