HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

what pain medication works best for you

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/28/2009 8:14 AM (GMT 0)
I am currently taking vicoprofen 200.-7.5 my tab works ok but I feel like I need something stronger. I was taking oxycodone 5 mg, they stopped working. I wanna ask my doc for something else but I don't know of I should and I don't know what else is stronger
Posted 7/28/2009 9:03 AM (GMT 0)
I take hydrocodone 10's 3 x daily as needed. I also take 5 neurontin (1 moning 1 afternoon 3 night), and 1 librax before each meal. Please be careful in the amount and type of medication that you take for your pain, but please do not needlessly suffer like I did for so long due to my pride. Many people here have chosen to see a pain management specialist or do like i do and have your primary care treat it. I only recommend the latter option if your doctor is an internist and is really proficient in treat chronic pain and will not just throw oxycontin at it to begin with. I would also hesitate requesting a certain medication and dosage from you doctor because you are really running the risk of appearing as a drug seeker. Nearly all of us here have been treated like this at the E.R. or hospital at one time or another and it is not a pleasant feeling. It also does nothing for your credibility. My suggestion would be to let you doctor know that the oxycodone is not effective anymore and ask what you options are to achieving some pain relief again. Be upfront with you doctor about the level of your pain but don't dramatize it just to get a different medication.(this does happen) I always let me doctor know that the last thing that I want to do is become addicted and lose our relationship of trust. Of course, you will become dependant on the medication but this is not addicted. Also make sure that your doctor understands that you understand thay you know that you will never be 100% pain free but that you want to be able to live life and be able to function. Good luck.
Posted 7/28/2009 9:43 AM (GMT 0)
I couldn't put that any better becuase in the hospital I needed dilauded becuase morphine wasn't working and they thought I was going to get addicted but I'm a strong person mentally so that won't happen but I also get immune to the medication quick . But I am going to tell him that I just want to function.

*Sorry I had to edit your post due to rule #2

2. No discussion of medical marijuana use.

Post Edited By Moderator (Nanners) : 7/28/2009 7:23:36 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/28/2009 1:25 PM (GMT 0)
I used Vicodin for my pain for many years and about 2 years ago had to change to Percoset 5-325 mg. It seems to work well for most of my pain.

What do you think is causing you so much pain? Is it the Crohns arthritis or is it stomach issues? I ask because I am wondering with you being in so much pain if you aren't on the right Crohns meds to help. My pain is from Osteoarthritis and Fibro, just to give you an idea of why I take my pain meds.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*
Posted 7/28/2009 1:54 PM (GMT 0)
I was give Ultram, which is a morphine-like drug that doesn't have the same addictive properties as other narcotics. But this really wasn't working, and I called my doctor to see if he could give me something else to help. He put in a script for Lortab 10, and they have worked very well, except they sometimes cause nausea, so I have to take some phenergan from time to time. I have occasional belly pain, but my pain source of chronic pain is low-back and muscle and joint pain in my hips and legs. I have yet to see a rheumy because my GI said there wasn't much they could do for me (I'm on all the med's they would use for arthritis). So basically I would just need the rheumy for a diagnosis- but I do need to go, because if I want pain relief, that is the person I would need to discuss it with, ultimately.
Posted 7/28/2009 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
Well it's been five months and I'm still taking pentasa/ 6mp/ prednisone. I'm trying to get humira . I don't think i have arthritis yet but it's the stomach issues. It just doesn't let me function
Posted 7/28/2009 5:20 PM (GMT 0)
Have you tried any of the antispasmotics for your stomach? Like Bentyl, Levsin or Librax? These work really well to stop the cramps that Crohns can cause. I have been using Librax the past few days and it seems to be helping alot. Good luck!
Posted 7/28/2009 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
If Im in the hospital I need IV Dilaudid  (Morphine doesnt touch my pain).  Outside the hospital Ive been given Diluadid in pill form, and also Percocets work for me.

Posted 7/28/2009 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
They put me on Tramadol for awhile. I had nausea pretty bad and some severe headaches when I was on it. Ignored it...'cause it did help a bit with pain. Not so much...but hey...nothing does much.

Then I was on Hydrocodone...which I'm still on. It doesn't cover all the pain. It's...about...50% with the Lyrica adding in its 50%. No...it doesn't equal 100. Basically...the Lyrica helps...but I can still feel...flashes? of nerve pain in my hands and feet. The pain meds...meh...they do their fifty of the pain that's left over. So...after those...there's still a whole lot of pain. I've tried to tell my dr. about it...but...eh. The only time...I really dislike it...is when I have to work...like today. So save two of my three pain meds...and take two an hour or so before I work...and one afterward. It's the only way I'll survive working four hours.

As for all types of pain meds...well, they had me on Demerol for a few weeks...and that stuff's wild. Tears the hell out of your veins though. I was on Fentanyl for about 9 weeks straight...on a patient pain button. That stuff was something else too. I would be right out of surgery and walking around like I hadn't had anything. Jumping around...basically MOVING like surgery hadn't occurred (least until the 3rd surgery in 3 months). Felt that 3rd. Then they had me on muscle relaxers, pain meds, until I forgot a whole day passed. Which was GOOOOOD. 'Cause apparently I was hurting so bad 'cause my female time had started during intestinal surgery. I started begging them to kill me. Yeah...that one was bad bad bad pain.

Dilaudid. What can I really say about the stuff? I was on it with my last surgery but I sure don't remember it. I came out of more intestinal surgery where they removed gallbladder and scraped an abscess off my ovary....about a week later LOL. Honestly...it's the only time I lost a week. They gave me that stuff at a different hospital in a different state when I needed gallbladder removed...after they'd been pushing morphine on me all day...and I kept puking all day. They don't listen when you say "no morphine...it'll make me sick". So then they switched me to dilaudid and I didn't puke anymore. That last surgery....was awful. I had pneumonia when I woke up too. They made me do that breathy thing...where it makes you cough up the stuff. I hated them for that. You know...a brand new cut-line...that's 3 inches longer then all the others...'cause it took your gallbladder too...its waaaaaaaaaaaay up your stomach and they PURPOSELY make you cough. Bad doctors. Finally...a nurse told me to keep pumping the pain button while I do the breathy thing. Which I did...and then they removed it the next day. Nice of them. So I quit taking the breathy thing. I coughed plenty of the pneumonia crap out by then.
Posted 7/28/2009 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
I was on 3x10mg lortab a day, then went to 2x5mg lortab last infusion visit. It sucks the 10mg were barely doing enough and the 5mg do nothing. I also take bentyl but they kind of make me feel stupid. Since then I have been eating healthier and taking supplements to help ease the pain naturally by being as healthy as possible. I'm in pain all the time but, I really don't need to be taking stronger narcotics and then when I'm older and need them they won't work since I'm only 23, I keep telling myself this because I have alot of respect for my G.I (he's the one that took down the pain meds and told me this) and trust what he is doing. I'm disappointed at rule #2, I would love to have a discussion (I don't smoke) but, rules are rules.
Posted 7/28/2009 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
Bentyl has done nothing for me.

I was on Lortab liquid & pills, 750s. Came off them cuz I had been on them a long time & was told by a couple docs that's not good.

I would love some pain meds that work but don't cause other problems. I have been having A LOT of abdominal pain around my belly button as of late.

I was on amptrytaline for nerve pain (I also have spondylolethsis & EDS) but it didn't work at all, just helped me sleep. They wanted to try Cymbalta, but insurance doesn't cover it & it's expensive.

I would be interested to discuss #2 as well.
Posted 7/30/2009 5:56 AM (GMT 0)
darn I feel forbyou joie1 . seems like you went thru alot I'm glad you shared that with us . I think I'm going to stay on the pains meds I have now. If my doc said to not take pain meds I would listen to him cuz sometimes you just can do anything it makes me grumpy sometimes but there are days were I don't needem which is gr8t and smoking gives me heartburn if you know what type of smoke I'm talkin bout LOL cuz even the nurse at the docs office suggested it. But one thing is pain is no joke ya digg LOL have abpaim free summer everybody
Posted 7/30/2009 6:24 PM (GMT 0)
Ultram, Lortab, Morphine . . .these work for me. We are all individuals so what works for you, may not work for me! Good Luck and I hope you can find out why you are in constant pain.
Posted 7/30/2009 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
Morphine Sulfate works for me, and it's common, easy to find, in pharmacies, and hospitals.
Posted 7/31/2009 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
Wish I had some of that Morphine last night.  Fortunately, the Lortab worked and I didn't need to go to the ER.  UGH!!! 
Posted 7/31/2009 9:35 PM (GMT 0)
See I would try that morphine sulfate but I can't just ask my doctor for it.
Posted 8/6/2009 6:17 AM (GMT 0)
After many visits to the ER for my CD the best thing that worked for my pain was:

 

DDDDIIIIIIILLLLAAAAUUUUUUDDDDIIIIIDDDD!!!!!

 

Thank goodness they even sent me home with some to keep on hand!

Posted 8/6/2009 11:30 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a fan of dilaudid, too, for when the pain is completely out of control. My family doctor knows and trusts me and I was surprised at the amount she prescribed for me after I was released from the ER a while ago. I'm even more surprised that my insurance covered it.

I have spinal stenosis, and for chronic pain I use the patches, but my insurance company will give me only a month's worth at a time, and no refills. I can't help but wonder why they filled more than one prescription for dilaudid, the last one for 60! I'm allowed to use darvocet along with the patches. That's pretty mild but it doesn't give me the side effects that percocet did. I reserve dilaudid for when it's time to bring out the big guns, like kidney stone or severe CD.
Posted 8/6/2009 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
I guess acetaminophen works best for me because my doctor said to avoid NSAIDs and won't prescribe me anything else.
Posted 8/6/2009 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
Gden,

GI's are notorious for not prescribing pain meds. Many of us have to go to either our family docs or pain mgmt clinics to get our pain meds.

Good luck!
Posted 8/6/2009 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
I don't have severe pain, but sometimes when I am having some spasms or I am really uncomfortable I take a Xanax at night. I know it is not a pain med, but it relaxes me enough so I can fall asleep.
Posted 8/7/2009 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
I use 150mcg transdermal patch of Fentynal and for breakthrough I use 6 - 30mg oxycodones so a day I take the 150mcg of fent and 180mv of oxycodone, but I believe I will be talking to my dr about the oxycodone, Id rather take something else that I dont have to take so much of that, Its not working well for me anymore.

Dalaudid IV works well for me, but has to be about 3 or 4 times the amount everyone else gets. IM or through the muscle doesnt help me at all, and neither do the pill form of dalaudid, dont know why. Demeral doesnt work for me well, neither does darvocet. Morphine and morphine based drugs make me feel like my skin is crawling, or like i'm claustraphobic. Opana, which is I guess a few years old now, when I took it it was only a month or two out on the market, but it worked well, supposed ot last 24 hours for one pill also, its oxy-morphone. Vicodin doesnt really help me, and really neither does the percocet unless its just oxycodone, I cant handle the tylenol. Methadone works REALLY well also, my BIG issue with methodone is...say you have to go to the ER, I have to take Dalaudid IV, well if I'm taking methodone regularly at home, then the dalaudid doesnt seem to help, nor does any other narcotic. Which is the point of the methodone. Its released in the GI tract instead of going through the liver and it blocks narcotics from working. But also is a quite strong narcotic in its own right, just has draw backs if you have to go to the ER for pain.
Posted 8/7/2009 2:45 PM (GMT 0)
Crohnspatient,

I was just wondering what type of pain you are having that is causing you to use such strong pain meds. Most of us don't need this strong of meds, but I do understand that some with other issues do require the use of these stronger meds. So just curious why you use such strong meds.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*
Posted 8/8/2009 5:12 PM (GMT 0)
I carry a bottle of Hydrocodone in my purse at all times - it doesn't remove the pain but it dulls it. I honestly rely on Ibuprofen for most of my issues - which right now is almost all joint pain. My GI prescribes my pain meds.

When in the hospital, I'm a happy camper with morphine.
Posted 8/8/2009 6:01 PM (GMT 0)
I take so much just from tolerance. So many ER visits, Admittances, or surgeries. I was taking 2-60mg oxycontin along with the 6-30mg oxycodone but medicare decided that after almost a year that they ddint want to pay for all of the oxycontin anymore and recomended that they would pay for fentynal my dr looked it up which would work better fo rme because if i flared i'd not be able to keep down my oxycontin then i'd start to wirhdraw so he agreed with the fentynal and the equavalent of the 2-60mg oxy's a day was 150mcg of fentyna so I take either 2-75mcg's or 1-100mcg and 1-50mcg patch. seems to work well for me. I really wish I could go back ot the oringinal days of just taking like a 5mg vicodin but anything less and i dont really get relief. Its not like Im even getting 100 percent relief now, which you arent supposed to, its to manage your pain and get you as close as possible to your pre-illness life. All I can say I guess is it works for me at htis moment in my life. But I would say the Iv narcotics on top of the at home meds definetly gave me quite a tolerance. plus as I said I cant handle things morphine based, so that counted out a complete family of medicines. And the dalaudid is 10 times the stength. Which is why fentynal doses are so small. the 100mcg is something like 10.24mg of narcotic, because its 80 times stronger then morphine.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12