Doc changed my pain med oxycodone

Update on me --

Brief review of my history here, I have back, neck problems and have been now seeing a doctor who is helping me with managing my issues. She did have me on oxycodoney. I just had an unrelated surgery. I am still recovering from that but after all the increases in oxycodne I decided that I just didnt want to take it anymore. ( plus I have read horror stories about it )

At my appt with my doc when she was reviewing how im doing on it I just asked if theres anything else we could try that was extended release formula instead. She is a great doc and she said there was fentanyl patches or morphine. So I agreed to the MS Contin. So this is my 2nd day on it and just wanted some feedback from anyone here who is on it and how its working for you.

I am on 15mg twice a day and will see her in 2 weeks for dose adjustment. I also take volteran twice a day. Im not finding it yet to be a whole lot more helpful but maybe I need a higher dose? please any thoughts would be great!! thanks

How much Oxycodone were you taking per day prior to the MS Contin? Were you on Oxycontin or just the short acting oxycodone?

I was on MS Contin for a while and I didn't find it all that effective. It was the first "long acting" medication I tried and I ended up with a bunch of side effects that never went away and I couldn't find a balance where the pain relief was worth the amount of misery it caused.

Do you have a short acting medication in addition to the MS Contin?

You shouldn't have withdrawl or anything during the transition but it will take about a week probably for you to get used to the new "level" of pain relief. Long acting meds don't pack the punch but the relief they do give is steady versus the ups and downs of the short acting. So it might take a few dose adjustments before you get to a point where you're getting enough relief.

There are also some people who just don't get much relief from morphine in the pill form no matter what the dose and if that turns out to be the case there are other meds you can try.

I briefly tried MSContin (actually Kadian) a few years ago. Like Mercy&Grace, it totally knocked me out.

Oxycodone makes me a bit lethargic; hydrocodone may give me a bit of pep, but morphine put me right to sleep.

As for horror stories, you'll see them with all the opioids. You might also want to look into the Butrans Patch - a 7 day patch that some people really like (I didn't find the release even enough). Personally, I would have continued with it if it were just more stable in efficacy.

Since all these meds have different effects person to person, you'll just not know what works for you until you try it.

thank you for the advice!

LexiRae--- I started out on 2 a day, then 4 1/2 a day, then after the surgery I was taking 2 10mg pills every 3 hours. They all were IR . Now im on the ms contin.

I am having no side effects such as nausea, sleepiness, ect...None at all! thankfully.

nvthsame98-- Yes she is willing to work on getting relief just right, and thank you for the advice to try and stick it out for the whole 2 weeks. I will but have been thinking to call next week. I will really try to make it though. Any yes voltaren is the other one Im taking. Twice a day. #
Do you know what or how the next dose up will be like or what it is?

That sounds right Lexi and Sophie try to jot down your worst and best pain times. Say 2 hours after taking 6 am dose and so forth. Take it with you when you go back.

This will give her a better idea of whether to add another 15mgs during the day or to go to 30mgs twice a day.

A quick short story from a guy that has been taking this stuff for more than 30 years. I am now taking the MS Contin 200 mg along with Oxy 30 mg. and I find this combination to be just right for me. I have been taking all kinds of different combinations of meds and now, I have the right one. The MS keeps me steady as she goes, in other words no ups or downs just right straight down the road with hardly any pain issues and the oxy, well, when I need it, I usually have a terrible bout with my nerve pain. I was taking the OxyContin 80 mg get this, 6 per day (2- 3 times a day) but we got past that and mellowed into the MS Contin at first, the 100 mg and now the 200 mg. I have had three back surgeries and still have three hernmiated disks that will eventually need work but its too dangerous now. Over the years, I have learned one thing and that's this: Pain is a much different type of disorder than we are used to. It's not like a sore throat or a stomach virus. Pain is a multi headed beast that comes at everyone in a different manner. It's hard to describe to your Dr. sometimes, making it difficult for them to prescribe the right med, dose and strength. It takes time and a willingness to experiment with different types of meds. Keep working at it though. Eventually you'll run into the right combination and you'll wonder what happened to all that pain you had.