Oxycodone/Naloxone

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has been on an Oxycodone/Naloxone CR medication (here in Australia it's called 'Targin', don't know what it might be called. My GI specialist has suggested I talk to my PM about using it in place of my Oxycontin because of how much worse the Oxy is making my gastroparesis so much worse, but my pain is so severe now that going without it or even dropping the dose back just isn't an option. The naloxone in the Targin is meant to reduce the side effects without compromising pain relief.

would appreciate any feedback :)

Laura

Hi Laura, I am sorry I cant give you any information, but I wanted to say Hi, and see how you were doing, I hope you are feeling better and continue to.  I also hope and pray you get the information you need.

take care baby girl, I continue to pray for you,

Kathy

I really hope you can get funding for this, I pay the 250 bucks for a months worth, almost did not fill the Rx because of the cost.

Uggh... well I don't know that I'm a fan. I started lunch time yesterday, so I've had four doses in place of the Oxycontin. I know the naloxone is only meant to act locally, but I feel very much like I'm getting opiate withdrawal going on here. I've got crampy legs, crampy stomach/gut and sweats, which is what happens every time I get too sick to keep my Oxy down and start going into withdrawal from that :( Pain relief isn't too great either - and I've gone from 30mg of Oxy 3 x daily to 40/20mg Targin 3 x daily.

Message has been left for my doctor :(

Hi No-Relief - I'm well aware of what the difference between the two drugs and what they do :)

The naloxone in Targin isn't intended to work systemically. I'm not 100% sure of the pharmacokinetics, but it's formulated so that it's only supposed to block opiate receptors in the GI tract to reduce opiate-induced constipation in particular. My GI specialist wanted me to try it because I have severe gastroparesis exacerbated by Oxycontin. The only way Targin should (in theory) be able to cause withdrawal would be if it's misused - e.g. crushing the tablets. This is one of the reasons it looks so good as a new pain med because of the reduced potential for abuse c.f. Oxycontin. And it's why I can't understand feeling as though I am getting withdrawal symptoms.

I am a newbi her, so 1st. i'd like to say hi to everyone. I can't find much info on here about Targin & everything I have seen is a couple of years old. I was on Oxycontin since 2001, then my PM. & GP. made me go on methadone ( which I hate for so many reasons), so I changed doctors, after weeks of hell. Now I'm seeing my partners' doctor. The 1st.time I saw him, my partner came in with me as he & the doctor get on very well & my partner is also on Oxycontin. The doctor asked if I wanted the old Oxycontin or the new one that just had something extra added to stop constipation. I was suspicious about what this extra drug in them was, but my partner had to pipe up & say that I should get them if they don't cause constipation, so I felt I had to say ok to the new one (Targin), or the doctor would think I was abusing Oxycontin. I'm so paradoid about asking for them now with all the addicts using them now.

As soon as I got them & saw they had Naloxone in them, I was too scared to take them. So my partner gave me his old Oxycontin to use for a few days & he used the Targin. The !st 2 days he took them, he said he was constipated, & he usually went to the toilet 2-3 a morning. Also, he said they didn't do much for his pain either. So the next day, about 5 hours after having 80 mlgs Oxycontin, I finally tried a Targin. I didn't break it or chew it, just took it how your supposed to, & an hour later I was going into withdrawals. A few days later all the Oxycontins were gone & my pain was so bad, I took 4 Targin throughout the day & all day I was sick with bad withdrawals & the pain was getting worse. So we went back to the doctor & told him what the Targin did to us (though my partner didn't get withdrawals) & I asked if I could get some Oxycontin. He changed me over to them. The next time I saw him, I went in without my partner, he was really nasty to me.(He told me when I 1st saw him that he could only give me 2-40 mlgs a day & had to very slowly put me up to my usual dose of 5-40mlgs a day or the Health Dept. would cut me off ).

I asked him how long before my dose could go up a little & he said "oh, your dose isn't going up, I'm going to detox you". I asked what I was supposed to take for the pain & he said "nothing. If you go to Pain Management they will tell you to take a panadol & go home". He gave me a script for Oxycontin, & a hateful look. I left in total shock, slamming the door behind me. When I saw him again yesterday, my partner was with me again & he told the doctor that 2-40mlgso oowasn't enough for me & I needed atleast 3 a day as my pain gets so bad & sometimes I can't even walk. The doctor ignored me the whole time, but gave me a script for 3 a day this time.

I feel like every doctor thinks I'm abusing Oxycontin as I have a very high tolerence (I have to take a Temazepam every time I have an Oxycontin or they do nothing for the pain) & I'm a skinny person. As for Targin, I think the Naloxone in them blocks the receptors in some peoples brain & not others. I was wondering if it could possibly have anything to do with your weight, or maybe your tolerence level. How many people get this problem, apart from CRPS patient & me. Could some more of you on this stuff please give me your opinion of it please? By the way, my pain comes from having blocked arteries in both legs. I've had by-pass surgery, using synthetic grafts, twice & another operation where they tried to insert something into a section of my artery to widen it but it didn't work as my veins & arteries are so narrow. My surgeon said nothing more could be done for me. Sorry, this is so long with no paragraphs in it, but I haven't worked out how to put paraghps in yet.

I've edited your post to include paragraphs. Just press ENTER/RETURN after each paragraph to add spaces. Please do make an effort to do this as many of have eye tracking issues. Thanks, Laura

Post Edited By Moderator (CRPSpatient) : 1/30/2013 9:14:33 PM (GMT-7)

If the oxy is damaging your GI tract, perhaps you would be better off not taking any oral medications at all. Has your doctor ever talked to you about a patch instead of pills? Sounds like you are on a high dose of oxy atm so I would imagine the only patch you would be using would be a Fentanyl patch. I was having problems with my liver/kidneys because of my long-acting morphine about 7 months ago so my doctor switched me over to the patch and it works much better and I dont have to ever remember to take pills or worry that they will damage any organs.

Just a thought.

Hi Crps and sorry to see your having such a time. I have to say that anytime you enter Nathan into the mix the game has to change. No matter whether it's designed to work locally versus systemically it's still going to cause some degree of w/d in opiate tolerant ppl.

They had the very same problems with the talwin years ago and eventually no one took it and drs stopped prescribing it. Not sure if it's even still on the market and it was a very good pain med but had Avery high abuse rate as this was back in the rise of heroin so it was being used as an IV med and alot of ods attributed to it.

There was talk that nucynta would become the only Oxy available at some point and that's scary but not far fetched. With all the war on drugs going on. What I'm trying to point out is it happened with the talwin and can certainly happen again with oxy.