Adjusting to Pain Meds Help!

I wish I had all the answers for you....

First, welcome to healing well. I'm not sure how long you have been around, but as of yet, I don't remember you.

Some of the side effects that I experienced when I first started taking Percocet (5mg oxy and 325 of acet..) ranged from insane to mild. The main side effect I noticed was mood swings? I could go from very happy to bawling over the smallest thing... it was quite humorous to my family - and embarassing for me. It seemed there were times I would get a okay pill and my pain would be helped and I didn't feel mentally unstable and other times I would get a "good" pill that would knock me for a loop. I often would feel tired - but then try to sleep and my mind would be racing so fast that sleep was just not going to happen. I found that by taking the medication 2-3 hours before going to sleep I could avoid the racing brain. I've also found that for me depending on when I eat in relation to when I take my pills they hit me harder at some times than at others. You may find it best to eat a bit, take your pill, and then eat a bit more, or you might find it works better to take on an empty stomach.

As far as the tingling and itching - I can't tell you. The itching could be an allergic reaction - or it could be some part of your brain being affected by the narcotic and more of an itch for no reason.

Feeling sick to your stomach I think is a pretty common part of dealing with pain medications. I feel sick every time my dosages are raised. The first few days I was on a new dosage of my long acting medication the pharmacist recommended anti-naseau (can't spell) medications that helped a bit.

If the side effects are bothersome for you - call your pharmacist and ask them. It is their job to be there to answer your questions, and to know all the information about the medications they are filling. The pharmacist might be able to suggest things to make the side effects less bothersome, or get rid of them all together.

I wish I had better information - all I know is how I react to different medications - and every person's body takes them differently. I hope that if nothing else they are giving you some relief from the pain you are experiencing.

*hugs*
Tammy

Hi Jennca, welcome or welcome back to the forum! I'm pretty new, so if you've been around for a while I havent met you!

I have been on both Oxy and Percocet. There very similiar because they are the same chemical make-up so if you dont react well to oxycontin(which I think you said in the other thread?) you may not react well to percocet either.
Nasuia is defenitly common and expected and itching can be a side effect or an allergic reaction although with an Allergic reaction you would most likely have some other stuff going on too. But I'm not a doc so dont take my word for it.
With Oxy I sometimes itch when I get out of the shower or on a humid day. My doc gave me Hydroxozine(?) it made me too tired but worked a bit for the itching, and on occasion after a shower I can itch like crazy for about 15min but it only happens that bad after soem showers so it was worth staying on it for me because it really helped my pain and I really dont like the fentenal patch.

I too have had mixed emotional reactions from precocet. Sometimes I start non-stop talking and other times I dont want anyone to talk,,,even to eachother. And I can start cryiing at the drop of a hat. I havent taken it in a while so well see how it works this time.
I have taken trazadone, a long time ago and it worked pretty good. I liked hydroxozine better because it was an ant-hystimene too.

I hope you get this figured out and you get on something that makes you more comfortable. Maybe lortab?

Freya

Jenica - I would call your doctor and/or pharmacist to see what they have to say.

As I mentioned above - I've found that depending on how I take the medication and what I take it with can have a huge reaction as to how I feel with it.

For example if I take the medication about 1/2 hour after I eat it seems to take forever to kick in - and it takes quite awhile for me to feel relief from it. Yet - taking the same medication before I eat - waiting 10-15 minutes and then eating seems to cause super break down of the medication and I get woozy feeling from it sometimes (this is after nearly 5 years of taking it, at the same dosage). It may just be that your body is absorbing the medication faster - or that it has learned how to get the medication used quickly - I'm not sure if our bodies can do that - but I know that our bodies learn - so I would assume it would be able to say we do this with this medication. Are you taking them at the appropriate time apart? Is it still helping your pain? Have you gotten a rash from it?

If you are afraid to take the medication and feel you have to take it - if you have anyone living with you ask them to check on your - or call someone and ask them to check on you every 20 minutes.

Ibuprofen isn't bad to take - it's an anti-inflammitory - if that helps you with your pain, you might want to let your doctor know. I honestly can't remember if you've ever posted why you are taking pain medications - but if the ibuprofen helps it might be an inflammitory problem and would be worth checking into take the prescription strength of it, or another more powerful anti-inflammitory.

I hope the medication begins to play nice with you. Please call your doctor or pharmacist - if you are in pain you deserve to have that pain helped, and if you are scared of the oxy you aren't going to take it which will cause you un-do pain. A pharmacist should be able to help you with any questions on reactions the med might cause - or anything you can do to alleviate them.

I think the reference to anti-histamine is because narcotic medication can cause our mast cells to release histamine. When this is in our system it causes us to itch. Although it sounds similar to an allergic reaction it is a little different -maybe because it is a regulated and predictable release of histamine rather than the catastrophic and uncontrolled release a person gets with allergic reactions (?). He may have mentioned anti-histamines because for some people, they can help reduce the itching that is associated with narcotics. The threshold may be that you may reach your unique level that activates your cells. In my case, I can take up to 10mgs of oxy at one time and I rarely get itching....but if I take just 5mg more, I itch all over. This could indicate my threshold (?).

My understanding is that people rarely have a true allergic reaction to narcotics but of course, you can never say never. If your lips or face swell you have problems breathing (wheeziing, etc) or if you feel your throat is swelling up then you most likely are having an allergic reaction to the medication and emergency help is indicated.

Sometimes a person can become tolerant to the itchiness - that is, after you take the meds for a few days your body adjusts to it and may be less likely to react to it.

As far as taking your dosages......it is your call but most of the time, your physician has a good understanding of your situation and if you feel he is really on top of things, you may feel comfortable following his advice.

thank you for that. yes, you sound very similar to what i went through. what i actually have been doing is just that----taking 1/4 dosages and i'm still getting the same reactions. i'm just taking the 1/4 dosage every 2 hours and the side effects are tolerable. i just left a message with the nurse at my docs office and she thinks i could be allergic to it.
see, thats what i don't get though- if i am allergic to it, why would i experience the side effects badly sometimes instead of all the time? i mean, i was doing fine with it for the last week...so its just weird.
also, what will doctors do if you JUST FILLED a prescription that now, doesn't work?? i hate wasting money on trying new meds and now i have all these pills and he probably will recommend something else that won't work, i'm just so sensitive.
i've decided that i'm just going to stick to taking 1/4 dosages every couple hours and just deal with these side effects, cuz i don't know what else to do. i hate my pain!
thank you all again for your advice!

Jenn - I wish I had caught this sooner - but given your stomach problems (I have Ulcerlative Colitis, Ulcers, etc. Mom has crohns...) Ibuprofen may actually make your pain worse. Ibuprofen, Aleeve, and things like that are all part of the NSAID's family which are non-steroidal anti-inflammitory drugs. These medications can actually lead to ulcers and other stomach problems, they mess with the lining of the stomach if I'm correct. So you are one of the few people who Ibuprofen while not life threatening may not be the best option.

If your you can stand the itchyness I would go ahead and take the next dose of medication if your pain is getting really bad. You might even try calling the pharmacist to see if you can take 1/2 the dosage to see how your head reacts to that. At one time I was given permission to take 1/2 the dosage at half the time increments - meaning if was every 6-8 hours, I could take it every 3-4. It kept it from hitting me all at once.

I would then call your doctor first thing in the morning and speak to someone to get a call back. Let him know what the pharmacist told you - and how you are reacting to the medication. Ask him if there are any other options for you to try. You don't need to suffer needlessly - and PaLady is so right, every person reacts differently - you know your body better than anyone else (no matter what degree they have framed on the wall) - if it doesn't feel right speak up and let your doctor know!

Take care!

Non-steroidal anti-inflammitory drugs are stomach killers. That's one fact.

Two, all opium derivatives can cause, amongs other side effects such as mood swings, dizzyness, headaches, etc., the well known itchy feeling. Has been documented worldwide over the past 5,000 years (no kidding). Tere are three possibilities here. One, the itchy feeling will fade away as your system gets used to the oxycodone. Two, the dosage is to high for your metabolism and needs to be lowered if you want to get rid of the itch. Or three, just bad luck, you're allergic to the product nd nothing you're going to try is gonna make the itch go. Talk to your doctor about this. But don't be affraid, the itch is annoying but completely harmless (can mess up your sleep though).

Trazodone, my arch-nemesis. This product is actually an anti-depressant which is often prescribed as sleeping medication. Both my father and I myself had very bad experiences with this darned product (I can say darned on this forum right?). If you have no depression, it can seriously screw up your brain chemistry (might be doing the same if you do have a depression, but I don't know about that). Go see your doctor because this can be dangerous stuff.

It is not my intention to alerm you, but be careful with trazodone. If you want to hear my story and my father's, drop me a line and I'll send you a funny story.

Let us know how things evolve.

mochiah-
thank you for your opinion.. you are right. i dont know why i'm scared. i guess i read a lot on these forums about people being dropped by their doctors for being suspiscios when they really are NOT. its kinda sad. i just don't want any chances of being a bad patient nor suspect i'm something that i'm not.
if you don't mind me asking you 1 more question....my current dosage is 1 oxy 6 times per day. the doc today said go down to 1 oxy 4 times per day. well my pain level...i know.. ain't going to like that.. so i'm wondering if my side effects do kinda minimize, and i let the office know that, that means i have to now take less dosages, then my pain worsens? or say the side effects could be coming from something like Thera Flu (which i forgot to tell them I had taken as well ). I just want to avoid a decrease in meds. Do you know how they will be able to let me go back up to my normal dosage?
Sorry for the stupid question, i'm just really new to pain control and meds in general. i'm very sensitive to everything.
thank you again!