Pain killers???

Just wondering if anyone has been or is on any pain killers for the pain you have with CD.  I just got back from the hosptial and was pumped with dilaudid when i needed it..omg was it good! but when they switched me to oral pain killers nothing helped..oxocodone, perciset (spelled wrong!), and all those others ones! so now im home and on the duragesic patch (fatanyl) which is a narcotic that releases a constant stream of meds for 3 days...its used for pple who have moderate to severe pain and can handle opiates..its usually used on cancer patients..and of course i know im going to have to wean off of it, im sure in a few weeks it wont even work for me anymore..i used to be afraid to take drugs like that, but now the stronger the better!!! im just hoping that when i go off of it, i dont have the pain anymore..thats all im worried about...

Audrey

i totally know what you are talking about...and i was told about how pple with this disease often end up abusing pain killers...yeah i can see why...dilaudid was the best...it just made everything go away...but of course i know that i cant take that all the time (and thru IV, the best way to take it!!!!) and that it doesnt work after awhile, which is what happened to me while in the hospital..i made myself cut it cold turkery the last night i was there...i hate these pain killers...u just get so used to them they dont work and then u want a higher dose and then u want more and more..and then well ur addicted and a freeking druggie..i dont want to be like that...but its hard not to when its the only thing u think about..but i think im strong enough to find other things that will give me that high in life, things that i used to do and loved so much doing...i just dont want to be in pain anymore...ughhh

Ultracet helps me a lot. Percocet lost its effect until I went in to the hospital again last time and had a few things done. Then it made me feel pretty darn good.

Not prescribed right now since I go to a kid GI still, BUT I do take percs and OC occanisly and I love the pain free state it gives me for the 4 hours. When I get a new adult doc im going to milk them for percs and xanax

i was diagnosed last week with crohns. i've been having stomach pains and problems for years, and was hospitalized 2x (ER 3 total, once sent home) this year for it. In the hospital i was on IV dilaudid, and they wanted to switch me to vicodin. My crohns is different than the typical patient as acetomenophen hurts my stomach as opposed to nsaids, so i wanted a painkiller without acetomenophen. I've been put on ultram and oxyIR (oxycontin, 5mg, but instant release in capsule form) until i get to the specialist and i'll know by then what i'm going to need to take beside pentasa and the steroids. I'm in a lot of pain, and i always have been, i just hope i can stay on one of the pain meds cuz i'm young and my teeth arent so good so people always assume i'm an addict of some type. Ive felt for years life wasnt fair to me because of my mysterious gut ailments but if i can get on top of it and be prescribed painkillers for the pain, ill be much happier and not because i enjoy the side effects of PKs. OxyIR really helps me feel no pain, and the ultram gives it a boost.

//@.@\\'... Well, I can see how abusing pain-killers could happen... if you start taking pain medicine when you're not in pain (It always feels good not to be in pain, but I think I must be a weakling because I get side-effects from the stuff that works, usually nausea... So, I don't understand how someone could take them when they don't need them)...

I understand about not wanting to be in pain, anymore... The pain does go away but sometimes it comes back (maybe after a week, a month, a year, or years).... Or sometimes, you'll have intermittent pain while trying to get into remission.... "Good days" and "bad days"...

Anyway, you should be glad you're getting pain medicine... My doctor was afraid of even giving me Darvocet when I was first diagnosed because he was afraid I'd get hooked (but I could get diuladad when I was in the hospital) (and I don't have an addictive personality, no smoking, no alcohol, no other drugs)... Seems a lot of doctors are like that from what I can tell on this forum... *It sucks that pain medicine is addictive... I wish it wasn't so doctors would prescribe it to you when you need it*

Anyway... Have you tried checking your diet? Perhaps you're eating things that are excaberating your symptoms and inhibiting your pain medicine from working...

As a general rule, avoid spicy foods and seeds and nuts...

percocet is oxycodone 5mg/acetomenaphen 350mg. most crohns patients have trouble with NSAIDS from what i read, but i have trouble with acetomenaphen so they prescribed me percocet minus the cet (acetomanaphen), and in instant release form which is commonly known as oxyIR (actual prescription from doc said oxycontin IR). BE WARNED. i've not even been on oxycodone a week and i'm starting to see how the pull of it could potentially make addiction easy if you haven't got the self discipline. it makes almost all my stomach pains subside within 20 minutes of ingesting, and the reason i'm weary of addiction is that i'm watching the clock toward the last hour or so waiting for that 6th hour to roll up so that i can allow the pain to subside again. its not recreational effects i seek that have me afraid of addiction, its the percentage of relief achieved through my oxyIR that i can see being hard to break. I'm going to my GI doctor and family doctor today because i had to call off work for the 8th day out of the past 11 work days and i'm going to try to be taken off my instant feel better pill just because i do expect to have to deal with some degree of pain daily with my crohns and i don't want to spoil myself into addiction because i was informed on a post i had made that not only do GI docs tend to keep pain meds out of the equation but also people with crohns are easily caught up in the addictive mix of pain medications. whether its because they have addictive personalities or whether its because they just want to feel normal i cannot tell you as i've known since thursday i have crohns. i've been told i can probably expect to not be on medications once the healing process has taken effect between flare ups and i await those days with high hopes and a heavy heart. i feel badly for you all who share my disease and i pray you all the best. and thank you especially to those of you who take the time to post in these forums, the internet is a great resource and i've learned more here than i have through the doctors to date. thank you all for your time, and continue to educate the poor uninformed individuals like me who are fresh to the crohns scene.

I never take pain killers. They may be a good choice for some people, but I don't like them. I don't like they way they make me feel. I have a very low tolerance to them and they make me feel foggy, groggy and slow. I have fistulizing Crohn's and am in pain every day, but I prefer the pain to being zonked by meds. I don't have a tolerance for alcohol, either. Haven't had any in over ten years. When I'm in a lot of pain I just try to go home and rest and sleep. Usually a day or two of liquid diet will help too.

Not saying that pain meds aren't for everyone. I know lots of people can handle and they are lifesavers, that's just not the case for me.

Best of luck to you

The real problem with any kind of opiate for relief of chronic pain is that after you take it for a while, the effectiveness diminishes and the dose has to be increased. Then you habituate to the new dose and it has to be raised again. Eventually you can get to the point where the medication can't be increased without killing you, and then you are pretty much out of luck for any really severe pain episodes - like after surgery, etc.

That's another reason (in addition to the danger of dependency/addiction) that docs really don't like to prescribe opiates (Percodan, Percocet, Oxys, Lortab, Tylenol with codeine, etc.) for chronic pain.

I have a love/hate relationship with pain meds. I am going thru withdrawals right now from Fentanyl Patches and Oxycodone. It's the hardest thing I have ever done! And that's saying allot since I've had Crohn's for 24 years now. I needed the pain meds. I was justified in taking them, but my body became dependant on them. For months now, I have been weaning down slowly at first from 100mcg to 75mcg then to 50mcg then to 25mcg and now I'm only taking oxy if I need it. I'm not doing this alone...my doctor is in control of all of it. I have to admit though that I always have pain pills available if case I need them. I never run out. I don't take them for pleasure. I don't share with anyone. I keep them for that day in the future when I will need them. Because I know with this disease, I will need relief at some point.
I feel for all of you that do not get relief from your doctors. I understand why they want to treat the cause of the pain, but until they find the true cause we need help dealing with how bad it hurts. I wish more doctors would understand that.
Good luck to all who are hurting.

I can't tolerate pain medicines. They make me too "loopy," and give me anxiety. I just take Tylenol. I wish there was something that helped a little better than Tylenol, without side effects......

I got fentanyl by IV patient prescribed pain button. One dose every six minutes. I was on it for 9 weeks straight. It was addicting. I went through a bit of withdrawal but I got better. I wish you could just look the doc in the eye, say, "I am actually hurting. Don't punish me because there people who abuse pain medications." Compared to withdrawal, being in constant pain isn't worth it. I've figured out most of my triggers (not excusing the ones that flare up because I eat it two days in a row). But, I've come to the conclusion that there's no way to win against pain if all the normal options don't work or irritate the situation. I will not allow myself to ever become addicted to pain meds. My aunt died of an accident overdose...she was a drug addict and it was working. I spent too much time disgusted by her to ever become like her. But doctors don't take the time to realize that.

For me its all one big cycle anyway. Stress causes pain and discomfort which in turn are the causes of my flares and the medication for that as you all know is way worse than any painkiller. True, they trigger the source of the problem instead of temp relief, but just maybe sometimes I believe that giving your body what you feel it needs at the time..wether that be any type of painkiller which lowers your stress levels, or anything else might actually prevent things from getting worse! It all depends though..you really got to try to be balanced I guess.

I just had a talk w/ my doc letting her know that OTC Tylenol was having absolutely no effect on my body aches and lower back pain, and since of course i can't take nsaid's I go through the entire day in pain sometimes without taking anything, or until the pain gets so bad I have to take my Tylenol w/ coedine. Either way I can only go through so many hours with pain before not caring about anything but some sort of relief. I'm running out of the coedine though, and she had mentioned something starting with an N I believe thats typically known for arthritis pain...? I forgot and I don't even know why she would give me that. Anybody have any idea what it might be??