Could really use advise on pain meds

I'll make this short and sweet.  I have a lot of back and knee issues as well as other issues and have finally found a PM Dr. after my Rymloatoligest retired.  I had an appt. with him yesterday and he want's to put me on a more long term med. instead of the few Vicodine I take per day.  What I would realllllly appreciate is if anyone has every taken the following meds and could give me your input on which med. gave you the most relief.  I have till next week to study up on these meds. and decide which I want to try.  Thank you in advance for in input.  The meds. are Suboxone (I guess they have found that this med works well on controlling pain and not just for withdraw purposes), Fentanyl Patch, or Kadian.  Thanks again.

Hello Pasty, Welcome to the CP Forum.  I sorry you had to seek us out becuase of pain issues that you are having.  I was on the Fentanyl patch too for several years and also had good success with respect to pain control.  The nice thing is that you do not have to worry about swallowing pills.  Because you receive equal dosing around the clock, you prevent most major pain flare-ups before the happen.  If you perspire a lot, they sometimes are a little tricky getting them to stick.  I found using a tegagerm type bandage over them help keep them on longer and prevented water from showers seeping under them.  Like all narcotics, you will build up a tolerance for them over time.  Suboxone is a whole nother beast.  There are a lot of dosing issues with it.  It stays in your blood stream for a long time and you have to be very careful about over-dosing.  Don't quote me, but it is my understanding that when you are on Suboxone, it binds with specific receptors sites - thus interferring with any narcotics you are taking.  I am not sure what you use for break through pain when you are on Suboxone.  I do not have any experience with Kadian, so maybe one of our other posters can help you with that one. I guarantee you that you will feel so much better when you have an appropriate pain control plan.  Best of luck developing a plan that works for you.  Please keep us posted.  

Hi Patsy. I would like to welcome you to the forum. I am soory that you are in so much pain. I have been on Kadian 200mg for the past 6 years and it really has been good for me. Of course, what may work for one person, may not work for others. So I would try the one you think is the best and go from there as to what is best for you.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the family.

Hugs

Scarred

i am on fentanyl patches 50mcg.

They are pretty good. I also started off changing them every 72 hours, but ended up going to every 48. my temp runs high.

anotehr thing about the patches is that you can not apply heat to them. Like no hot tubs, real hot showers etc. It makes the meds secrete faster and it could cause major problems.

I do take oxycodone for bt pain.

good luck

Patsy,
Welcome to the CP forum. I'm sorry you have reason to be here, but glad you found the site. One thing to remember is that we're not doctors, and are a great support group for many people. Another thing to keep in mind is that medication is a very individual thing, so what works for one person may not work for another.

What I would say is that jumping from vicodin to fentanyl is a pretty big leap. I'm not saying you don't need it, but usually a lot of other things are tried in between like percocet, oxycodone, or oxycontin. Kadian is closer to the mark. Suboxone has a different set of challenges and I guess I wonder why your doc suggested that at this point.

Again, I'm not a doc and not here to give medical advice, but if it was me I'd want to do some research on credible medical sites and learn about all the meds that way, as well as discuss with my doctor the pros and cons of each. Your pharmacist (not a tech but the head pharmacist) is also a great source of information.

Good luck!

PaLady

Us giving you advise on this is all going to be very diffrent from person to person. The patches to me worked at the beginning but wore off too fast and stopped working and making them stay on was quite a mission and was too much trouble for me. Kadian did absoutly nothing for me, actually it made my pain from my chronic pancreatitas worse and made it so I couldnt sleep at all. Suboxone I've had good releif with, but like other have said, I wouldn't jump to Suboxone if all your taking is vicodin, that's way too strong of a medication, although overdoses on it is very rare it can make you feel really yucky, 0.03mg of suboxone equals 10mgs of morphine and suboxone comes in 2mgs and 8mgs, so you can do the math and figure out that it is not a med to mess around with.

But for me, finding pain relief took me 7 years of trial and error, I think I tried everything under the sun for pain several times except Opana and the painpump, and my body loved the Suboxone, my pain went down alot, but alot of people dont find releif with it. But lots of people said they find help with the patches and kadian, but I didnt....also if your expecting surgeries soon then suboxone would be a very bad choice and you cant take other pain meds with it, but some people have said you can.

Suboxone is becoming a number one choice for alot of pain doctors due to benifets it has, like the low risk of people abusing it (of course where their's a will, their's a way), people cant build tolerences to it, and th eside effects are exactly like other pain meds but it's very strong, and they okayed it for people who abuse opioids cause they cant abuse it as easily like methadone, but if taken worng it can make one very miserable...it's attached to alot of rules, so I wouldnt recommend that it be a first choice for anyone, or a 2nd of 3rd unless your desperate like I was for pain releif and you've tried other things, even if your doctor pushes it on you, I would do lots of research. the same goes for the patch, thats very big jump.

but either way, good luck, and dont give up if finding the right med takes a few, or alot, of tries.

-Carmen