I've replied to a few posts, but I just logged on last night.
About 8 years ago I was crushed by a tree leaving me (short story -no pun intended) with nine fused vertabrae and 3 inches of spinal compression. Like other here, I managed to recover and lived on a minimal amount of pain meds until a trigger event happaned and then the wheels have come off. I have been through many treatments and medications from accupuncture to Fentanyl, with bio-feedback and a stack of books for good measure.
I have a wife and two young girls to live for so my life is very rewarding and I have many goals and asperations.
My father was an alchoholic so I too worry about pain meds and abuse, but I'm fairly comfortable that my worry level is greater than my risk level. One reason is my chemsitry leaves me very sensitve to any of the "oxy" family drugs. I have had very bad experiances with Morphine, Fentynal, MScontin, Percocet and now Opana ER. The "Hydro" families seem to do much better with me. Give me excersize 10mg of Norco every 4 hours and I can have a life. Of course the PM Dr.s don't want me to live on Norco every 4 hours so they keep trying to switch me to the ER stuff which is all Oxy and over time I become psycotic-depressed.
About 7 days ago I quite 40mg of Opana ER (20mg 2x/day) cold turkey and I feel tons better.
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I don't know what else to do and to tell you the truth I'm not too bothered. I know very well how to balance dosing with activity and how excessive pain meds reach a point of deminishing returns. More is not better, not enough is not enough...figuring out a schedule so you can take them by the clock is key so your brain doesn't get its rewards for excessive pain tricks.
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Last edited by Mod08; 08-28-2008 at 05:38 PM.
Reason: Do not post stories/poems. Inappropriate
Hello Ssheets and welcome. I suspect one of the reasons you Dr. want's you off the Norco is because of the tylenol. Right now there isn't any hydrocodone on the market without it, and no extended release version either. I think there is someone here who gets an extended release version from a compounding pharmacy though. It's something you could ask your Dr about. The only problem would likely be whether or not your insurance would pay for it. I know mine does not, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Welcome to the boards....I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I think being honest with your Doc is the best policy. He/she can't help you if they dont' know all the facts.
One idea you might explore is what Tiger touched on....Some type of compounded Hydro...There are compounding pharmacists in almost all areas and they can make higher level of hydro with minimal Tylenol....Just a thought.
From what I understand it is the short acting vs long acting. The Norco drops the acetaminophen down to 325mg per pill and I can live on about 6 pills/day so I'm nowhere near the limit. The book of pain says Pavlov's mice will do much better with long acting pain meds as it keeps the cheese further away and mitigates the salavatory response. OK, that's tongue in cheek, but as I'm sure you guys know, the psychiatric side of the issue dictates that short acting pain meds actually reward your brain for being in pain. Brain senses pain, body pops pill euphoria ensues. This cycle continues and quickly becomes a habit. In my case, the Oxy's make for a longer cycle time, but the adverse side effects will eventually kill me...or lead me to do it myself. The shorter acting milder Hydro's I've been taking for years without adverse effects. Sure, Oxycontin mitigates pain better than Norco, but if it makes you suicidal then who cares. Besides, a little pain is good. I’ve also had two RF nueroblations that have helped with the sympathetic muscle pain in the rhomboid region and shoulder blades. For awhile I could hardly use my left arm.
Anyway, I saw the doc and PA and I said “look, if I can take one Norco every 4 hours I’ll be fine.” She’s said she’s OK with that and we discussed other meds and stuff. It was a good visit and worth the 55-mile drive (each way) to visit. As you guys know, you need a doctor that trusts you and one that you trust. I brought a full ($800) bottle of Opana ER in with me to show her all of my meds. She asked if she wanted me to dispose of it for me and I himmed and hawwwed and said, “No, for $800 I’ll throw it the back of my safe.” I feel like I should have handed it over to prove to her I wasn’t going to be abusing or any mal treatment, but as a chronic pain sufferer I also like to have some meds (to which she agrees) stockpiled up in the back of the safe in case of a natural disaster or something in which I couldn’t get any meds for a period of time and needed to survive. It took almost a year for the Opana ER side effects to become intolerable. It is still a great back up medication and I did pay for it. (me and my insurance company).
She did agree that I am the 190lb guinea pig. They've had Opana ER pushed on them and so they've tried. I'm not the only negative responder.
