Re: Chronic Pain, Intrathecal Pumps, Methadone, and BoTox

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[ Home ] [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followups ] [ FAQ ] [ Back to Messages ] Message Posted by Happime-2000 on December 11, 2000 at 15:48:05: In Reply to: Re: Chronic Pain, Intrathecal Pumps, Methadone, and BoTox posted by David Charles on December 07, 2000 at 19:29:25: : : My husband is a chronic pain patient who has DDD. He has been fused from C3-C7 and also from L3-S1. During the past 20 years or so, he has been on MS Contin, Levodromoran, Lortab 7.5, Percocet, and Methodone. He has had an intrathecal pump implanted with the catheter going up to the C7-T1 space. At the beginning, they filled the pump with Morphine and Tetracaine. This did not alleviate the pain. They changed the pump to Dilaudid and Marcaine. Since this didn't help, they added MS Contin for breakthrough pain. This still didn't work. Instead, my husband began having swelling (edema in both legs) which necessitated the use of Lasix. He also began sleepwalking and falling down. We eventually had the pump removed and changed physicians. He is now on 160mg of Methadone, Percocet for breakthrough pain, and Ultram. He is still in constant pain. He has peripheral vascular disease from the edema in his legs and now has to be careful about any injuries to his legs since he will end up with cellulitis and have to go on IV antibiotics to clear this up. If any one out there has any suggestions for him, please let me know. He doesn't sleep (although he does take sleeping pills). The pain causes severe nausea (he takes medicine or cola syrup for this). It's just a horrible battle. He has also tried Botox for the muscle spasms that he has. No help there also. So sorry to hear about your husbands suffering. It sounds like your doc is being aggressive, this is just some info I picked up as I was researching methadone. I was recently switched from oxycontin to methadone. I met someone on another forum. The Mass general dept of neuro. You can find it at skip bakers home page. I would give you the link but I'm new to computer and don't know how as of yet. Heres what I learned from another CPer. Methedone is avery strong opiod agonist, it binds to the MU opiod recepter, a weaker drug like percocet will have a hard time binding to that same receptor, morphine and dilaudid will bind better since they are stronger agonist. Now Fentanyl bonds to the KAPPA opiod receptor so the two combined will give you a much bettor agonist combination. Fentanyl is found in Duragesic patches, available in wide variety of strengths. If the present combo of drugs isn't working I would want to add the duragesic patches and continue the methadone. That way your hitting both receptors with strong agonist. I'm playing junior chemist here but my Brother is med researcher with 2 Phds. and he verified this info. It's worth a shot. I would love to know if this info helped someone. You can e-mail me at david.e.charles@att.net if you have more questions. I hope this works for him. Sincerely david charles. Fused from L1-S1 chronic pain for 7 years. Thanks for the advice. He has tried the patches but unfortunately, one of his problems is that when ever he has severe pain, in addition to the nausea and all that, he breaks out in sweats and the patches come off. It was that way with the Scopolomine patches and the morphine patches he tried. They would not stay on. So...we're stuck. Follow Ups Post a Followup If you post a followup: Please review our message board guidelines. Please keep messages on topic. Advertising messages are not permitted on this board. Please report any violations to webmaster@healthboards.com Name: E-Mail (optional): please note: your e-mail address will be visible for others to see. Subject: Message: (add your reply here) : : : My husband is a chronic pain patient who has DDD. He has been fused from C3-C7 and also from L3-S1. During the past 20 years or so, he has been on MS Contin, Levodromoran, Lortab 7.5, Percocet, and Methodone. He has had an intrathecal pump implanted with the catheter going up to the C7-T1 space. At the beginning, they filled the pump with Morphine and Tetracaine. This did not alleviate the pain. They changed the pump to Dilaudid and Marcaine. Since this didn't help, they added MS Contin for breakthrough pain. This still didn't work. Instead, my husband began having swelling (edema in both legs) which necessitated the use of Lasix. He also began sleepwalking and falling down. We eventually had the pump removed and changed physicians. He is now on 160mg of Methadone, Percocet for breakthrough pain, and Ultram. He is still in constant pain. He has peripheral vascular disease from the edema in his legs and now has to be careful about any injuries to his legs since he will end up with cellulitis and have to go on IV antibiotics to clear this up. If any one out there has any suggestions for him, please let me know. He doesn't sleep (although he does take sleeping pills). The pain causes severe nausea (he takes medicine or cola syrup for this). It's just a horrible battle. He has also tried Botox for the muscle spasms that he has. No help there also. So sorry to hear about your husbands suffering. It sounds like your doc is being aggressive, this is just some info I picked up as I was researching methadone. I was recently switched from oxycontin to methadone. I met someone on another forum. The Mass general dept of neuro. You can find it at skip bakers home page. I would give you the link but I'm new to computer and don't know how as of yet. Heres what I learned from another CPer. Methedone is avery strong opiod agonist, it binds to the MU opiod recepter, a weaker drug like percocet will have a hard time binding to that same receptor, morphine and dilaudid will bind better since they are stronger agonist. Now Fentanyl bonds to the KAPPA opiod receptor so the two combined will give you a much bettor agonist combination. Fentanyl is found in Duragesic patches, available in wide variety of strengths. If the present combo of drugs isn't working I would want to add the duragesic patches and continue the methadone. That way your hitting both receptors with strong agonist. I'm playing junior chemist here but my Brother is med researcher with 2 Phds. and he verified this info. It's worth a shot. I would love to know if this info helped someone. You can e-mail me at david.e.charles@att.net if you have more questions. I hope this works for him. Sincerely david charles. Fused from L1-S1 chronic pain for 7 years. : Thanks for the advice. He has tried the patches but unfortunately, one of his problems is that when ever he has severe pain, in addition to the nausea and all that, he breaks out in sweats and the patches come off. It was that way with the Scopolomine patches and the morphine patches he tried. They would not stay on. So...we're stuck. Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Note: The moderator has the right to delete any message deemed inappropiate for this board. Repeat violators of healthboards policy will be permanently barred from the boards. Reminder - No ad messages permitted!

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