Medications - oxymorphone

[marycarmel]

I have a hard time remembering what each medicine is, generic name versus brand names.  I'm once again having a hard time controlling the pain.  I have come down to a very small dose and I haven't been using anything long acting.  My goal was to see if I could manage on nothing or very little and it's very clear that my quality of life is nonexistent on such a low dose.  I'm taking oxycodone 10 mg. every 4 hours.  I essentially get about an hour to 1.5 hours of okay pain relief but then it's right back to being beyond awful.

In the past I had used oxycontin, though I forget the dose.  I used to take it twice a day with 15 mg oxycodone for BT pain.  Then they tried the Fentanyl, which wasn't a good fit for my body.  I got to the point of being so tired of all these meds and switching, I thought I'd try coming off and reevaluating things.

So, while I'm glad I gave it a try, I'm now realizing that to function even minimally, I need something more.  I was thinking of asking to go back on a long-acting med to see if that could help me stay where I am with the BT meds.

I've tried a lot of different meds. Morphine gives me a terrible headache.  Vicodin gives me a rash and causes intense itching.  I've read about Opana ER and see it's oxymorphone.

I know hydrocodone is Vicodin and oxycodone is Percocet without the Tylenol.  What is oxymorphone?

I had been given Dilaudid after a surgery and it did nothing.

I've put a call into my doctor's office.  I see her in two weeks but I don't think I can make it two weeks the way I am now.  We've got the winter looming, and it's always my worst time of year.  The holidays are coming and I want to feel okay.  I want to be able to cook and bake all the things I usually do but have had to stop doing because of the pain.

I do think that the 10 mg. oxycodone gives me fairly decent pain relief.  It just doesn't last long.

[marycarmel]

I wish we could celebrate one holiday at a time!  (But due to budgets I need to start picking up a few things here and there.)

I think pain management doctors could do a better job in explaining their role.  After all this time, I have figured out most of it.

I did go in and see the pain psychologist and had my medical appointment.  She is putting me on oxycontin 3 times a day and we'll see what happens.  I'm hoping I can cut back on the BT meds.  It would be great to feel good for the holidays!

[Jaybay]

I can't even begin to think about Christmas stuff yet in spite of the commercial bombarbment already in stores and on the airwaves.  Can we please have Thanksgiving first?  LOL!

Over the years I've found that most of my pain management takes place in my head.  It was a very hard thing to face the fact that no amount of meds was going to get rid of the pain monster.  My expectations of PM were completely wrong (unreasonable might be a better word) and my doctor didn't exactly educate me about it either.  I think most doctors are weak when it comes to educating their patients but that's a topic for a different essay!

[marycarmel]

I'm seeing the doctor today and the pain psychologist and I hope she'll be okay with me going back on the long-acting.  I feel where I get some decent relief with the 10 mg. oxycodone, the oxycontin may do the trick.  I only get about an hour on the oxycodone and I don't want to go up on the dose.  I think an extended release med at a low dose may help.

I am very happy I went off everything.  I was on so much and at such high doses and really the lower dose works about as well.  Coming down was hard at times and it took a long time (but I was on Fentanyl, oxycontin, oxycodone 45 mg. every 4 hours, Cymbalta, Clonidine, Ativan, Neurontin  and Ambien.)  Now I'm just on the oxycodone and Clonidine and Neurontin.)  That was a LOT of medication every day.

I just want to do my everyday activities.  THe hour the oxycodone works I can do things without dropping things.  I'm not cranky.  Then the next four hours until I get the med in and it takes effect, I'm miserable.)

I know I frustrate her as it's been hard getting my pain under control.  I hope she's not so frustrated that she's just ready to dismiss me.  I've always been very compliant and done everything they suggested, except when they recommended methadone, I said I wasn't comfortable with that.

Christmas, heading right for us, isn't it?  I got some shopping done but a lot more left to do.  And that's what I need to be able to do:  get the house ready, bake, cook.  The regular stuff!

[Jaybay]

I applaud you for taking a break from the meds to evaluate your pain levels.  Most people are too frightened of increased pain to even try.  Taking a break also helps with tolerance issues so I congratulate you on your efforts!

There is no shame in coming to the conclusion that you need a long acting medication so that you can live a more functional and productive life.  After all, isn't that the goal of pain management in the first place?  Since you do well with oxycodone, why not go back on the oxycontin so you can avoid the peaks and valleys that naturally come with the short-acting version?  You know you tolerate it well so you'll know what to expect.  Have a talk with your doctor and see what he says.  I doubt he'll have any objections and hope you'll be decorating that Christmas tree soon!