My PCP gave me a script for an anti-infammatory that made me so sick that dying seemed like a viable alternative. Seriously. I could not keep anything down, I was puking up stomach acid and in massive pain. The only thing that I can figure is that we walked too far that day, five miles up and down hill.

So, twenty four hours later, I went to see my PCP. He gave me two shots of morphine w/Phrenagan. They thought that it would allow me to get some sleep and to keep food down. I had not slept for 36 hours. Nope, no sleep! I laid there in a morphine haze and wondered why people would actually sell their bodies, rob their grannies or do anything to get this drug. It was pure hell.

I still could not keep anything down. I knew that I had to take stool softeners because of the morphine but they came right back up. For over twenty four hours I was in this horrible haze. I guess that I need suppositories on hand.

The clencher is that he gave me morphine to go. I have a script for it. There is no way that I am going to take even one of these. He gave me Phrenagan with it, pills on the side, but even with that, I can't do this again.

I still have not been able to keep anything down. Not even water. I have tried toast, back up it came. I had the shots because I needed to be able to keep something down.

What next? They have offered me the Fentynal patch but they said that it would make me just as sick.

The doctor, did, for the first time, broach the subject of surgery. Has anyone here ever had surgery for their SI joint?

I got the feeling yesterday that they feel that I will be on long term meds for life. I can't do that. They don't work for me. I can't imagine taking those morphine tablets. Just looking at them brings me suicidal thoughts. These last two days have been pure hell.

The morphine did give me the first pain free day in almost two years, but what a trade off. I could not function. It was not like I was high, just sick and could not get out of bed. Had I gone to sleep, it might have been okay, but to lay there, sick, and no sleep, it was horrible.

Well, I just wanted to vent and to see if anyone else has experienced any of this, themselves.

take care,

:angel:

Hi Betty,
Morphine puts me in the same haze. I can't sleep, can't eat, just lay there. It's a common side effect I guess. I hope you find relief soon. I wish my doc would give me meds...I was in the ER for 7 hours on monday with such pain that I seriously thought of taking a knife and performing my own back surgery.
Good luck with your pain.


shak

shakarkia:

Okay, at least it is not just me. I was wondering if this happened to other people. Thanks for confirming that. :)

When I arrived at the doctor's office, I took was ready to perform my own surgery if I did not get relief.

I think that I finally got meds because they knew that it has been almost two years and no relief and that I have spent thousands of dollars trying to find relief. I have done PT, Prolo, shots, patches, anti-inflammatory meds, McKenzie Method, accupunture, walking, stetches, Yoga, everything that I could think of with no relief.

I think that he looked at what I have done and where I have been and the lengths that I have gone to, and gave in. It was obvious that I was in a great amount of pain when I went in. He offered me Percocet, but they don't work for me, so he presribed the Oxy. I haven't taken one yet, I am afraid. I have to decide between pain and functioning.

The pain has moved from the joint to the back of my leg these days. I am crossing my fingers that the Quack that did the lumbar decompression/McKenzie method on my back did not hurt any of my disc because I went in without a disc problem, just SI.

Tomorrow I get a ESI in the SI joint. I am very wary of this because my DO said that he has never seen them work. My PCP admitted to me yesterday that he concurs. It is the PM that wants to do it.

I am lost for answers these days. :confused:

They DO work...I had one about 6 weeks ago, prior to a radio freq. ablation and got great relief for 2 days using only a local anesthetic for diagnosics. If there had been steroids in that injection, I would have been symptom free for some time.
Good luck.

Carol

Aloha Betty,

I too had a reaction to meds similar to what you were describing, but my experience was with Tramadol. I threw up for about twenty hours straight, on the hour every hour.

Like you, I hated meds of any kind, but after this happened my paranoia of any med side effects overwhelmed me and I was skeptical of any future meds my PM doc prescribed.

This paranoia put me in quite a predicament the morning and night of my surgery. They had me on the morphine drip machine after surgery and didn’t give me any anti nausea meds to go with it, needless to say I was punching that button about every ten minutes if it would let me, but this eventually made me deathly ill, then to top it off I had a post anesthesia reaction also which was like an intense panic attack, I literally thought that I was going to die, the nurses had a tough time with me that first night. It was only when I became somewhat coherent that I told the nurses to unplug my morphine machine and I refused pain meds for about 16 hours.

Big mistake…BIG mistake, the pain was so intense, like you said Betty, death seemed like a much more desirable alternative. Well at this time it was about 2:30 am, my surgery was 8:00 am the previous morning, I needed something, but I didn’t want the morphine, and there was no doctors to be found, finally they found a surgeon just out of surgery at about 3:00 am and he prescribed Oxy, Percocet, an anti nausea med, and a stool softener. This was the ticket, my pain was under control in about another hour and things started looking up.

I was on Oxy for another 4 months, in a transitional move from Oxy, my PM doc then prescribed Avinza, which is Morphine sulfate, and I only needed to take one every 24 hours versus the two Oxycontin. This worked well for me, but like we keep on saying here, everyone is different.

Our minds play an extraordinary role in all of this also, if you are so scared and anxious about taking new meds as I was, sometimes you will never know if something may work for you because you are too scared to try it. I now have a totally different perspective on pain meds, I know that they are necessary, I know that some will work for me and some may not, but like you said with your morphine experience, you said that it was your first pain free day in almost two years. That is a long time, and a very powerful statement.

Yes there are trade offs and only you can decide if those trade offs are going to bring a better quality of life for you and your loved ones. Some of those trade offs are very severe, the constipation, nausea, weight gain, or loss, feeling loopy or the haze as you put it. For me it was well worth all of those trade offs.

I am now functioning quite well again, and I don’t need the strong pain meds any more. I hope that you find a solution that works for you. Good Luck. I just wanted to share my experience I hope you don’t mind.

Also, I too have problems with my SI joint, my ortho said that SI problems are normally non-operative; I guess the operative word here is normally, I have no idea what your circumstances may be, also, the series of ESI’s that I had gave me no relief, but as they did with Carol, they do help many people, just like meds, we all have different outcomes, I wish you the best.

H’C

Sorry to hear your latest Bette.when you mentioned the oxy,were you talkin contin or just like oxy IR or something?Have you ever tried the oxycontin?it has been a real lifesaver for me.i too had deep trancelike effects from morphine.the very first time i tried it i felt soo creepy and was actually afraid to fall asleep on it as I felt like I would never wake up again.It was just a nasty scarey feeling.if you are givin the option of the oxycontin please give it a try.for me, it has really no side effects whatsoever,does not make me all spacey,but really does have an effect on my pain levels.up til i tried it, i had no control over this hidious pain of mine.i did have to keep on titrating up til i hit a good level(which turned out to be 60mgs every eight hours)contrary to what pharma states, this drug does NOT last the twelve hours that they claim it does,that is why I am on it three times a day Vs the two.this poor med has been given such a bad rap by the media but if you take the time to really research it,you will find that it is one of the most effective and safest meds out there for relieving pain in CP patients.It truely has been a godsend for me.I hope you give it a try Bette,it just might help you.Good luck hon,Marcia

HawnCarl & Feel bad:

Thanks for sharing, you have no idea what that means to me at this time in my life. Seriously.

When the doc presribed the oxy, he told me that it was a slow release oxy, mscontin. I don't know anything about pain meds as I have stayed away from them as much as possible. I hate feeling sick and out of control. I was never one to like getting high back when all of my friends were. They still look at me funny when I pass by a joint after all of these years of knowing me.

I filled the script, read the insert and then went on line to look it up. It is morphine sulphate. Isn't that morphine? I was confused so I looked up mscontin, and it came up, oxycontin, slow release, but again, morphine. I can't do morphine. It makes me crazy. Should I be calling the doctor and asking him what is up with this?

He told me when he gave it to me that I would sleep, no way, at least with the shots. He said to take two or three of the pills, each day, and that they were slow release. Is morphine sulfate and oxycontin the same thing?

I have not tried even one. I am scared. I have a ESI scheduled today, so not sure if today is the day to try it. They want to see if a local makes the pain go away, so if I took it, it might effect the results.

I am scheduled for a very long car trip tomorrow. I have bought a memory foam mattress topper for the back of the car and am going to use lots of padding with sleeping bags to go with it. I dread this trip.

If I did not have that shot today and the trip tomorrow I would not be leary of taking the meds today. At this point, I am ready to try anything. I went to the doctors knowing that pain shots made me crazy. I had, in the past, reacted the same way to Demoral and Nubain, seperately. They always give me phrenagan with it so that I am not puking my guts up on top of it.

HawnCarL: Your anticipated reaction to pain meds used at surgery is why I have put off any kind of surgery so far. I know that the meds make me crazy. You were a brave man. Just thinking about how crazy the meds made me, I can't imagine having surgery.

SI problems can normally be solved with PT, you are right. But mine has gone on for almost two years with no relief. I have gone the gamut of treatments. The physiatrist even told me that he thought that surgery was the way to go at this point. This is not looking good for me.

The funny part is that I wake up without pain, most days. If I can just lay there, perfectly still, no pain. As soon as I move, bamm! pain. Unless I have walked the day before, then pain wakes me up. I am told to walk, walk, walk, but walking hurts. I find that when I wake up in no pain, I am on my stomach. I can't spend the rest of my life on my stomach.

I am going to call the doctor and tell them my reaction to the morphine shots and ask them if the script that they gave me is in fact, morphine or oxy. I need answers today because he is closed tomorrow.

Again, thanks for your responses. There are so many kind people on these boards.
:angel:

Hi. Helpful post. I broke both my legs in 1999 in a rock climbing accident. They had to piece together my right tibia, and the Dr.s told my wife (not me) that when I came out of the surgery I would be in the most intense pain I ever had, because of bone manipulation. In recovery I sat straight up like a scalded cat, and was sure that my leg was on fire or gone. The pain was amazing. Anyway, they set me up with a morphine drip, and it was then I learned that my family, at least me and my Mom, have a nasty reaction to morphine. As you described, it put me in a haze, allowed only short (millisecond) catnaps, and put me in an agitated state. To add insult to injury, it did zilch for the pain.

I just read about the surgery option, called SI joint fusion. They go in and remove the cartilage from both surfaces of the joint, leaving bare bone. the bone surfaces are held together until they heal together, thus fusing. this entails several screws.

This sounds extreme to me, but having the same pain as you, I cannot think of going through another 40 years or so with it. :confused:

P. S. I just read your description about waking up with no pain. Me Too!!! then it all goes downhill! :eek:

Hi Bette, No, the ms contin and the oxycontin are NOT the same thing at all.They are two totally different meds.the only real thing they have in common(beside the fact that they are both opiate based)is they are both slow released meds that release their meds at timed increments during the course of hours.as opposed to all of the others like hydro and percs that release their medications immediately.Considering your horrid reaction to the MS,you really need to speak to your doc about getting off of it and trying the oxy contin instead.Like i said before, I too reacted very similar to what you did when i was put on ms,but have had extremely good luck with the oxy .You don't have to suffer through with all of the side effects of the ms when there really is a much better alternative for you to at least give a try,you know?i really do feel for ya Bette.i do know what you are going through here and it sucks.When you get the chance here, please call your doc and set an appt to discuss stopping the ms and trying the oxy instead.It may or may not work for you but you at least need to find out.Just remember that you will need to titrate up for a couple of weeks until you hit the dose that will at least offer you some relief.I still need to take break through meds with it as my flares will get totally out of control if i don't and still i am at a pretty high level of pain but it really has brought it down from the excruciating levels that it was at before.I hope you will at least give it a try.Good luck on the trip hon.Marcia

feelbad:
I called my DR and he was suppossed to return my call at five, but called at four, while I was still out. I was out getting a ESI from a spine specialist.

Anyway, I gave the mscontin a trial run today. It has not made me sick, I took phenagran (sp?) with it. I am not sure if it helped the pain. I have felt nothing from it. But, I also don't feel sleepy. I hope that I get to sleep tonight.

I think that I am still painless due to the shots yesterday. Tomorrow, if I sleep tonight, I am going to try the mscontin again. If it does not work, I am back to the doc's for oxy. I can't believe that this doc is so uninformed. He is the one who told me that Xanax is not addictive.

He is a funny guy. He won't let me have Valium because he knows that about thirty years ago I was an addict, but he prescribed them for my husband for muscle spasms. Then, he give me Xanax. He knows that I can't do morphine yet gives me a script for mscontin. I think that he is confused.

I think that when I called back to change my script, he thought that I was just putting him on and wanted more drugs. I would gladly give these back to him if he would pay me what I spent on them.

thanks for answering,
:angel:

Betty,
I am a little confused as to if you are talking about getting oxycontin when you said oxy if the ms contin doesnt work. Be careful if you are taking oxycontin. When it first came out they said it was non addicting. My husband was on it after his back surgery & he had the same side affects that you have from morphene. I think I have posted about this before. The other other side affect he had from oxycontin is that made him REALLY mean. He hit me one day & when his dad tried to pull him away from me he beat up his dad. My husband feels bad everyday of his life because of this. I know that it was his drugs & not him because he had never hit me before that or since. Before this incident we kept asking his "quack" ns for something else stating that he did not like the side affects & that it made him mean. She kept telling us that that was the only thing there was for him to take. She also kept calling him an addict everytime his script was due. Well he was addicted because she would up his meds because he was in so much pain. He couldnt stand the meds & he couldnt stand the pain. It was awful

My father in law finally went with us to our PCP & we told him what was going on and our PCP got him into a PM doc & they got him switched. His NS is no long working at the clinic we went to. We had made an appointment with the head NS to complain about her because they would not let us switch to a different NS there. The head NS said that he could switch no problem because she was no longer allowed to work at the clinic.

My husband is now involved in a lawsuit against oxycontin. I am sorry I got off on a tirade. I just want people to be aware of what oxycontin can do to a person. I have also talked to people that said it worked wonders for them. Everyone is different. The major thing is that they were saying that it was non addictive when it first came out & it is highly addictive. This is why there is so much abuse of it on the streets.

Ok again, sorry for the ramble. Please be careful. ( I know you are very careful, Betty) I would just hate to see anyone have the problems we had with this med.

I hope you feel better soon Betty,

Breny

I am really sorry for what you have had to go through ,it really sounds like quite the nightmare.but i just have to say that any and all opiates are addicting.I honestly don't recall anything being said about oxy being non addicting.if it has opiate properties, it would automatically be considered an addicting med.(it has been a schedule II narcotic since its release)was it his doc that told you this?in the literature it states and has always stated,since the day pharma released it to the public, that it runs a chance of addiction of the morphine type and should be given the same caution.It sounds like you unfortunetly had a real idiot for a doc.

Different meds affect different people in many many ways.For instance, I take lexapro for severe depression and it really has been a life saver for me but my youngest son was put on it for his depression plus he had tried many other SSRIs and they ended up causing bi polar III to develop in him.i have had no problems with it at all but my son went into these manic episodes from hell while taking ANY SSRI that was tried.it took forever to Dx him as the docs kept telling me that there was no connection between the meds and his behavior.well, i lived with this kid 24/7 and believe me, there definitely was.it sounds like your husband had this type of reaction with the oxy.His doc should have taken him off of it as soon as the violent behavior started to show itself.From what you have stated in your post, it would appear that this stupid doc is the one you should be suing,not Pharma.I am not trying to slam you here believe me, It just sounds to me as though your doc is the liable party.any narcotic has the potential to cause addiction and there is no way around that unfortunetly and for a doc to tell you that it was not was a bold faced lie.i really hope your husband has found something that works for him now.pain and its treatments just suck you know?good luck to you,Marcia

We were told by the doc that it was non addictive in the beginning. This is also the basis for the law suit according to the lawyer, the company was saying it was non addicting in the beginning. When he had his surgery, we were really new to the different drugs & their types & side affects. Boy you sure learn fast! My husband has weened himself off all meds & just deals with the pain. He got tired of being on narcotics & their side affects. Some days are better than others, but atleast the are nothing like when he was on the oxycontin.

i just don't understand the reasoning behind the manufacturer saying it was non addicting when the main component of the drug is a very potent schedule II narcotic.it would be really stupid for them to even make that statement.are you sure this lawyer is for real?I can understand the doc being an idiot, but pharma has always stated in there literature just how significant the potential for addiction is.they legally would have HAD to do this before the FDA would allow the drug to be marketed.There is just no way that pharma could have possibly stated that oxycontin does not run the risk of addiction,or they would not have been able to to get the FDA approval.i think this lawyer needs to be looked into a little further.Have you actually SEEN the alleged statement in any form,as in the original drug info that would have been included in the physicians desk referrence book?unless your lawyer can produce this in some way, i really would highly doubt what he has been telling you.i could see this possibly happening in some third world country,but it just would not happen in the US.There are just too many very stringent guidelines.for any manufacturer to make a statement like that when talking about oxycodone would just be a total lie and would make it virtually immpossible for the drug to even get approved that way.I would hunt down the idiot you had for a doc and sue the pants off of her.good luck,Marcia

The lawyer we have is a well known firm out of Chicago. The doctor & hunting her down may be our next step. I hate lawsuits, so I let my hubby deal with it. Anyway there are quite a few people suing against the oxycontin in this lawsuit. Each case is being handled individually, it is not a class action lawsuit. I wish I could tell you more on it, but like I said I let my hubby deal with it. I just had to talk to the lawyer once to verify my feelings on the drug & what was said about it to us.

Breny

thanks for the info.This whole thing just sounds so bizarre to really be true.I am in no way doubting what you were told,but i really would love to know just what info the lawyer is actually basing this on.could you ask your husband this for me?i take oxycontin daily for my pain and have had no problems whatsoever with it.i am just REALLY curious about how this lawyer seems to think this is true with regard to what the manufactuerer alledgedly claimed.and what actual proof he claims to have.this just does not seem possible to me.But stranger things have happened.Marcia