Opioids Oxycontin to Opana?

[vintage]

Hello:

Although I've read a number of threads on the board concerning this, I've not found anything that applied close to my situation, most likely because of the sheer amount of Oxycontin that I take. As a bit of background, I have a great PCP who will prescribe me anything I ask for except for Methadone (his own personal reasons). I have both severe psoriasis (think bloody ground meat for 70% of my body when it's at its worse) combined with psoriatic arthritis. Best I can usually relate it to people is that it's like walking around with 2nd degree burns all over plus a bad case of arthritis.

Luckily, my breakouts have been almost nil for the past few years, but about 6 months ago, I fired back up, and badly. Right now, I'm taking 4-5 80mg Oxycontin a day, with 4 8mg hydromorphone and 4 30mg Oxycodone a day for breakthrough. The problem is, my insurance won't go over the 120 count on pills, and I'm beginning to max out on the Oxycontin and still need painkillers. Got a pretty wicked tolerance quickly.

Anyway, I'm trying to move to something more powerful, and Oxymorphone might be it. From what I've read, it's about twice as powerful, but ... seeing that it tops out at 40mg, at my max 120 pills per medicine per month, that only equals the Oxycontin, and doesn't exceed it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
VintageDon

PS: I used to live in Texas and was getting 5 x 10mg methadone twice a day which was, for me, better than the Oxycontin. Unfortunately, I can find no one in the NE states that will prescribe me Methadone, even at the 10mg tablets, which are used for chronic pain. I may have to begin flying back to Texas just for that, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask.

 

[okz snorter]

Hi there. I dont.have too much to add sorry but I know from my own personal experience I had a similar oxycontin tolerance and ended up switching to opanas all off the street because of the price mainly. I would say that opana 40s for me were slightly more powerful than the oc 80s but then again I was always snorting them so not sure about the new formulations that are not able to be crushed... I liked the opana more but again I was solely using.them recreationally. I found them to be more of a sedated high than the oxy which would.be more of an energetic high. Thats just my own experience thanks for listening.

 

[vintage]

Regardless of your use for them, I appreciate the input. I used to use them from time to time for recreational use, but my tolerance has gotten so high lately that it's pretty tough to use them recreationally anymore. For example, for the Hydromorphone, I usually have to do 12 x 8mg to get where I want to be. Obviously, I'm going to run through 120 of them in no time doing that, not to mention any splash tolerance that might build up for other stuff.

My eventual solution may be to just start flying back in to Texas and switch all the way back to Methadone, which is the most effective pain killer I've used; at least for me. Most likely because part of my pain is nerve pain, and narcotics do little to touch true nerve pain.

Anyway, thanks for your input, and anyone else, I'd love to hear your experiences also. Will be seeing the doctor this Friday and need to make a decision prior to that.

 

[TheLostBoys]

That is a pretty big tolerance to opiates but depending on who you talk to, a 40mg opana is twice to several times more stronger than a 80mg oxy.

Into methadone is excellent for pain & lasts a very long time but your tolerance will sky rocket just like with opana.

Do you think your tolerance is so high because of your past methadone use?

I hate to recommend Fentanyl but it does work for chronic pain.......

 

[lithium00]

if you get the 10mg ir opana and snort it it works like 5 times better than popping it and 10 tiems better if you inject it

 

[Kid Amine]

See if your insurance will cover Exalgo (time release hydromorphone), they make it up to 32mg strengths. OPs (the reformulated OC) SUCK, oxymorphone (Opana) has a generic now, and while its BA is quite low orally, no one says you have to take them orally. Fentanyl patches are an option too

 

[tacodude]

Remember you're not just taking something more powerful, but something that works in a different sub receptor type in the opiate area. Oxy binds more selectively then hydro then natural forms to kappa for codeine and mu for morphine. Mu I find to be sedating almost putting me to sleep while kappa leads me to get tired, but not sleepy.

It will be strong at first, but you will build a tolerance relying on it. Try using the opana at night and the oxycodine when the pains unbearable. I feel while dependency and w/d will build and occur over time you should still be able to work to reduce the dose and tollerance over time without affecting ability to manage pain.

Also assuming gabapentin has been used? Too many side effects next day was my problem... Also not being nerve pain. I say avoid fent patches unless you never want to use recreationally or be off of them. They bind hard yet leave the system quick.

 

[Harrisment]

I went from Oxycontin to Opana. As others have mentioned, the bioavailability of Opana is extremely low if taken orally. Opana ER does come in a generic now which is crushable/snortable, so those can be a godsend if snorting your pills is not something you are opposed to. If you're looking for oral-only though, you'd probably be better off sticking with the Oxycontin. I'm not even sure if the oral Opana would take away withdrawals based on your dosage. It really is amazing how much stronger they are (both pain relief and euphoria) when snorted. Most sources say they are about 5x stronger when taken in that method.

If you do try Opana ER, make sure you request the generic at your pharmacy. The newly re-formulated name brand sucks. Feel free to PM me if you have any other Opana questions.