I've been on MS Contin (otherwise known as Codeine Contin) for more than 2 years now.
I'm taking 100mg twice a day. I once went up to 300mg a day (150mg, twice a day), for at least 6 months, maybe even a year, but since I didn't see any improvement, only more side effects, I came back to 200mg/day.
Now, the MS Contin is only helping get the pain to a lower, more manageable level, not relief it completely. When the pain gets worst (what I call the "crisis") or if I have an injury, I need to take Tylenol or Advil (or both) on top of it... which kinda help, but are no miracle... and over time, have their own side effects.
I've been wanting to change this pain med for over a year now. Not because it's addictive, I'm pretty sure I'm addicted and since my condition is chronic and incurable, I don't really care. I mean, I'll happily deal with that if I ever get healthy... It's just I'd like something that would work better (maybe help with the pain 75-80% instead of 50-60%), have less side effects (or maybe the same, but simply less harsh)... and if it would work better, maybe I would have less side effects from the over-the-counter meds too... And something maybe less bothersome... having to take the pills at a different time than your other pills, and then because of the side effects, having some more meds that you can't take at the same time than any meds... well it becomes pretty frustrating.
I asked my doc more than once for a different pain med. He told me there were none other, or all would be just as bad. No "maybe it'll be just as bad, but would you like to try?". Nope. Just "No." No help at all. It even had to be the pharmacist and my GP who came up with the meds to help with the side effects!
So anyways, I learned about Duragesic. Wow! A patch, every 3 days! Less hassle. And if the info I got is right, maybe slightly less harsh side effects too!
But when I asked my doc about it, he, again, said no.
Told me that Duragesic patches were way too high-dosed for me, and that the side effects were the same.
But I don't trust him anymore.
I'd like to know if anyone here ever made that switch, preferably someone with the same dosage of MS Contin...
Or, if anyone is knowledgeable enough, could you tell me if it's logical that a Duragesic patch with a dosage of 12mcg/hour be way different than 300mg/day of MS Contin? Maybe that calculation isn't right and is comparing apples to oranges, but put differently, it would be 288mcg/day of morphine vs. 300mg/day of codeine... or 12mcg/hour of morphine vs. 12.5mg/hour of codeine.
I'd really like to know, because if that doc was wrong, and just didn't want to try and help me, I could ask my GP about it next time I see her.
Thanks!