HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Two months later after changing meds.

Support Forums
>
Chronic Pain
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/9/2015 4:03 PM (GMT 0)
Haven't been on for awhile.  With the Holidays and our vacation I kinda got away from computers for a little bit.

Anyway some may know I had issues getting Percocet each month so I asked my PM Dr. if he could prescribe Opana since the Pharmacy next door stocked it.  He agreed that I shouldn't jump through hoops to get meds.

One month earlier I switched from Xartemis XR to the Fentanyl patch.  The Xartemis XR is non-addictive slow (I mean really slow) dissolving 12 hour daily med.  This didn't seem to help me at all so he switched me to Fentanyl 50mcg.

This was the only ones he changed and kept my Nucynta 200 ER and Soma 250 (night time only) alone.  The first month with Opana they gave me a small pink pill.  Well I don't think it worked very well even in tandem with Nucynta.  I was told the smaller white ones are more effective.  The pharmacy also gave me a different Fentanyl brand (was using Watson they replaced it with Mallikrodt?) and this also seemed like it wasn't working.  It couldn't be a brand thing.

So on Wednesday when I gave the pharmacy my scripts I asked for the Watson patch and the white Opana (which I believe is the genric).  Well now that I have both these I can easily manage my pain now.  Nothing changed except the brand name.  Some may not believe me but I can tell you there was a difference on day 1.

Posted 1/9/2015 4:12 PM (GMT 0)
Certain brands of the same meds work better,Pharmacists will tell you they're the same because they want to dispense them.

But there are certain brands of Norco,Fentanyl,Phenergan,Soma,etc,etc,etc....that work better.

That comes from personal experience.

Pharmacists,as far as I know,aren't the ones taking the meds.So,how would they know which works better?

Rick
Posted 1/9/2015 8:45 PM (GMT 0)
Xartemis XR can be addicting because it contains oxycodone.


Xartemis XR-
www.xartemisxr.com/
Posted 1/10/2015 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
I noticed that with the Norco...different brands worked more or less than others. It's nice u have a doctor willing to listen and try different things. My doctor is like that too.
Posted 1/10/2015 8:12 AM (GMT 0)
Let me tell you a bit about Mallikrodt pharmaceuticals. It's a multibillion dollar company designed to produce generic meds and has had many issues through out its history with falling short of meeting FDA requirements for generic drugs. It is also at the forefront of laws, regulations and the research of abuse of narcotics and is the top contributor to congressional lobbying supporting the abuse deterrent being a standard regulation for all opiates. Even their corporate website has a pledge to do everything possible in the prevention of abuse of opiates and diversion to the street levels.

Now I have to ask myself why a multibillion dollar company who makes millions of generic meds chooses to jump that particular bandwagon and beat that specific drum.

Take this example and I'm using methadone since I had such a long and intimate relationship with it. Back in the late 90s Mali produced a generic methadone in the form of methadose and when broken down chemically the pill coming out 4 times the size of brand methadone or dolophine as it was called had only a baseline of 8.1 mgs in the 10mg pill and the fillers in huge proportion were glucose and talc? This in turned caused issues in diabetics on methadone using their pills and since most do not access or read pharmacy inserts it wasn't common knowledge and they were not advertising such information.

People continued to insist their methadone was falling short and folks at the clinics especially knew the difference in the levels of meds onboard. Actually a treatment clinic made the discovery via a private lab hired to test their brands and figure out the bases for all the dosing increases at the clinic after switching to generic use.

In late 2003 they were starting to pull that methadose pill off shelves and released a new revised version that was 1/4 the size of the older one after removal of fillers and coming in at closer to the full 10mgs then 8.1. Now that's close to 2mgs per pill short on active ingredients and although that doesn't seem like alot if your dosing calls for 4 pills per day or 40mgs using their brand left you an entire pill short per day and with a drug like methadone that has to maintain therapeutic levels that's a big deal!

Ask any junkie which hydrocodones preferred? Mali's meds even have a lesser street level value because an addict pays more for a better high and their lortabs just don't compare to Watson's.

Just a little FYI
Posted 1/10/2015 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
Jpjr50,
I'm with you on the Warson patches. I tried the Mylan matrix patch and the Malli gel patch and the Watson seemed to have the most consistent med delivery and caused the least rash on the delivery site. Good for you on your find, hope all continues to go well for you . . . Q
Posted 1/10/2015 11:04 PM (GMT 0)
Shows how ignorant I am - I was watching an episode of Orange is the New Black - which takes place inside a prison (it's not a reality show at all, just a regular scripted one), and one of the guards is smuggling in pills. He pulls out this huge bag and says it's "Oxycontin. NON-GENERIC oxycontin." I didn't know that such a thing even existed nor would I know that brand names would be better than generic.

I'm definitely not pharmacologically sophisticated.
Posted 1/11/2015 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
the generic opana IR, Roxanne's small white 5mg, 10mg are OK but just filled 240 10mg 2 every 6hrs. retail 1350.00$. foung the generic Opana ER 40mg is retailing at 400.00$. steady blood state, doc said patients are giving good report on generic opana ER. i know Endo(brand) also makes generic.40mg every 8hrs or 12hrs with methadone is a good combo. iforgot to check price on Nucynta ER. if lower that 500.00 would like to try it.
Posted 1/11/2015 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
i think the Qualitest Norco is OK and i thought Mylan Fentanyl patch was best.
Posted 1/12/2015 1:09 PM (GMT 0)
Well I've asked the pharmacy not to give me the Mallinkrodt brand because there is no way there formula is correct compared to Watson brand.  I had withdrawl symptoms with the Mallinkdrodt patch in December and it wasn't fun for the Holidays.  I still think Percocet I was taking was better than the Opana IR even though many websites say Opana is 2.5 stronger.  Have a hard time believing except if they were not taking it orally and doing something else with it.  I never cared about brand until now.  I wanted my fellow Chronic sufferers to know there is a huge difference.
Posted 1/12/2015 3:09 PM (GMT 0)
Jpj50,
I am usually not picky about generics, most are fine by me. The exception being the Fentanyl patches. After using the patch for 2.5 years I developed a bias against both the Malli and the Mylan products. This is purely a personal bias and has nothing objective to back it up. If we are allowed choice, I say use it. Perhaps you might find a brand that works with your metabolism better than the others . . . Q
Posted 1/14/2015 2:08 PM (GMT 0)
I realize each of us break down meds differently, we all know that. I'm just letting people know what works for me best. I have asked my pharmacy to provide the generic white small opana and Watson brand patches if they can since it works best for me. Whether they can provide this service I don't know, it's probably a stock level thing and they can't save certain brands for people.

I'd be really bummed to get the other brands and suffer again, it wasn't fun. Don't know if anyone on here was able to convince their pharmacy to stock something just for you but my Ma / Pa Pharmacy says they can. I can never leave them.
Posted 1/14/2015 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
It can be hard but I got my local CVS to stock all my preferred generics for me. Sorry that I rpeated an old saw on metabolism but you never know who's on the other end of the line, best of luck . . . Q
Posted 1/14/2015 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
the generic or brand Opana IR "oxymorphone hcl" is a great pain med, but, first PDR factory insert states,"if opioid naive, starting dose:20-30mg ever 4-6hrs. you have a mild-moderate tolerance so the non-tolerant dose of 80-180mg per day is indicated to be started lower and every 2-3 days titrated until result reached." all great, until you get above 5mg 120# tabs the price goes through the roof, retail i just paid for 240 tabs of 10mg generic IR was 1300.00, co-pay 400.00. and i find out the Opana ER generic that my doc says patients are giving good report about although many generic brands like the IR, the generic ER 40mg 90tabs 120mg per day from 80mg in better form for me co-pay 75.00 dollars retail 225.00 dollars, 1,075.00 less, better drug??? then the pharmacodynamics or time to reach peak blood concentration and half-life: oxymorphone IR: peak 2-3hrs, oxycodone 30-45min., half-life 5-11hrs., oxycodone 2.5-4hrs. So, Oxymorphone is more like OxyContin or MSContin in release and length of duration. Opana ER 6hrs to peak and a true 12hr. halflife, after apprx 72hrs. a steady-level is reached w/o much of a drop off over full 24hr period. some use it every 8hrs. which give a great 24hr coverage. so with Percocet 5mg it is much better for "rescue pain" and Opana IR OK when dose is found. oxycodone 2:1-4:1 oxymorphone but different properties. bioavailabilty: oxycodone 60-80% apprx. vs oxymorphone 10% orally, 99% IV or IM. 5mg then is 0.5mg, 10mg is 1mg. 10mg IV would knock you on your rear end, dose IV .5 or 1.0mg. this drug is almost 100years old. price not lined up with dosing, but good drug once dose is right for you. with Duragesic patch (i heard Watson is good), Nucynta ER two very steady blood state meds, the Opana even the IR is almost a third. if breakthrough/activity related pain is the desired effect percocet 7.5 or 10mg, generic Roxicodone or Oxy IR 5,15,30, Hydromorphone 2mg, 4mg, 8mg or MSIR "morphine sulfate immediate release" 15mg, 30mg even Norco5/325, 7.5/325, 10/324 or newer hydrocodone 5/300, 7.5/300, 10/300 to get Tylenol as low as possible would all be more of a under 1hr peak blood state option. then with Nucynta, Fentanyl, and any of those you would have many opioid receptors covered plus NRI "norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor" from Nucynta. PS VicoProfen is OK 7.5/400mg.
Posted 1/15/2015 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
I am confused by your post. Is one med canceling the other? I take Opana IR and Nucynta ER together and also have Fentanyl patch.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply