new med

Hi Skeeter!

And welcome to the CP Family. This truly is a family of caring and wonderful people as I'm sure you'll find out. I'm sorry you are suffering with ruptured disks. I have 1+ in my lower back and I can imagine what you are going through.

I haven't heard of this medication so I'm very glad you posted about it. Thanks to mrsm123 for the link. I decided to post some information in the thread for those who want a quick look at this medication. I would like to find something different than what I'm taking and this might be something to ask my doctor about. The only drawback I have read about that concerns me is that the price may be artificially high because the FDA classed it as a II. I hope this new medication will be useful and available to more people.

Thanks again!
Chutz

Below is information I gleaned from wikipedia and other sites about Nycynta (Tapentadol).

"Tapentadol (trade name Nucynta) is a centrally-acting analgesic with a dual mode of action as an agonist and as a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. While its action reflects aspects of tramadol and morphine its ability to kill pain is more on the order of hydrocodone and oxycodone. Tapentadol is a new molecular entity that is structurally similar to tramadol (Ultram). It has opioid and nonopioid acitivity in a single compound.

Tapentadol is FDA approved for the treatment of moderate to severe acute pain. Due to the dual mechanism of action as an opioid agonist and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, there is potential for off label use in chronic pain.

Doctors use serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in chronic pain management to increase the effectiveness of opioids and, to a lesser extent, NSAIDs (along with other analgesics) against neuropathic pain and from certain specific contributing causes such as fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy. One selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) often used as an adjunct, atypical & potentiator is duloxetine (Cymbalta). Another opioid with selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor effects is levorphanol (Levo-Dromoran).

Its dual mode of action provides analgesia at similar levels of more potent narcotic analgesics such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and meperidine with a more tolerable side effect profile."

.....On 23 June 2009, after having received approval from the FDA and DEA, tapentadol became available for prescription on the US market. It is available in immediate-release oral doses of 50, 75, and 100 mg.

..... The preliminary information available from clinical use as well as close pharmacodynamic similarities with the class prototype drug tramadol indicate that tapentadol has a relatively limited potential for abuse, dependency and addiction compared to other strong opioid medications. The decision of the US DEA to place tapentadol into Schedule II, the same category as the most powerful and frequently abused narcotics, such as morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl, could therefore be seen as overly cautious. This highly restricted classification will likely drive the cost of tapentadol up and place unnecessarily high scrutiny on its clinical use, decreasing availability, inhibiting physicians from prescribing it and ultimately leaving patients that could benefit from its effects insufficiently treated. The DEA rarely (if ever) "down-grades" drugs placed in Schedule II into lower categories based upon empirical evidence, making it unlikely that tapentadol will see widespread utilization in the near future. "