Question about Dilaudid and Percocet

[Connecticut84]

hello i am new to the bluelight forums and i am in need of some answers. A few days ago I had knee surgery to repair tears in my miniscus and to re attach it to the bone. I am currently on a non weight bearing order and i have to wear a full leg restriction brace that locks at a 10 degree angle and use crutches to get around for the next month. At first I was prescribed Oxycodone 7.5-325's @ 90 tabs for pain managment and was instructed to take 1-2 tabs every 4-6 hours as needed but i was finding that it was doing absolutely nothing for me my pain level was still at an 8 on a regular basis .... so my doctor ran a blood test and found that my liver was producing higher than normal chemical levels and he changed my prescription to one 4mg tab of Dilaudid every 6 hours @ 120 tab's.... I still find that this very Potent medication is not working doing absolutely nothing for my pain.... I take my medications Orally with lots of water and usually eat some crackers or a small snack right before ingestion of the pill.... Im not going to shoot it up or snort it or shove it up my bum to get a desired effect so im wondering if there are other options and what other peoples oppinions are on this matter im in a good amount of pain and i just want to get out if it... please keep in mind that i have 120 pills that need to last for 4 weeks with no refills please help ideas and comments are appreciated

 

[Sprout]

Have you ever used opiates recreationally?

 

[Connecticut84]

i have never used opiates recreationally .... the only recreational drug i use is Weed and i havent done that in about 3-4 months now

 

[effie]

I'm not really sure what to suggest - if you take more of the pills then you'll run out early.. using a different ROA such as plugging could get more out of the pills but I appreciate you don't want to, and as a rule I think it's best to stick to taking them in the way they have been prescribed if you are using them to treat pain. You could try using a potentiator such as cimetidine or white grapefruit juice, which could help slow the metabolism of Dilaudid/hydromorphone and boost it's effects..

Does the Dilaudid do anything at all? People vary as to which opioid works best with them. I'm not sure which of your liver enzymes are elevated, but that shouldn't affect the effectiveness of Dilaudid/hydromorphone. Some pain doesn't respond well to opioids at all - especially neuropathic (nerve) pain - but it doesn't sound like that is the kind of pain that you have..

If your pain is severe then you might be better with a long-lasting analgesic in the background, and something short acting for breakthrough pain. It can take a while to find the right combination. Have you tried taking a NSAID alongside the opioid too, to boost the anaglesia? If your pain is really severe and uncontrolled then a pain management doctor might be able to help you. Does your current doctor know that you are still in a lot of pain?

There is a pain management megathread *here* which you may find useful. Good luck, and I hope you recover soon

 

[mrflowers00]

you didn't say you wouldn't snort them thats a good option but i think you want to stick to orally so maybe something like 15mg roxicodone would be in order thats just like percocet but no tylenol

 

[Thanatos]

Immediately after your surgery, it's going to be hard to find much relief from anything that's not going to blow you out of the water. I strongly suggest you asking for an rx strength NSAID as much of your pain is going to be from the trauma and inflammation due to your surgery. Ask a pressure-cold pump for your knee. It will be filled with ice water, and it circulates constant cold pressure around the affected area. After my knee surgery last year (very similar) I was immediately given a Donjoy ICEMAN and it gave me more analgesia than my oxycodone and dialauded.
http://www.dme-direct.com/donjoy-iceman-ice-man-cold-therapy-cryotherapy-1100-don-joy

 

[HCandKROD]

I have to agree with entheo (above). It's probably the inflammation from having surgery. If 15mg oxycodone (2 7.5's) don't help the pain I doubt your doctor will prescribe a stronger narcotic. Oral Dilaudid is worthless IMO. Try the NSAID route and good luck to you.

 

[Thanatos]

Check out meloxicam, it's a fairly safe NSAID that is much better at joint analgesia than APAP, ibuprofen, or naproxen sodium. It has done wonders for my knees in the past in conjunction with physical therapy and cold therapy. Make sure you are keeping your knee wrapped to relieve as much inflammation as possible. Believe it or not doing your exercises will bring relief, you've just got to give it a couple of days. It you don't follow the pt program your knee will be screwed and in major pain.

 

[Connecticut84]

thanks for all the advice its been 4 days since my surgery and maybe i should clarify a few things to help with suggestions but there area few things u guys posted that im going to try such as taking a anti inflamitory along side the dilaudid and wrapping it in ice .... most of the swelling is gone but no matter how i position my knee whether fully extended or at a 90 degree angle sitting the pain feels like my knee cap is going to explode out of my skin lol its very unpleasent to say the least my pain scale on the percocet was a constant 9 and on the dilaudid is down to about a 6 im hoping that maybe taking some ibprofen 800's alongside the dilaudid might help im going to ask about the Donjoy iceman thing.... im a bit leary about rectally taking the dilaudid ... its a 4mg tablet and im 5ft 11 and 175lbs so im not sure how my body will handle the direct absorbtion from that..... i guess its cuz i hear about people taking other meds up the rear or even alcohol up the rear and dieing from it lol ... snorting and shooting are 100% out of the question im not looking to get high im looking for relief for the next month until i heal... the majority of the pain im having though isnt from the swelling its internal my best guess is fromt where they re attached the cartilidge of the miniscus back to the bone itself they had to scrape the bone and the cartilidge and then they did something to bond them back together not sure what though i was a bit loopy when the doctor was explaining what he did .... i also have internal stitches to repair radial tears in the miniscus itself lol ( yeah i really did a number on my knee lol) i work for a furniture distributor and a 350lb electronic function couch fell on the side of my knee from about 9 feet above my head luckily it went down the side of my kneed and i didnt get worse injuries..... needless to say cuz im wandering off track here i start the PT on monday and i pretty much am in constant pain all the time so im going to read everyone advice and see what i can use to make life a bit easier ..... another thought that i had is can i take Oxycodone 7.5-325 with the Dilaudid or will that be really dangerous and possibly cause and OD which i dont want. and as far as rectally taking the dilaudid how does that work i mean i know u put it in ur rear but what should u expect to happen afterwards i dont like walking into the unknown hit me back and let me know what u guys think some of u seem pretty knowledgable

 

[trees_please]

Hey man, it sounds like youre mostly on the right track, i.e. icing it and staying aware of potential effects. i broke my leg this spring and also found that dilaudid doesnt do shit. if i took two the pain would barely subside, but then you get the zombie effect. are you at a point where you can do stretches, perhaps? doesnt sound like it, and i assume your doctor would know best, but in my experience, i got through the pain with RICE (rest ice compress elevate) and marijuana. dilaudid sucks, and im wondering, what was the motivation behind stopping your weed habit? psychological issues?

 

[dais]

has your doctor prescribed both the dilauded and perocet to take in conjunction or he replaced the percs for the dilauded? if it's the former then they will be fine to take together under the doctor's orders. you might want to double check with him there. taking them in conjunction with an NSAID and the PT you'll be doing, you will find your pain levels dropping significantly in a reasonable amount of time.