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Morphine isn't working!

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Posted 3/2/2009 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
I first was subscribed 5 mg. Oxycodone 2 times a day for lower back pain and it worked well for awhile but ended up being sub'd two 5 mg. three times a day for a total of 6 tablets due to building up a tolerance. Now my doctor has me on 30 mg. Morphine twice a day and 5 mg. Hydrocodone for breakthrough pain twice a day. The Morphone and Hydrocodone still doesn't have the same effect on me as the Oxycodone alone did but my doctor says the Oxycodone is habit forming and won't give me that instead of Hydro...well, Morphine is addictive too! He did say he could write me a prescription for Oxycontin but we all know that is very habit forming plus it's 4-5 times as costly as the Morphine and Hydro I take now combined. I know the Oxycontin will do the trick but I don't want to become addicted and without insurance I can't really afford it anyway. Anyone think my chances of having my doctor put me back on Oxycodone are reasonable? Of course all doctors are different. I don't take these meds to get high or anything like what I've read on some of these sites with people snorting it (never did recreational drugs), my pain is proven by MRI and I take them as prescribed.
Posted 3/2/2009 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Beatle; First I want to welcome you to the HW Chronic Pain forum. I do hate to see new people arrive here, because it tells me that more and more people are in pain and reminds me how fragile our bodies are. First, I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be or give medical advice. None of us here are doctors but we do share one thing in common....we are all in pain from one injury or many and from one end of the spectrum as far as where our pain is located to the other.

I'd like to ask you first off a little about your pain...where is it at.....what happened to get you to this position in life? The usual questions...Maybe it will help to understand and there are many here with the same problems that can help you or guide you in the right direction. The other thing is pain is very individualized and so is pain medications. Something that may work on you might not work on me so I really cannot advise you as to what you need to know. What kind of doctor are you seeing? If it is a PCP or a Pain Management doctor then I would say that maybe you need to tell him/her that you are not getting the relief that you are needing and maybe the doctor can up your medications or try something else to try and decrease your pain. Doctors are not as quick to prescribe meds to someone who asks for a certain drug so I would put it as what I said above so that your doctor feels your not looking for a certain medication and it won't send up a red flag. Unfortunately we live in a world that punishes us that are in real pain because of the doctors fear to cause any speculation on their practice or how they prescribe medications. It's quite sad and for most of us its hard to get the proper medications because of this.

I am currently on Kadian which is a form of Morphine and it has worked well for me but like I said its so individualized that it may not work for others. My BT medication is Percocet and I have gotten to the point where it is not working but since I am getting ready to go through a Psych Evaluation for the trial of an SCS device my doctor won't try anything else for now until we know what we are doing with that. I do meditation, distractions, and other things to help alleviate the pain and it usually works but there are times it doesn't no matter what I try. Those times I rely on my family here on HW to get me through the day.

I sure hope you find an answer and I hope this has helped some.

Welcome aboard!

Scarred
Posted 3/3/2009 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, Beatle,
I also wanted to welcome you to the chronic pain forum of HW. And like Scarred, am sad for the reason you're here, but glad you found us.

There's really nothing more I could add to what Scarred has said. She has given some good suggestions, asked some good questions. The other thing I'd suggest - most of us have to put together a package of things to help with long term pain. Medications are one part of the package, perhaps a central part, but have you tried physical therapy, acupuncture, relaxation, or working with a pain psychologist? Any of all of those could be helpful in addition to your medications.

Again, welcome.

PaLady
Posted 3/3/2009 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Scarred for your quick reply. My pain is in my lower and upper back from degenerating discs and I was being treated with Oxycodone by my family physician for about a year. When I asked to have my dosage increased again she referred me to a pain management facility who prescribed the Morphine and Hydrocodone. He seems like a caring doctor in that he doesn't give me the impression that he's skeptical of my needs or make me feel like a junkie for asking for pain medication like some doctors do. The MRI proves to him my needs are what they are. The back pain along with arthritis in my neck and knees just adds to the discomfort I feel every single day although I know arthritis isn't something opioids are prescribed for and manage that with four tablets of 800 mgs. of Ibuprofin daily.

I've never had an accident or anything like that, my degenerating discs are age related yet I'm only 53, lead a relatively active lifestyle and of average weight...5'8" 170. I know the discs will never improve so all I can do is seek pain management in order to live as pain free a life as I can and allow me to work with the least amount of discomfort. I'm due to have my Hydro refilled tomorrow so I guess I'll wait until that one is used up and ask my doctor to try something else. He has asked me what has worked for me in the past and that's when I told him it was Oxycodone that worked the best. Hopefully he'll put me back on that and I'll be in pretty good shape. If I have to go with Oxycontin I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the ridiculous price they want for it. I don't have a very addictive personality so I would hope that doesn't become a problem...I'm very afraid of the possibilty of drug addiction. shakehead    

Posted 3/3/2009 1:02 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks PAlady...we're neighbors, I live in northern Maryland. I'm glad I found this board, hopefully I'll get the answers I'm looking for and if nothing else just a place to go where others can relate.

Glad to be here...although I wish I didn't have to be.
Posted 3/3/2009 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
You definitely will get people who can relate. The support here is great!

I can't help thinking of the movie Beatlejuice when I see your name!! LOL

Yes, we are neighbors - although it's probably not as cold where you are!

PaLady
Posted 3/3/2009 1:10 AM (GMT 0)
Actually...that's Beetlejuice. :)

Yeah, it's pretty freakin' cold here!
Posted 3/3/2009 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
blush smilewinkgrin

PaLady
Posted 3/3/2009 3:23 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Beatle,
I was just put on Morphine 15mg. twice daily by my PCP and he told me to take Percocet or Hydrocodone for breakthrough pain. I was shocked really. I was only there to talk to him about my labs, which thankfully came back in good shape. It is hard to sit there in front of a doctor though with everything looking fine and you feel like road kill. I told him that I had been refered to a pain group and asked his opinion on it and he said to go and just listed to what they have to say. He was the one who talked to me about starting the Morphine. I'm going to give it a whirl. He told me that I would get addicted to it if it worked and I decided to continue with it but that I had to weight the fact that with all of the things I have wrong with me I will have pain until I die and this could help my "quality of life". I'm only 53 yrs. old too. I just love this Doc. So understanding. I'm just taking it at night right now (my choice) until I see how it does. I help take care of my Mom who has Parkinson's Disease and I can't feel "loopy" and be responsible for her.
Nurse2
Posted 3/3/2009 3:44 AM (GMT 0)
Oxycodone or Oxycontin didn't help me. My primary care doctor changed my
script to another medication that was supposidly very strong. It didn't help me.

Then the problem became even though the Oxycontin didn't help me it was BAD
having the medicine cut down drastically -even though it was replaced. The worst
ever.

I finally got kinda stabilized on Methadone as a pain reliever. I may be going on to
a pain pump. Lotta pain goin' on here in sunny California.

Your name reminds me of PAUL. I actually came to Forum to see if there was a
musical discussion going on.

Now, I must remind you that I'm not a real doctor. Never have been. Never will be.
However, I have considered playing one on Gray's Anatomy.

There are no opiods that make me feel "loopy" I wonder why.

Pamela Neckpain, OW.w.
Posted 3/3/2009 4:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hi beatle,

Welcome to the CP board of HW. It sure seems like we've had a lot of new folks the past few days! We're happy to have you here, but like Scarred said, sorry about the circumstances. I can relate to some of the feelings that you are having. I was on oxycodone & oxycontin in the past, and am now on dilaudid. I absolutely HATE (and that's probably not a strong enough word) being on pain medication. Most of us do. One of the many reasons I hate it is that it scares me. It is powerful stuff (although sometimes it doesn't feel that way), and there is such a stigmatism associated with it. I put off going on meds for quite a while, despite having docs tell me that I should be on pain meds, because of this. I finally gave in when I had exhausted all other options & I became more terrified of what would happen if my pain wasn't controlled (I'll spare you going into detail on how badly I was functioning because of severe pain), than what would happen if I was on pain meds. I won't say that pain meds are a cure all for my pain, far from it. I still have pretty severe pain, and the meds come with their own problems, but it's better than it was. I'm at least functional enough to try to keep going with my life. That said, there is a HUGE difference between addiction & dependance on pain meds. My body is dependent on pain meds, everyone who takes them for a significant period of time will become dependent on them, but I am NOT addicted. This means that if I were to stop taking my meds suddenly, I would go through physiological withdrawl, but I have no want, no psychological craving for them (quite the opposite in fact). Only a very small fraction of the people taking & being prescribed pain meds for legit pain will become addicted. You may want to search through some of the older threads & read about this. There have been some pretty good discussions about it in the past. This is something that doctors (esp pain management physicians) understand well. You may want to consider voicing your fears to your doctor. I have & I still do and he respects that. I am still constantly looking for ways to get off of this stuff, but for now, I have accepted that this is the only thing that is going to help me keep going & I'm just going to have to deal with it.

Skeye
Posted 3/3/2009 7:43 AM (GMT 0)
Just want to say Hi and welcome you .
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