Dilaudid or Oxycontin

Hi I am brand new to this site.  I have been living with cronic pain for about 14 or more years.  I have been going to my PM for 10 years and I trust him completely.  One thing I do want to ask I have been on Oxy's 80 and Oxy's 20 twice a day with Roxycodone 5 times a day for breakthough pain.  With the new formula I told my doctor that they are not working (80 & 20) He said next month he would change my meds.  When I was in the hospital for surgery they gave me dilaudid and it worked.  Do they make dilaudid er or just 4 hour dilaudids.  I have 4 herniated discs, degenerative spine and back disease, kein boch disease in my wrist which is a form of arthritis which collaspes the bones in the wrists.  I also have neuropathy in my feet from my back.  I get radial frequency needles every 5 months in my back which lasts for about 2 months.  My insurance makes me wait 5 months before I can get them again.  Does anyone have any ideas which is a good pain med that can take my cronic pain if I decide to stop the oxy 80 & 20 twice a day?

 

Thank you for any help.

Welcome to the forum, Jazzie! Sorry about the circumstances that bring you here though.

I'm on Dilaudid 4 mg every 6 hours. They do make the extended release form though, I found it described on Drugs.com:

www.drugs.com/cdi/hydromorphone-extended-release-capsules.html

It might help to do some online research on the different options so you can talk it over with your doctor.

Good luck with everything!
JoAnn

For neuropathy type pain some people find relief from Cymbalta, Lyrica, or nuerontin (sp). Each of these meds are typically started at low doses and then increased every few weeks or until a theraputic dose is found. Each of these meds also are cumalitive in nature in that the longer you take them the better they will work...assuming they do work for you.

Hi Jaz,

I just wanted to pop in and say welcome to HW! There are a great group of people here.

I take Dilaudid now (2mg) and recently asked for a med increase. I was told NO in no uncertain terms and started on Oxy IR 5 "that we can increase as much as we need", however, I can't start the new med for another three days..............STUPID, isn't it to write a script for a week after the procedure.

Anyway, I wanted to mention that, althought Dilaudid is wonderful after surgery, it is a different type of feeling to have it in oral form. The IV Dilaudid takes all the pain away immediately and you sleep and relax so well. The oral Dilaudid is more like dulling the pain a little and making it a 4-5 on the scale, instead of an 8-10. I'm sure it has something to do with the delivery, however, I'm not in the medical field and can't say for sure.

I'd just have to defer to the Dr on this one (same as I am having to do). They know their meds, the laws, and what they can offer us.

Good luck!

Hi Jazzie and welcome to Healing Well's chronic pain forum. I am sorry that you have to be here but glad that you found the forum. One thing about it, we all have one thing in common here and thats CP. At least you know you are not alone.

Retired Mom is correct about the Dilaudid. It is in a concentrated type form when given by IV and totally different pill form. I also have it in my pain pump and for BT pain too. I have done well with it and it has least side effects compared to most medications. It is really hard to say how a person will react to a medication and what will work best because we all metabolize medications differently. What may work for me may not even touch your pain. I do think your dr is on the right track of switching up the meds so you don't become tolerant to them, many drs do this with success. Also, the dosage plays a huge roll.

I hope it all works out for you when you see your dr. Take care and let us know how you are doing.

Hi Jazzie

Just wanted to also welcome you to the site. I suffer from chronic back pain mostly and take supeudole (which is oxycodone) and take oxycotin once at night. I fine that the oxycotin doesn't help near as much as the oxycodone which is just the short acting version. I have tried many pain meds but always seem to come back to oxycodone. I know some people have done well with vicodin. Anyway I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help but wanted to welcome you and don't forget we have a chat site here too and there's alot of nice people around to chat with. Good luck
.Stingray

Thanks to all of you for answering my question. I guess I will have to wait 3 more weeks until I see the PM so he can change my meds. He does this about every 2 to 2 1/2 years but he always goes back to oxycontin. The oxycodone works but the oxycontin (long acting) doesn't work anymore. Stingray, I can't believe how many nice people have been answering my questions. and Exitwound thank you for the names of the meds.

Jazzie

Last time I checked dilaudid ER was not available inside of the US as it was taken off of the market due to to much medicine (possibly fatal) being released at once when consumed with alcohol. This is what some of the literature on the internet says.

hey jazzie, i just switched off the new "OP" oxycontin 80mg 3x per day to MS contin 100mg 3x per day. the dose conversion charts say 240mg of oxy should be equivilant to 360-480mg of morphine. i think the 300mg of morphine is more effective than the 240mg of oxy by far. i don't think the new formulation of oxy's are as good as the old and i think purdue pharma falsely advertises some things about oxycontin (that is what they have paid a half a billion dollars in law suits for).
as far as the new extended-release hydromorphone-Exalgo (covidien pharmacueticals-i think) i have not heard. i know the USA only has the Exalgo on the market but Canada and Europe has the Hydromorph-Contin. the generic morphine sulfate ER is cheaper and very effective and may be a better thing to try first. then to add the regular IR dilaudid for brkt. pain might work. good luck, i hope you get things ironed out.

Hi all,
This is the first time to the CP forum. I just started looking into the Fibo forum a few days ago. I didn;t know about the change in the oxy;s, but was wondering what the heck was going on!! I have alot of back pain and severe fibo..The oxy;s haven;t helped much at all. I take 160 mg a day plus 30 mg morphine for breakthrough pain. I have a dr;s apt. coming up and I;m going to suggest a change. Thank you for all your comments, there a God send. I look forward to talking to you guys in the future.
P.S. I;m new at using these forums, still having trouble figuring out how to use threads and reading responses, to forgive me if i sound ignorant..Bye for now.

Hi Barbo,

Welcome.  I am also new to this site.  I love it here.  Everyone is so nice.  They changed oxycontin a few months ago.  I don't know what the new formula is but my pharmacist told me it is like a wax.  I find that they don't work as well and my doctor is changing my meds also.

Jazzie