What types of medications do all of you take?

Hello all. I hope all of your pAin levels are low today. I have a simple question. I have low back, groin and leg chronic pain due to a blow to my back many years ago. I have had every injection in the book and PT. I am on a low dose of morphine er with vicoprofen for b/t. I am prescribed 90 of the morphine and 65 of the vicoprofen a month. Is this a lot? I kind of want to get an idea of what others take (if any) to see how I compare. What medications do all of you take for pain management???

Oh yea sorry. 30mg morphine 3xday and 7.5/200 vicoprofen 2-3xday.

Before I was put on the fentanly patch 75 mcg/hr, I was also on 30mg morphine er 3x day. I will say this: the morphine er was nothing compared to the patch in terms of pain relief. It really did nothing for me. All I know is that my doctor told me that morphine is very low in oral terms meaning it loses its potency when taken in pill form. He said codeine would have worked better.

Also 30mg is very low, I think the lowest if not one of the lowest dosages for it out there.

I'm pretty sure Morphine ER comes in 15mg and 20mg pills.

But I wouldn't say that 30mg 3x a day is a low dose... but, again, just my opinion.... and it's all relative.

Shaw, are you trying to gain perspective on how high a dose of morphine you are on? OR how it ranks in terms of all the other meds out there? Just curious....

--Tina

Fentanyl patch, 75 mgm, change every 48 hours. Plus I take (6) Loratab 10/500 per day. Not suppose to, but take 2-4 Advils a day some days to supplement extra pain.

Also on Ambien 10's (more than 13 years) and Tranzene 7.5 mg, one nightly for past 10 years

Still not enough to control all my pain (mine is cancer related), but doctor is reluctant to increase or change anything at this time, because my cancer is still progressing and is no longer curable

david

For my long acting med, I'm prescribed 40mg Oxycontin twice a day. (but some days I only take one...even though I KNOW it works best if I take it every 12 hours...I just can't do it all the time because of the nausea/vomiting)

For my BT med, I take either 1 or 2 Percocet 5/325, or I take Oxycodone IR 10mg, I'm scripted for those "every 6-8 hours as needed for pain" but they're BT so I take them when I need them.

Shell74,

I've never known anyone on a liquid form of oxy. I assume it takes effect pretty quickly, but how long does relief last? I'm really curious.

I'm on two BT meds: Opana IR (10mg as needed) and Oral Fentanyl.

Oxycontin is my extended release med right now.... 30mg 3x/daily. It could be upped to triple this, with no more pain control (I'm very tolerant to meds) - so we keep it at that and use the BT meds that DO work.

Not sure where you live.... but it's not really up to the pharmacist to dictate what a PM scripts (obviously, if it's too early to prescribe, or has interactions with others meds, that kind of thing).

That all said - typically most CP patients are just on one BT med.

--Tina

For a long time I was only on one BT med. Then due to shortages, I ended up with 5/325 percocet one month, and 10mg Oxy IR another month because there were no 10/325 percocet to be had (my normal BT med). I didn't like the Oxy IR because I couldn't break it in half if I wanted to because the pills are extremely small and crumble. So my dr suggested a small script of both.

I love it because I have options. It makes me feel like I'm more in control of things. If I'm having a higher pain day, then I can take the Oxy IR 10mg, If I'm having a lower pain day, then I can use the 5/325 percocet.

For a lot of us, the goal is to take the least, most effective amount. So if I only need 5mg, why should I have to take 10?

I also have really really bad nausea/vomiting from the pain meds, and sometimes the lack of 5mg really does make a difference.

I've learned since coming here that although there are only so many pain medications, the amounts, doses, and effectiveness are as varied as the people here. What works for one might not work for another, and it seems like the best drs understand this and tailor treatment accordingly. Pharmicists generally keep this in mind and in my experience don't interfer unless there's a really good reason to.

.

Lexi. (and Shaw)..I am on OxyIR 5mg...So, just so you know that they make that in a 5mg and my instructions are 1-2 every 4-6 hours so I have great flexibility in what I can take and then if I ever need to add a Tylenol or an Advil I can.

I'm on 25mg methadone a day, I was on 30 mgs but developed a extended QT interval, I will say though, my pain is NOT controlled at this dose. My BT medication is dilaudid 2mgs every four hours if needed.

My PCM gives me 200 dilaudid pills and they last me almost 60 days. I don't take BT meds every day. I start my day off at a 5 out of 10 and end my day usually at a solid 8 or higher. I saw my Rheumy today and he gave me a shot in my sternum, under my arm pit on the ribcage, and a steroid shot in my left hip for bursitis. I told him that something needs to be done, I'm miserable. I've been on oral/IV steroids for almost 12 years now, and they still can not control my inflammation in my body.

I have HUGE tolerance issues, prior to getting my methadone, I was on Demerol. When having severe flares, they would admit to the cardiac ward, as I could be monitored, I was getting 150mgs of Demerol IV push every 3 hours. I could continue to hold a understandable conversation with the nurse, while getting the drug and afterwards too. They, the nurses, hated pushing the drug because they were afraid of potential side effects for. Sometimes, they would page the resident on call and have them push it.

Since having that much of a narcotic, like I said, I have a HUGE tolerance to almost everything. When I get my Benylsta infusion every 28 days, I get 150mgs of IV benadryl, and I don't get sleepy at all.

I'm hard to sedate and when my pain is out of control... well I'm sure you get the idea. I'm on muscle relaxers, two different anti depressants, use heat, hot showers, messages, stretching, exercise to the best I can, and injections also. If we can raise my methadone dosage w/o getting the extended QT interval then I'm all for trying it.

Hope this helps some. Good luck and I hope that they have your pain under control.

Hugs,
Barbara

Same here in SC, the pharmacist has to fill what the doctor writes, its not up to the drug stores. Unless of course, there is a legitimate mistake on the script. The more I hear about how things are in FL, makes me so glad I don't live there.

david

Before I quit taking everything, this is what the doc had me on,

175mcg of fentanyl every 72 hours
8 tabs/pills of 200mcg of fentora for BT pain a day
60mg methadone a day/
ambien cr 10mg or 20 depending on if I went to sleep fast or not. daily.
Various muscle relaxers with all of that. Was not fun at the time
and my memory of those 5 years is almost not there.

I stopped taking all my meds cold turkey, in 2010, I dealt with the pain for a long time before the meds and still dealing with it now, I had a Spinal Stim. put in last year does nothing for the pain, going to see a Doc next week in Boston for a Pain pump.