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Reversing Tolerance Issues

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Posted 7/25/2012 6:27 AM (GMT 0)
Hey all,

Thought I would give you all a quick update on my PM appointment today... hopefully, my experiences might help someone else on here at some point.

As I previously wrote - at my last PM appointment two weeks ago... she doubled my oxycontin and oxycodone. Well, I immediately had lots of cognitive side effects. I wasn't drowsy... but I could not focus on absolutely anything... my memory was worse than usual.... I felt really disassociated w/ everything. Very bizarre stuff. Beyond that, my pain really didn't drop significantly.

So, today - we changed my BT to Dilaudid (hydromorphone). 4 to 8mg every 4 hours, as needed. Here's the thing... I've used Dilaudid many times over the years... but I used it all last year, at pretty high doses. It got to the point where it literally was like taking water. So, on my own initiative, I chose to go off of it around December and take a "drug holiday" of sorts from using any hydromorphone.

Well, within 30 minutes of picking it up from the pharmacy today - I had some relief... went down a good 2 notches on the pain scale. Absolutely no side effects. I can't tell you how long it's been since something orally has worked for me. Here's the thing... I don't know if this will last.... or if I'll rapidly build tolerance again or whatever. But having even one day of pain relief was amazing. I'll take anything from here forward!

Point being... from many of my experiences... I think it's possible to use a medication that didn't work before.... or stopped working because of tolerance issues... and have it work in the future. I think stopping a medication and taking a "break" from it can help some people... the break may be weeks, months or even a year+.

Ahhh, the ups and down of CP - bleh! But today's been a good day in terms of that... so I wanted to share. Again, I don't know how long it will last... and it wasn't a miracle and solved everything, lol - but I'll gladly take ANY relief at this point.

Take good care... --Tina
Posted 7/25/2012 7:23 AM (GMT 0)
Tina

I am glad your appointment went well. Your findings are certainly worth considering. It's still too early for me post op to be thinking about that, but that is my aim in the future.

Over the last few years my meds have been upped and upped, usually due to accidents and ops and of course that has led to tolerance issues. Once I am over the pain of this op I would like to start reducing just to see how low I could go, even for a short period.

I am vey aware of being in a fog at the moment and my vision is worse than normal, my eyes just seem so tired and unable to focus. Never even considered it might be the oxycontin but I'm beginning to think that might be the cause.

As you say Tina, the ups and downs of chronic pain!! There are no miracles but we have to strive to find out what works out best for us.

I hope you continue to have good results.

Best wishes

Jane
Posted 7/25/2012 11:40 AM (GMT 0)
Tina, that's great news! Glad you're finally getting some relief. I know i don't post often, but i do like to keep up on how everyone is doing. 8-)
Posted 7/25/2012 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tina...

It's a good post to bring this up as I've definitely found this over the years. It's been about 8 years on pain medication and there hasn't been a time that we tapered all the way down or off medication...but over the years my Dr. and I have rotated different meds.

And this has worked really well. I was on Oxycontin and on 120mg a day (40mg x 3) and Percocet for bt. And after I lost my insurance after my divorce, because the patent ran out for the generic Oxy, there was no way I could pay for it.

So we switched to MSContin. Because I haven't been on it for a long time, I was able to be on lower dosages, even compared to the conversion to Oxy. I have been on this for a few years now and am still at the same lower doses of 90mg a day of the MSContin.

This is why my Dr. always starts on the lowest dosages possible as we can always tirate up....but I want to be on the lowest milligram possible to acheive the same 5-7 pain level.
(Along with using all the other modalities)

If we had jumped to the regular conversion from the start, this would have been around 135mg or higher of the MSContin. But I like having more room to move up if needed and since the 90 is ok...I will stick with this.

So I absolutely agree that both medication holidays (if the person can handle this) or just rotating different opiates every few years keeps us from having to continue to raise the dosage all the time.

Glad to hear it's working well for you Tina! You and Cognito were twins this last few weeks with the Oxycontin "trial"....LOL..

I'll continue to say some prayers that you keep getting the pain relief you need..

Hugs (( ))
Posted 7/25/2012 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
 

        Morning Tina!

     I'm so happy for you!...as you have been struggling for a very long time. I also support your belief about the ability to go back to a former med that was once working,...given that a patient has been off of it for a while. I just posted about this yesterday on another members thread.

   Let's hope you continue to recieve the relief you need with this med for a very long time.

 *´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`    SE wink

Posted 7/26/2012 12:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tina, I am glad you found a pain med that is giving you some relief. Even a little relief can be a big thing for one who suffers. I too hope that you continue to do well on it. You were kind enough to post on my thread last week when I was at my worst with wd from pain meds. Since being off of the oxy and percocet for this short time I have noticed that I am more sensitive to Valium now and I have been taking it for quite some time for back spasms. Not sure if it's all in my head but hey it seems to help better now. Not sure I will have the courage to go back on pain meds but not sure I can live without them either.

Take care. Susan
Posted 7/26/2012 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
Tina....I am happy you are getting some relief I hope you continue,  but you are right the ups and downs of CP are annoying to say the least. yeah yeah yeah
Posted 7/26/2012 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone... I appreciate the thoughts and encouragement. As said, even the smallest amount of relief to most of us is "something"!

:) --Tina
Posted 7/27/2012 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tina. I'm so happy that you got some relief. I totally get that even a day can be a huge deal. I hope and pray that it continues to work for you.

Hugs,

Flower
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