oxcodone dose

what dose are you taking?  i have crohn's disease and have been on oxycodone for approx 2 years now.  i'm going through a really rough spot and my dose that i've been on for a while does not seem to be working.  i want to ask my pain doc for more but i'm scared.  with all of the crap going on with pain meds and the media docs are freaking out.  my pain med practice is arbitrairily cutting everyone back to 4 IR pills a day...they gave me an exception bc I don't absorb things nornally but i don't know how long until they cut me back too- then i'm screwed.

my dose now is 6x15 mg a day and 1 30 mg oxycontin for night...

do you take more or less?

when does the dose begin to be considered very large? 

i have heard of people taking 6x30 mg a day...so my current dose does not seem to be too much comparatively...

My doc wants me to try the fentynel patch but it scares me half to death- plus i can't be "high" on meds during the day with my job and the oxycodone does not make me feel "high" at all.

I have a doc appt this week so i want to talk to my doc and sound like i know what i'm talking about and see if she will raise my dose a bit...

Good evening mtgman!

While I would say your not on a low dose…I really would not consider it a high dose either. As far as the Fentanyl patch….and experiencing a high,…it's been my experience that most CP patients that have been on heavy narcotics for any length of time generally do not suffer highs. Yes you may feel a bit of a high, as you start the first few doses, but should quickly go away. I would give the Fentanyl a chance. I consider it a very good med, but sadly for me, I have delivery problems with it. I also felt that I was clearer headed on the Fentanyl…but as we all know…everyone is different.

You may also consider dilaudid…another very effective med in dealing with CP.

Take care,

SE

Hi there....

I'm really curious why your Dr. doesn't move you to either the 30mg Oxycontins to take 3 times a day and then give you 2-3 15mg of the Oxycodones for breakthrough. That would equal out to 120mg -135mg of Oxy a day which is what you are taking now.

Or, 40mg Oxycontin, 3 times a day to equal 120mg and then 1-2 of the 15mg Oxycodones to have for BT.

Many new state laws/regulations are being passed to not allow Drs. to prescribe short acting opiates (IR-Immediate release ones) for more than 3 months. Because if someone is needing medication longer than that time period, they move into the "chronic" pain category which you are obviously in and have been for years.

So they are moving their patients to extended release medications. If he moves you to the Oxycontins....you still get the exact amount of Oxycodone each day so I would just talk to him about it...

I did look back at a few of your past posts to familiarize myself with your situation...And you have said in the past that you take more than prescribed and end up running out of medication a lot.

Is this still happening? I just wanted to caution you as things are getting tighter with Pain Mgmt. and many Drs. are moving towards random urine tests so I would hate for you to get into trouble with not having the medication in your systems. This is where taking the Oxycontins properly could really help as you wouldn't have the ups/downs with the medication and pain control.

And if your Dr. wants to move to the Fentanyl patches....You can just start very slowly as they have a 12mcg patch and move up from there to 25, 50, 75, etc. But because you take close to 120mg of Oxycodone....you are already opiate tolerant so you shouldn't have too many issues with the patch. It's only patients who haven't been on opiates very long that the patch is "too much" for them.

So there really isn't anything to be worried about if you need to try those. And there are many other long acting medications that your Dr. can prescribe if needed. There is MSContin and Opana to name a few.

Good luck and keep us posted..