Posted 8/9/2012 5:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi shell, its definitely been a battle, my PM tried to get me cleared for liquid Norco when I first started seeing him, he thought I'd get better absorption from that. He was only able to get approval for a weeks worth, and it did the same as the pills.
I dissolve all my meds before I take them, and they seem to have to level of effect that they're intended to, I've been dealing with a bad shoulder for 15 years, and the Norco still has the same effect on it now, that it did way back then, I've just dealt with it without meds for years, since every job I've had will not allow people to work there if they're on pain meds.
My biggest issue, is I get no longevity from the medication, since my body absorbs it all at once. The meds only last 3 to 4 hours, at the very most, and a lot of times, it's closer to two hours.
My PM has been trying to work with me on it, but he says he wont decrease the increments below 4 times per day on full strength meds, until he finds some kind of medical study to show that its safe to do so. Despite that my bariatric team was at a university, they have no such studies to show that, they said it would take a round the clock control group, receiving medications, and constantly having their blood content checked.
I no that I get zero benefit from extended release tablets, they just dont work, and when I was trying extended release Zyrtec, it wasn't uncommon for me to see the pill intact later on... sorry eeewwww.
Do they have you on omeprasol or some other form of antacid? Your pouch where it meets your sm. bowl is very vulnerable to ulcers. I had one back in '05 at that point, and it bleed horribly for 2 days until they got it codderized. Nine transfusions, 2 weeks in the hospital, and an exploratory to make sure it hadn't leaked into my abdomen. You really need to protect that pouch.
My PM did try the Butrans patch for pain relief, but it just wasn't strong enough, he said the strongest patch is roughly the equivalent of 5mg oxy, which, with Norco for BT actually did OK, well, better than nothing anyways, but the insurance refused to cover it a second time. I wish they would have, because being at a 7 round the clock and 6 with the BT, was way better than where I'm at right now, constantly doing the roller coaster thing between 5, where my current med takes me to, and 9 or 10 when it wears off.
One thing of note, just like any major abdominal surgery, your digestive tract can take a year or longer to learn how to compensate for the new changes. The jadgunum (I think thats how its spelled) is the first part of your sm intestine, and is the section responsible for the bulk of absorption of meds and vitamins and stuff in a normal gut, this section on you with eouxen y has been bypassed, and the rest of your gut has to learn to compensate for that, its the time that it takes to learn compensation thats responsible for the awesome weightloss from the rouxen y.
Your nody will never absorb things normally again, but it will improve with time. You need to make sure your taking extra protein supplements to counteract the extra malabsorbtion which is possible with narcotics that you're taking. My PM has me drinking 1 boost shake every day on top of my normal regiment.
You really need to get with your PM and make sure he's familiar with the malabsorbtion possibility, and that he's taking care.of your needs. Currently, Ive been experimenting (under my PMs advice) with taking a half dose every 3 hours, instead of a whole dose every 6. Seems to be making things a little more bearable. It doesn't work as well as the whole dose, but it's way better than having it completely wear off and not be allowed another pill for 3 hours.
You should let your pm know that your oxy isnt helping, as you lose weight, your metabolism levels will change, and allow your body to develope a tolerance way faster than a normal gut. You might have to do a ween off of them for a while after your weightloss stabilizes to get your tolerance back down. Or you might have to get a stronger med to compensate. But that would all be up to you and your pm on what you want to do.
My PM was looking into a fentynol patch for me, but insurance wont cover it until after my back surgery next month, they think pre-surgery use is off label use and deny all off label use of any meds. Ugh.
Well I hope your able to pull some kind of info out of that some how. Sorry for rambling all over the map there. If I didn't cover something let me know, I could almost write a book on my own experience with the rouxen y, its been a pretty crazy journey for me, but well worth it, my starting weight was 401lbs, today I weigh 165. And I'm alive, which is by far better than the alternative lol.