Would Percocet be good breakthrough drug while using vicodin? - Pain Management Message Board

theweaver2 · 03-14-2006, 06:29 PM

Ive been asking about types of pain meds the past few days. WOW is there a lot to know and understand about just hydrocodone itself...

Seems like I might be stuck with vicodin 10/660 every 6-8 hours which helps my mild pain but often, usually towards the end of the day or after any activity (like cooking dinner or doing laundry) my pain shoots up.

My pain doc is seemingly looking to me to know what the hell I need - weird... Maybe she is used to people coming in asking for this or that. What I might ask her tomorrow is whether she will prscribe a breakthrough drug for me..

Would percocent be a good breaktrhough and how big a dose would be good. I would prob only need it once a day and prob not everyday as some days Im not that active. It would be grand if I knew I had back up.

Does anyone in here use that kind of combo - Vicodin ES with perc for breakthrough?

Thanks

ARANGER · 03-14-2006, 07:03 PM

Hey Weaver,

Its probably going to be fairly uncommon to prescribe Vicodin and Percocet at the same time. Mainly because they are both short acting drugs. A PM Dr may have some explaining to do if he were to prescribe a patient to short acting opiate meds, and the pateint OD on accident. I'm not saying you are going to take them in an irresponsible manner.

Generally when someone is prescribed BT meds it is in addition to a long acting med and it used for just that, BT. I understand where you are coming from and actually using two different types of opiate meds, will generally give better coverage. However, its not likely you get both SA meds.

You could go with a low level OxyContin which is a time-released oxycodone (same drug as percocet) and vicodin (hydrocodone) for BT.

Anyway, thats my opinion. Hope it all works out well for you. Take care

friendly_one · 03-14-2006, 07:04 PM

Hi Weaver....generally, docs don't prescribe 2 short acting meds at the same time. Percocet and Vicodin are both short acting. I've never heard of any doc prescribing any type of b/t med while taking Vicodin or while taking Percocet. Percocet and Vicodin are both prescribed (not at the same time) as b/t meds while taking long acting meds like Oxycontin, Duragesic, or Morphine. If your pain is not being well controlled, maybe it's time to switch to a long acting med and use the Vicodin as a b/t med. Just a thought.

P.S. Aranger...we posted at the exact same time.

Anyway, ditto!

theweaver2 · 03-15-2006, 06:51 AM

Thanks again for your quick reply before my appointment this morning...

Geesh, I know NOTHING about how pain meds are prescribed. I won't even embarass myself now by asking her that.

You would think during my 2 consults with her and explaining WHY I'm there in the first place she would explain some of these things to me.

I guess what I need to tell her is that my pain levels are just too high most of the time for the vicodin to work. Then, she will have to decide whether I need perc as needed for pain or the time release. lol I'm still have trouble wrapping my mind around why she prescribed LESS than I was currently taking.

I have another question though.... As I have surgery in 6-7 weeks, will using these drugs affect how they will work for me after surgery as that is the regime the surgeon uses??? My surgeon uses longterm plus perc as a breakthrough, as you were talking about.

Actually, what I should be hearing from my doctors is "We will give you what you NEED for pain until you can find out and help correct the problem in your shoulder..." Is THAT too much to ask???

Seriously... I'm not just seeking pain meds for the sake of it. If the other ten doctors, neuros, orthos and misc doctors I've seen over the past 2 and half years had only spent a month like this current ortho (new surgeon) and zeroed in to the pain I wouldn't be in the pain cycle I'm in.... AND, I had to go to a clinic 2 hours away to find this one... another story (I really need to write a short story about my past 3 years...)

I hope I can get some pain relief for the next 6-7 weeks. Hopefully, it will allow me to comfortably do some PT I need to strengthen a bit before this next surgery. My muscles haven't recovered from the first surgery that didnt fix all the problem.

Wish me luck today and later with my surgery - I'm feeling pretty lost and helpless right now because I havent been able to find doctors who will listen and respond. I do have a little hope with this new surgeon as he seemed to get right to the problem.

OK - I will stop rambling for now. Thanks again for your quick replies and I will let you know what my pain doc says today.

Keep your fingers crossed.......

feelbad · 03-15-2006, 07:03 AM

Maybe just completely switching over to the percs alone would do the trick.you would have better pain control with using the percs than you would with the vicodin anyway,and who knows,you may not need quite as many as you were having to take while on the vicodin?also,if you have to ,for some reason,stay on the vics,go to something with a bit less tylenol like norco.it has the same 10mgs as what you are currently taking,but only has 325mgs of tylenol as compared to the 660mgs you are taking now.

but unless your pain is constant and unrelenting,I really would go with the percs instead of going right to the oxycontin,espescially if this doc is a bit leary of the oxy as most seem to be.the percs would work well for intermittant pain such as you somewhat described.just some thoughts.it does sound like you have a good doc though much more 'workable" than most.some docs have this preset way of treating pain in all their patients regardless of how their pain presents and how it realistically should be treated.Let us know how it all goes.good luck,Marcia