opium brings immediate relief

Hi everyone, I have been out of touch since last Summer. Many health issues all at once landed me in the hospital twice, then rehab, then slow climb back to health. Basically I am in my eighties and developed UC when I was 72, then went into remission with Asacol for eight years. I asked my GI if I still needed to take 4 Asacols a day and he said "NO" so I stopped. Within four months, I had a full flair - blood, mucus, many accidents. I changed doctors and the new GI decided that I needed a heavy dose of Prednisone. That was awful!!! I felt like I was on speed. I was really mean and mad at everyone - especiallly my poor husband. At this point, I had been in flair for 7 months and had lost 45 pounds,cuz of the diahrrea. Went to my primary care doctor (who is from Armenia originally) and she took me off Prednisone and put me on Hydrocortisone which is similar, but less hard on the body. I felt much better within a day of the change. However, I was still having the colitis like mad and dared not go anywhere without a diaper on. That same doctor prescribed tincture of OPIUM - .5 millileters 3-4 times a day in about a fourth cup of water - preferably before meals. It worked like a charm!!!!!! It quieted the spasms of the colon and made life so much better!!! I have asked my GI why he didn't prescribe something that gave me so much relief and he seemed scared of the legal aspects of it. But you do not get high from it, you just get your life back. I am now in remission and no longer use opiium. I am currently on 6 Asacol pills a day. My question is why don't doctors prescribe this more often? It was a blessing for me.

Two different issues it seems....

The tincture of opium would be prescribed to pretty much halt the peristalsis/muscle contractions of the gut which gave you the relief from that of diarrhea...not the inflammation/flare. Seems that ws helped by the steroids.

I hope the doc did stool samples initially to make sure nothing else was going on before prescribing the tincture of opium.


It's obviously an issue for some that may need that extra bit of help...but certainly not needed for pretty much most...as per Sue's statement about megacolon, etc. 

Now that you're on Asacol, you need to also get yourself on rectal meds or at least a prescription for them to help deal with any start of rectal inflammation in the future.

Sad the doc told you to stop the asacol in the first place....common mistake of some.

q

Opium is not a treatment for UC!!

Sue

I know heroin, cocaine and scads of other narcotics were once available otc at local apothecaries up until the 1930s and 40s. But I didn't think one could get a script for opium, I honestly thought it was a banned substance.

I guess Saralee's in the US? I somehow doubt a Canadian doctor would even be able to prescribe tincture of opium. I thought it died out in the Victorian days.

Wouldn't mind trying it though!

I guess I didn't give enough information. I have used Immodium and it is very helpful, but opium worked better for me. It is not a cure for UC, but it does bring relief from the awful symptoms. I was considering getting someone to remove my colon , it was that bad and my flair went on for about ten months. Prednisone did not help at all. Finally 8 Asacol a day did bring remission. The opium simply allowed me to function again in spite of UC. I took it before each meal and at bedtime. It wears off in about 5 hours and it stops peristalsis. In the morning, I would have 1 to three BMs and that would be it for the day.

As for megacolon, I was so far from retaining poop in my colon that it certainly couldn't have gone "mega" on me. I lost nearly 50 pounds during the flair because I couldn't retain food in colon long enough to obtain nourishment from it.

about opium. My doctor (who had her initial training in Russia) prescribed it and I was as shocked as many of you seem to be. But the local drugstore filled the prescription with no problem. It was a fairly stiff copay - about $75, I think for one month. Then I checked with my insurance companie's mail order pharmacy and they filled it for three months for $10. After that, I got better and didn't need it any more.

I do live in the USA. Opium did not cure UC. It did not cause megacolon. I am now in remission and have begun taking 6MP which hope will prevent future flares. During the time I took opium four times a day, I spent two weeks in the hospital for something unrelated to UC. The nurses brought my opium four times a day along with my other meds. I think doctors are just too chicken to prescribe it. By the way, I once spilled it and ran out early. I was afraid my doctor would think I was lying and just wanting more opium for other reasons. Thankfully, she didn't think that.

Good luck. The doctor does have to write out a special"triplicate" prescription and you have to pick it up and hand deliver it to the pharmacy cuz it is a controlled. I didn't tell my grandchildren that I had it. Might have been a temptation to them. To me, it was a blessing.

SaraLee, Does the Opium make you feel like you're on drugs? Does it make you tired, loopy, surreal, relaxed, what exactly does it do to you and make you feel like? Can you tell you're on it? Are you able to function, like something work-related where you are able to focus while on the Opium?

This is off topic, but I read a long article once about a Viet-Nam Vet who had severe PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and nothing the VA hospital was giving him helped. Then, a friend gave him some "MDMA" which is the pure ingredient found in the street drug called "EXTASY" and he said that it triggered something in his brain and made him remember what it felt like to be 'happy' again. He said nothing else had worked, except for that. The MDMA, I heard, was also once legally prescribed for marital counseling, so go figure! But, it's considered an illegal street drug, now.

Eva Lou said...
This post just cracks me up, sure it brings immediate relief! So does a hefty shot of horse, just nod away your bowel issues. I know it's a legitimate medicine, but isn't it just doing what an anti-diarrheal will do? That's why they tell you to be watchful of constipation with narcotics, you know? I don't know, it is funny though... my GI would fall off his chair if I asked for opium.

I don't understand how disparaging someone's legitimate path towards remission is funny, regardless of what the path involves. Anyway, thank you saralee for sharing your story. I truly wish more doctors gave us options outside the box when standard practice offers us no progress.

I would be extremely cautious of this. For people with UC, medications and things that slow the bowel could bring on toxic megacolon. do some research.

ljb, hyoscyamine - I have used it but it had no effect at all.

Happy J-Poucher, - My research consisted of asking my GI doctor and he said it was fine as long as tests came back negative.

The vicodin was necessary as I was on a high dose of blood thinner for a UC related stroke. The vicodin kept me from flaring, kept me on warfarin and everything resolved quickly.

The term "toxic" means that this complication occurs with infection. Hence the reference to sepsis.

"Go to the emergency room or call the local emergency number (such as 911) if you develop severe abdominal pain -- especially if you also have:

Bloody diarrhea
Fever
Frequent diarrhea
Painful bowel movements
Rapid heart rate
Tenderness when the abdomen is pressed"

I had all of the above symptoms 20+ plus bloody per day and extreme rapid heart rate in 2008. I told the emergency room Dr I was concerned about Toxic Megacolon so we immediately did a cat scan.

Just an extreme UC flare-up.

kiolm said...
What did the Grandfather die of?

I don't know. This was in China during the time of the Qing Dynasty. My ex is about 13 years older than me, and his dad is much older than him, probably some 45+ years. His mother is about 40 years older than my ex. Who knows how much older my ex's grandfather was in comparison to my ex's father. So we are talking about some old history here.

Anyway, here is the story as it's been told to me:

The Manchurians used to rule China during the Qing Dynasty. Corruption and opium caused the dynasty to collapse. (My ex's father and grandfather are Manchurian. My ex looks more like some American Indian tribal people than Chinese, which makes sense given that American Indians came from across the Barring Straight.)

Anyway, my ex's grandfather became an opium addict. He was so addicted to opium that people would come to his land, take his gold, and he would do nothing. Knowing history, I wouldn't be surprised if the reality is that drug dealers came to his home and gave him opium in exchange for gold, which they then dug up and carried away. It was common during that period. Anyway, my ex's grandfather eventually lost all the family's money. My ex's father grew up poor as a result. He left home when he was young. He doesn't know what happened to his father. I don't think he wanted anything to do with his father. When my ex's father was older, probably in his 40s, he joined the KMT (Kuo Ming Tang) party, went to Texas to learn how to fly airplanes, and faught against the Japanese in World War II. After the war ended and Mao became chairman, my ex's father escaped to Taiwan when the KMT fleed to Taiwan. He brought his pregnant wife, their newborn daughter, and his wife's 16-year old nephew. My ex was born in Taiwan in 1949. They brought enough gold to start a business. They tried manufacturing soap. It didn't work. They then tried making noodles, which did very well, and enabled my ex's mother to buy many properties and send her son to the US to get his graduate degree. Yes. It's his mom who managed the money. She had studied accounting for two years in college back in China.

My ex expected me to be like his mom, go to college and learn business, start a company, and make lots of money. Obviously, that didn't happen. I did go to college and graduate school, learned business, and started a company with my ex. But the business didn't make money.

Post Edited (subdued) : 3/8/2011 12:11:45 AM (GMT-7)

Please, no discussion of illegal substances here.

A doctor prescribed this treatment and a pharmacy filled it. Were both of them acting illegally?

Discussing options which are non-traditional is how progress is made for many of us with no traditional options left. Certainly this falls under that category if it was prescribed by a medical doctor and followed up by being filled at a licensed pharmacy.

Let's hope Mackster was making a joke about "the streets" - and we all need to remember, our tone of voice here doesn't convey very well if we're being lighthearted or serious..... but I took from the smiley that the comment was made in jest.
So..... opium as prescription is one thing, and we are allowed to discuss prescriptions, as nssg said.