Today my mother switched from Oxycontin to Opana Comments needed

My mother was switched to Opana 10 mg from Oxycontin 20mg today. The doctor advised her that he would start with 10 mg Opana and possibly proceed to 20 mg Opana to better control her pain. He stated that he wanted to make sure she tolerated the Opana well before proceeding to the 20 mg dosage. Can anyone give me some insight as to how Opana has helped or not helped their chronic pain? After a ten year tenure of being on the 20 mg dosage of OC 20mg she felt that it was not adequately controlling her pain, thus having to use more of her IR Dilaudid for break through pain. I guess I'm hoping to hear good results or even bad results from the switch of the medications and if her tolerance has merely gone up, thus needing more opiate pain medication.

I am taking Opana..... I started with 20mg and found out it wasn't doing the trick of controlling my pain... my Dr. popped me up to the 30mg dose and it did do the trick!

Of course it did not take off all the pain (I don't know if that is possible, at least with me) but I could tell it really was working..... if anyone doesn't think their pain meds are working... stop taking
them for a day.... I was really able to see just how well the Opana worked by doing that! With Opana I am able to function.... and it takes off a big edge.

Right now I just went down to the 20mg again as I want to go off them all together.... once my surgery is over... I go in tomorrow (scared)

For me the good thing about Opana is the "feel good" part of the meds is taken out.... it just works for pain. The bad part is the cost.... $400-$500 a month for me... the rebate card ($30) is only good for 12 months.. that's all... I just called them today.

Another thing I found out is it works for only 5-6 hours and not 12.... I still take 2 a day.

I assume your mother was prescribed the time-release Opana ER. I haven't used that, but have used the immediate release version. So, I'm not sure if my comments will apply, but perhaps they should be kept in mind just in case similar issues arise.

First, the IR version says that you shouldn't take it with meals: 1 hr before or 3hrs after. I found that Opana was sometimes effective, sometimes not at all... and I suspect that had to do with the amount of food in my stomach/proximity to meals. In the case of the ER, the time-release mechanism may balance that out.

Second, it caused both dry mouth and made be urinate frequently. These are common side effects of many opioids, but they were more severe in my case. It would also give me a headache later that day or the next day. I suspect it was due to dehydration.... so I drank more water when I took it -- though that also lead to more urination!

Hopefully, it helps your mother. Though I had some problems with it, my PM said that it typically causes less constipation and other digestive issues than most opioids.