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Opana was godsend until tolerance buildup.

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 7/22/2010 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
I have been a CP suffer for the last 27 years. I am 51 and it was a work related accident. I go to a great pain clinic and I am prescribed Opana ER 40 and oxycodone 15 for BT pain. I started on Opana several years ago and it worked like a miracle for me. I was able to do more than I had done in years. However. the last year has seen a dramatic decline in it's effectiveness. I made the decision to go cold turkey for 6 days to see if the level of relief would be returned to it's previous level. I tapered off of the medication and now I am on my 2nd day of no medication. I am feeling poorly, as I expected and I can't get out of bed because of the pain. But I am hopeful that at the end I will be able to return to my previous dosage and previous level of pain relief. Does anyone have any experience with this or advise. Thanks.
Posted 7/22/2010 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hello CP27Y,

Welcome to HealingWell!!!! I think almost all of us can relate to the problem of tolerence. I hope your under a doctor's care and he/she is helping you thru this. We're not doctor's here, so we can't give out medical advise, but we can support you. Did your doctor not give you any medications to help with the withdrawals? Their are some medications out there that can help with withdrawals, comfort meds. Either way, if your suffering alot, and your doctor had you taper off of your meds, then you need to call them and tell them what's going on.

Some people here take a holiday away from their pain meds to avoid tolerence, but they do it under a doctor surpervision. You should never do this on your own, it can be dangerous. You can become dehydrated very easily, so all I can say is drink lots of fluids and get in with your doctor right away.

-kitty
Posted 7/23/2010 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for info. No, this is on my own. While the clinic is helpful I have learned after 27 years that when your medication stops working well and you complain they tend to become suspicious. I have been to dozens of doctors, all one after the other, no doctor shopping. Anyway you did mention that there are others who have taken medication holidays. Once they return to the regime is the pain relief improved? I'm not asking for medical advise per se, more personal antidotes concerning the effectiveness of their medication once they have cleared out those receptors. Thanks again.
Posted 7/23/2010 3:46 AM (GMT 0)
My understanding is that usually when this is done, it is really a moot point, since once you return to the same medications, a person goes right back to their previous dose. I know that some doctors will change meds around a bit to avoid tolerance issues and I believe that is supposed to be better than going off your current meds and then returning to them in a few weeks.
I could be wrong though I don't think that most doctors use this method of trying to avoid tolerance issues.
If you have been on Opana all of this time ( I thought Opana was a relatively new medication when I tried it a couple of years ago), tolerance is part and parcel of having to take opiate pain meds long term.
Best wishes to you,
Sandi
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