Norco Tolerance - Pain Management Message Board

Pdawg · 01-01-2006, 04:52 AM

Hi all.

Welp a little about me.34yo Male Severe herniation to disc between L-4 and L-5. Sciatic Nerve Pain etc... Work Comp.

Initial Diagnosis was a strained back muscle til finally getting a MRI. Now currently receiving tx from a PM. He is prescribing me Norco 10/325 no more than 6 per day. Some days I take 3 some days 5 and some days 6. spread out in 24 hours of course. I was real reluctant to start these meds due to the likelyhood I will become dependant. The pain was so bad I just had to do it. I have no regrets up until this point. Its been about 4 months now on the medication along with Neurontin.

My concern now is that when my pain is the worst (in the A.M.) I am getting no relief at all and feel totally unresponsive to the Medication. Am I correct in thinking that I have become tolerant? In any of your own experiences what would be the next med I would be put on.

I have received epidurals with no relief as well. This pain is aggrivating and I am sure alot of you know what I am talking about. It is affecting all aspects of my life and need to move on with surgical intervention.

So my question is, Is it possible to become totally tolerant to meds like this or is my condition just worsening. Im so contemplating a trip to the ER to see what they can do for me for this pain until I can make contact with the Doc but last time the ER people made me feel like a drug seeker and an addict. I was humiliated when they said well what do you want us to do about it? I told them, Um, Help me with this unbearable pain. They gave me a shot in the rear of something and I felt better for about a day. What do most of you do when you are hit with much more intense pain and feel like you need help? Do you go to the ER? This being a holiday, The Doc office is closed. Im just in so much pain right now I am so confused. I know this pain is not life threatening but I just dont know what to do right now. my pain is a 10 right now. What would you do?

Thanks for listening to me sound like a baby. I know there is alot of you out there in worse shape than me. It just unbearable right now.

catnap · 01-01-2006, 05:08 AM

Hey Pdawg,

With my experience of spine surgeries and eventually getting to pm, I took a ton of 5/500, 7.5/650, 7.5/500, 10/500, etc. before I had my 3 spine surgeries. You may have developed a tolerance to the norco. I certainly did. I think I could take a whole bottle without any relief. Doctors usually prescribe these short-acting drugs prior to any surgeries or prior to any LA drugs. Surgery is usually next and alot of doctors won't even consider any schedule II drugs until after everything else has failed. You may even be required to have a psych testing before being given any stronger meds.

Pdawg · 01-01-2006, 06:04 AM

Thanks Catnap,

Im just not sure what to do. I dont want to start in really with the hardcore meds but I havent gotten any sleep in the past few nights. I recently went to a pshychiatist to help with the Depression and anxiety.
I am at the point where I wll try any med regardless of its possible side effects or dependance attributes.

I hate the thought of increasing my meds to something I may have a hard time getting off of but the Norco just isnt cutting it anymore and since it is workers comp related, everything takes so much time and for me to have to wait weeks for surgery in my current pain state, I would go nuts!

I guess I had way too much hope in the epidurals working. I am currently seeing a PM doc.

I try to keep my wit and still be the joker that I am but when In this amount of misery i just dont know what to do. Thats why I turned to this great family on this site for some input. I always follow my Doctors orders like with the Physical Therapy and my prescrition meds but hearing from people that have really experienced this pain I value each and everyones opinions and experiences.

Im not about to stop taking the Norco, even though its not even touching the pain right now. I also know I cant take more than 6 due to the tylenol and the liver issues. Im just stuck here I guess until tuesday when I call my PM doc. He just sucks at returning calls and its gonna be a nightmare.

Thanks for letting me vent. Keeps my mind off my terrible discomfort. I would love to hear from more of you on what happens after you become tolerant to a med and what to expect next.

Thank you so very much

catnap · 01-01-2006, 08:31 AM

Pdawg,

I thought my meds were not helping either until I was cut from 405 mgs. to 120 mgs. Believe me they were helping a lot! I have been pretty much flat out unable to do things like walk to the bathroom without total agony.

Try not to think like "hardcore meds" its a medicine like all others. It just carries a "street value" for the bad people to make it hard on the people with the diseases that really need it. Too bad epidurals are just a temporary relief from the pain.

Compliance is a big issue and most pm demand that you stick with the schedule and jump through their hoops.

As far as tolerance goes, everyone is different. With some drugs the tolerance grows fast. It might mean that once you get at a certain dose your pm might switch to something else. I don't get that because if you can tolerate the drug then why not just go to a higher dose. I have found some of these docs are uncomfortable prescribing a higher dose like what I am going through right now. Just because this doc thought my dose was "large" he switches me to something else and did not even properly dose me and titrate me down off the old drug. He causes me to go into withdrawal and if I had not had the extra methadone from a previous script I would have gone through Hell. Basically, its find a good doctor and getting to stick with him or her. If we look for one of these doctors we are labeled.

It helps to research articles about opiates and opioids. I had one doc tell me an opiate is an opiate. Basically they are, but that is like saying an antibiotics is an antibiotic. Totally untrue. And if a doc wants to have that belief toward the meds he should not even be practicing pain management.