How do Pain Meds Help You? - Pain Management Message Board

mikesgirl · 12-29-2006, 04:47 PM

I am curious as to how opiate pain meds and tramadol help other people.

I take both of them for pain, and honestly I can't say they take the pain away as much as they make me forget about it.

What about the rest of you? What do you take and how does it help?

Thanks!

IZZY'SMOM · 12-29-2006, 04:53 PM

Hi Mikes~
I use Fentanyl patch 50 and vicoprofen 7.5 for b/t meds. I had seizures on the Ultram because I had a serious head injury. I had a doc prescribe them to me who didnt know what he was doing. Anyway, I am happier now, I wish I could possibly have a stonger b/t med at times, but I cant complain today. If its the first 12-15 on my patch , i try not to do anything that requires me to drive, ect. but I cannot always prevent that. What I can say, is that what i am on right now gives me one sure day of getting things done for SURE, and the second day I have to use my b/t ,meds. I just have to cope and try to be thankful for ANY times I feel better than normal. I save my b/t meds for the last day of the 48 on the patch, and for any other b/t i have. For instance, I had b/t pain today at about an 7 on the second day of my patch, which is really unusual, and had to take more of my b/t meds. Its hard to juggle, and try to make it all work out. Please dont get disgouraged, we are all fighting tha same battle, at some point~
Hope you get to feeling better and find the answers you are looking for!
xoxoxoxo
IZZY"SMOM

JeanneO · 12-29-2006, 06:57 PM

The way that I understand it, keep in mind that I'm not in the medical field, is that the meds don't affect the pain, it affects the part of the brain that tells you that you have pain. So really it does just make you not care as much about the pain.

Meds like Tylenol and Ibuprofen are differrent, they acutally affect the areas of the pain, such as inflamation so that makes the pain go down.

It's a very basic explanation and I'm sure someone will come along and give a more detailed response but that's it in a nutshell as far as I understand it anyway.

Certain meds affect certain parts of the brain as well, that's why some meds work better for nerve pain and some work better for acute surgical pain.

I forgot to tell you what meds I'm on, currently I'm on the Duragesic patch 75mcg every 48 hrs and just today my GP gave me a prescription for percoset 5/325 50 tablest to help me while I'm on vacation. I'll be travelling for 12 days 5 in Phoenix to visit my Dad and then 7 in Las Vegas for the Comedy Festival as my husband is a stand up comedian and I want to be able to keep up with them and not be miserably in pain. I feel that I'm undermedicated at this point, that I could and should be able to do more with my life if I had better meds, but will be addressing that at the end of Jan when I see my PM.

JeanneO

blu_skies · 12-29-2006, 10:09 PM

Im on 180 mg morphine sulfate ( generic) a day w/ adjusted to now (3) 5/325 hydrocodone. What the meds do for me is let me get out of bed and make it thru the day. Im now at a pretty steady 5-7 ( if that is considered steady) on the pain scale. But I still have my moments , like today and the wet rainy weather, over activity, sleep wrong, or life in general.
Im SO very happy I have a fantastic doctor who understands and is with me 110% !! VERY lucky !

I dont get sleepy on them anymore , nor itchy.Only if Im overly tired and in pain and take my dose , then I might get a little loopy to the point of I take the keys away from myself and , if possible, go to bed. But that is only if Im really really tired and just taken a dose. I dont like to take a dose if Im not home or somewhere to where I can get comfortable , and that tired..But for everyday life, I feel a little more human.

djemcee · 12-30-2006, 02:01 AM

I think this post may be a little vague as it does not address the condition that the med is supposed to help.

I noticed that it seems that from my opinion that 95% of the people on the board seem to be back patients. I however am not. I have a condition were my bones have and are dying. I have lost all cartilage in my ankles, knees, wrist. I have lesions all over my leg bones and arm bones. It has actually effected my back and caused some fractures and collapses (but the funny thing is, my back doesnt bother me even with the collapsed verts etc..). My rib cage is also thinned and my lung herniates through my rib cage when I cough. I am only 35, and have other things wrong as well. If you saw me however, you would never pick me out of a line up of 10 healthy 35 years olds. Except when I am not on my meds and I try to walk etc. I am not on a walker or crutches. I have to get two knee replacements, but they say they dont think they will take due to the bone death (no place to anchor the fakes).

Anyway, the reason I say all this is to sort of tell you what is working for me to allow me to funtion, walk, and even work p/t. I take 50mcg Duragesic Patch (changed every 48 hrs), and Percocet 10mg/325mg for b/t. I take 2 percs at a time 4 hrs apart. Some days I take 8 percs over a 16hr period and others I have taken none. I take other pills as well, but not for pain (like Fosomax, etc...)

I feel this is working pretty well except I really think the B/T meds are having less of an effect when I have the harder days at work etc.. I can take the 2 percs and still feel the pain. I am tempted to go to 2.5 percs, but I was hoping to see if my doc may go for the Actiq instead. I have heard some good things about it, and want to see if it can help take the sharp pains away when they come.

I did try Oxycotin extended release and hated it. It really made me a zombie. It was the best for the pain, but non functional in life.

Hope I did not bore you .

Cheers,

California Chris