Best Pain meds?

I have a doctors appt on Thursday and currently I have nothing for pain. I am tapering down on my prednisone right now and am finally at 5mg. I also am on imuran and nexium. Any ideas on what the best pain med I can ask for is?

To me, Vicodin IS something stronger but I guess that all depends on your experiences. My daughter uses hyoscyamine, and it does help.

If you're having so much pain, perhaps you need to re-consider tapering off the prednisone, and up the dosage to bring down the inflammation and then try to wean off the pred again. It sounds to me like your flare up may still be going on, and continuing to taper the pred may make you worse. The pain med is just going to mask the pain, not heal the inflammation. I am not saying you don't need pain meds, I'm just saying that it maybe prudent to address the cause of the pain as well.

My husband has used loratab (5 - 7.5 mgs) for pain as needed when he's had a rough time, if tylenol is not working enough to control the pain.

Hope you get to feeling pain free soon.

PV

Thanks to all replys. I forgot to mention I have a really high tolernance to pain meds. A vicodin is like taking a tylenol to me. And I build a resistance really fast. I have a feeling that my doc will want me back on the pred but I just feel like Why would I keep taking it if it doesnt seem to be helping me? Ugh I dont know anymore.

I have used all of these in the past (generally I try to aviod long term pain killers after needing them for surgery), but I will say it is highly dependent on you.

Tramadol is another opiod. Because I take codeine daily for diarrhea I find most painkillers useless - even pethedine didn't completely get rid of the pain and wore off after just 3 hours during my last flare. Tramadol I find does help if I'm in mild pain but thats mostly because it knocks me out lol.

I use an old narcotic medication that apparently isn't used much anymore since I have had to get it ordered for me at times. It's called Talwin NX but some people can't tolerate it. I also use hydrocodone (generic for Vicodin and Lorcet) at times. But I agree with tsitodawg as to approaching the doctor. Just let him know that OTC isn't cutting it.

As to whether your pain is an indicator of needing to go back up on prednisone, that will depend on whether the pain is from something like the inflammation or from something that doesn't come and go such as scarring, adhesions, or nerve pain. I live with constant chronic pain and it doesn't matter where I am on prednisone or other steroids any longer. It's always with me and pain meds only make it a bit more tolerable.

There's nothing wrong with using narcotic pain meds for real pain and this disease causes real physical pain.

Tramadol is NOT an NSAID. Nor is it an Opioid. Its a synthetic pain med that functions similar to Opiate narcotics, but it isn't one. Works for some pain, but not others ( Stones!!) in my case. But like many meds dependecy can happen.
If you ask me, it is almost an anti-histamine.
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Make sure you tell your doctor what kind of pain you are having, too.
One note on the downside: Many Gastro's will NOT prescribe pain meds, at least Old School.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I think it depends alot on what your pain is (hard tissues/soft tissue, etc issues). I wonder what is going on that you have pain issues. Granted this disease alone can do it. But if it is new, I wonder if something is going on.

My paperwork says vicodin is 6 times stronger than codeine thus 30mg of codeine is equivelent to 5 mg of vicodin. Mathew is right tramadol is no longer considered an opioid. Tramadol is equivelent in strength to codeine. Above vicodin on my list is morphine at 10 times the strength of codeine and oxycodone at 15-20 times stronger than codeine. I agree with Debilitated that a good choice is fentanyl which is 500-1000 times stronger than codeine and is very adjustable strength wise. I aslo agree to approach a Dr. with a certain drug in mind is asking for trouble. I gave these equivelencies so you'd be more informed. Tread lightly. Good luck, I truely hope your pain can be controlled much more effectively, nobody deserves to be in bad pain if treatment is reasonable.

I hope you can get your pain under control. I know it's hard for some to understand just how bad it can be, but many of us know and have empathy.

Some of us have to manage, with our doctors' oversight, the chronic pain that debilitates us. Not all my pain has to do with my Crohn's, but it's chronic and I have to have something to be able to function. It's not a sign of weakness of mind to need strong meds, but of damage to body. I've been in pain for over 25 years on a daily basis and it has worn me down these last few years. I spent about 18 years not taking anything for pain, but I can no longer do that.

My PCP oversees my pain management. All doctors are different on their take of pain management, but it is a legitimate concern for the chronically ill.

hi,
sounds like a lot of people are in a lot of pain with their IBD and often the doctors don't appear to understand. I too, like JaSanna have been in pain of varying degrees for the last 28yrs. I remember when i was first diagnosed with Uc and then more recently CD, the doctors were incredulous when i said that i had terrible back pain which they then realised was referred pain from my bowel. Now i have pain in all my joints, the only pain free areas are the space between mid thigh and ankle. The rest of my body is always sore at one time or another and even my sternum and the left side of my jaw become inflamed and painful. DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE THOSE PARTICULAR SYMPTOMS? I take codeine or tramadol but i must have quite a low tolerance because even one tablet makes me feel sleepy and i cant take them when i have to drive and i have to drive for my job.
You know, they say you can get used to anything if you have it long enough, even pain and that's terrible but true. To MMMNAVY, i hope you get your pain under control soon because it can really wear you down. I have just started a new regime of multivitamins, calcium and vit D and Primrose oil and i think i am feeling at least a little more mentally positive even if physically i dont feel any different yet, but it is early days. good luck to you all.

chatter, the pain in the left side of your jaw could well be TMJ - a lot of us here have it - mine is also in the left side and aside from being extremely painful its also a total nuisance! Eating is hard and as for speech some days I talk like I'm trying to be a ventriloquist or something!! One of the best things to do is to go to a dentist as they can make splints for it to help.
Joint pain is really common in CD, when I was first diagnosed I was told that 30% of Crohn's patients have joint issues with it but I swear its more than that as the majority of people I speak to with Crohn's seem to have at least one joint play up on them!