40mg a Day Oxycodone Treatment Has Been Put to an End!

It hasn't been done voluntarily, though!
For chronic pain I have been prescribed 2x20mg slow release oxycodone daily for about 2 years. The other day my pain specialist referred me to another pain specialist for a 'second opinion'.
This new specialist immediately put me on a Norspan 5mcg per hour patch, (which is a mixture of Buprenorphine and Naloxone).
I toughed out the 'transitional' 3 day period as best I could but did take more narcotics than I should have to try and control the excruciating pain. The pain specialist had instructed me to keep taking 1x20mg oxycodone and 4x15mg codeine/500mg paracetamol otc per day during this period and on the night of the third day when I was supposed to increase the dose by another 5mcg I lay down to sleep when I realised my heart was pounding really fast and hard and so violently that sleeping was off the menu while it was moving in that state. I could feel the pressure of it pulsing in my legs.
I took my pulse and it was racing at 140 bpm. No matter what I did I couldn't make it calm down and I started to get very anxious. The rhythm of my heart became erratic. My mouth was very dry and I had to keep drinking and therefore urinating all night. I also had diahorrea.
   Finally, at about 3.00 am I decided that this patch must be creating this effect and that it had to go so I ripped it off and even washed my arm where it had been applied to try to get any of it away from me. I literally had one hour's sleep that night and had to take a sleeping pill and codeine at 5.00 am to do it.
   I reported these problems to my pain specialist and he said that he doesn't advocate or prescribe oxycodone at all for pain relief in cases of chronic pain (which makes sense to me) and then instructed me to try the patch again but this time with no oxycodone or codeine accompanying it.
I told him I didn't really want to try the patch again but he insisted that there wouldn't be any problems without oxycodone and codeine accompanying the patch and he said that if my heart races like that again I should take this clonidine he's prescribed that will lower my blood pressure. I am paranoid that my heart will stop if I mess around with my blood pressure. It seems a lot of mucking around with the operation of my body in order to just switch over to a pain med that he says probably won't control the pain that well anyway! I never actually asked to change my medication regime or asked the other pain doctor to have more oxycodone as he always used to act toward me like I was just scamming him for pills. He lied to me about the 'second opinion'. He sent me to a pain specialist/addictions specialist so I'm pretty I know what he thinks of me. Also, it all coincided with the insurance company refusing to honour my injury claim.
I really am in a lot of pain though.
I really need to have pain relief but I don't want to use this patch again. I am anxious that these serious side effects might prove fatal and I'm not prepared to find out if they will be!
   I can't get any other pain doctor involved in my case because I live somewhere with a very few pain specialists available and my GP has no prescribing rights for pain meds because I'm under a specialist who has the sole authority.
It looks like I'm going to have to go cold turkey and for pain relief just otc and to suffer.
Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions please?

[vicki595]

Hi!  Wow!   I have some thoughts...Were you without any opiates at all for 3 days when you started on the patch?  That's important!

[BrotherFrankie]

it seems like you have a good pain specialist. opiates are not the answer in every, or even most cases.

I am praying for ya..
Frankie

[brett1968]

   May God bless you too brother and thank you for your kind efforts.
I think he is a very good doctor whom I know is a very caring person that goes beyond just having a compassionate bedside manner.
  Unfortunately, the doctor who referred me to him is a noted and proven liar who will and does manipulate his patients to his own ends (generally financial gain). For example, he stopped wanting to have me as a patient when he discovered the medical insurance board weren't going to honour his fee of $168.00 for a less than 15 minute consultation.
He then lied to me telling me I was only getting 'a second opinion' and told my (now) new pain specialist that I'd been constantly and consistently requesting more opiates when I hadn't done that and had simply informed him that I was experiencing increasing pain in areas of my body that previously hadn't been so bad to which he just sat in silence and looked out of his office window! That's 168 bucks worth? No wonder the insurance company don't like him!
   In actuality, I had also only told him my pain had increased just this once in six months so I can't see how that equated to me 'constantly pushing' for more pain meds!
My biggest regret was that I had to remove the patch because it was doing a great job of controlling the pain!
May the Lord Jesus watch over and keep you BrotherFrankie, I very much appreciate all the help your words have given me. :-)

[brett1968]

  Thanks for your input vicki 595, it is greatly and deeply appreciated that you have taken an interest and shown your concern.
   Yes, I was on opiates when using the patch and I totally agree that is an important factor when evaluating their efficacy.
Strangely though, the pain specialist specifically instructed me to keep on with one tablet per day of the slow release 20mg oxycodone and four of the 15mg codeine and APAP tablets. This dose  represented a greater than 50% reduction in my daily intake of pain meds.
   I have read in the patient information leaflet and everywhere else online that refers to it that still taking opiates on buprenorphine/naloxone can create a 'precipitated withdrawal' syndrome which is considered 1000 times worse than normal withdrawal (which from my experience is foul enough at normal strength!) so I also found it odd that he'd want me to keep on taking them.
   I have had some other interesting developments to add but right now I need to sleep and will update asap and once again, thank you so much for taking an interest in my petty problems!
May God bless you both in the name of the mighty Lord Jesus.

[BrotherFrankie]

hey, bret.. hows things across the Pond? u OK?