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Pain pathches or opiates
Does anyone know if pain patches work as well as pain pill?
I have been taking Norco for 2 years now started off taking 3 a day and got up to 36 a day (not good) I became addicted quick. I tried ultram but it's not working what is the alternative to pills?
I have been taking Norco for 2 years now started off taking 3 a day and got up to 36 a day (not good) I became addicted quick. I tried ultram but it's not working what is the alternative to pills?
Hi Queeny,
Glad to hear such great news from you! I am so glad that you have family and friends that love you and care about you so much. And I was worried about you and I don't even know you!
I know it is going to be a journey for you with regard to maintaining your new life and managing the chronic pain you have but as littlebit said, there are many non-addictive medications and modalities out there. I'm not sure what type of pain you are dealing with but there are still medicines and treatments out there that can help.
If you feel that going cold turkey is a struggle for you, consider trying suboxone or subutex. It will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms and even help with your pain as it is an opioid medication. Difference is, it has a ceiling effect without euphoria. There are some chronic pain patients that use it for pain even though its main purpose is to aid opioid cessation.
Wishing you very best and I am glad you are getting help. Please do keep in touch as you are always welcome here.
femmy :)
Glad to hear such great news from you! I am so glad that you have family and friends that love you and care about you so much. And I was worried about you and I don't even know you!
I know it is going to be a journey for you with regard to maintaining your new life and managing the chronic pain you have but as littlebit said, there are many non-addictive medications and modalities out there. I'm not sure what type of pain you are dealing with but there are still medicines and treatments out there that can help.
If you feel that going cold turkey is a struggle for you, consider trying suboxone or subutex. It will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms and even help with your pain as it is an opioid medication. Difference is, it has a ceiling effect without euphoria. There are some chronic pain patients that use it for pain even though its main purpose is to aid opioid cessation.
Wishing you very best and I am glad you are getting help. Please do keep in touch as you are always welcome here.
femmy :)
Good for you. It can sometimes be a bit of a slippery slope and it's something I've always worried about. I've always taken my meds as prescribed but I wasn't comfortable when they had me on too many meds. I've tapered down and am much more comfortable where I am. It's not always easy. The substance abuse forum offers great support and suggestions.
if you are still in pain....find a pain management place that will work with non addictive alternatives. Good for you quitting...I know it is hard and it may take awhile to feel ok.
thanks 4 the comment,
Proud to honestly say It has almost been a week & I have been clean. Not Ez by all means. "cold turkey" & have even skipped by my monthly dr. pain pill appointment. :) . Its a struggle day by day or shall I say min by min. My prayers sum times dont feel like enough..
Proud to honestly say It has almost been a week & I have been clean. Not Ez by all means. "cold turkey" & have even skipped by my monthly dr. pain pill appointment. :) . Its a struggle day by day or shall I say min by min. My prayers sum times dont feel like enough..
no Its not at all harsh what u said.. I get it. & can honestly said I took a vow 2 love my self & have been off "EVERY THING"since ALMOST A WEEK. Cold turkey .Not as big as a come down like I thought. But far from EZ every min is like okay I can do this either from day 2 day but sum times min.2 min. My family got 2 gether and called 1 another & all met @ my house w/ an intervention. I didnt know how much every really knew about what I was doing, I burnt alot of bridges. My kids even know more than I thought they did & that breaks my heat :( .
So I did not show up for my monthly pain pill Dr. appointment ..
Pain is still hear but what do I do?????
So I did not show up for my monthly pain pill Dr. appointment ..
Pain is still hear but what do I do?????
Also as many in the substance abuse forum have found it that after getting off the pills they do have rebound pain, but after that usually their pain decreases and this is from those that have severe pain. Often your brain wants the drug and manufactures more pain to get them. I am not saying you do not have pain, just that it is possible some of it comes from the pill habit.
Hi Queeny,
I know you probably already know what I am about to say but you shouldn't have used your cousins Fentanyl patches...that is extremely dangerous! It sounds as if the patches were a low dose; otherwise, you could have been in real trouble such as your brain telling your body not to breathe!!! You should never take pain medications that are not prescribed to you, it is very dangerous. Opioids like Fentanyl come in a wide range of strengths. The strongest Fentanyl, I am not even opioid tolerant enough for and I am on just a little over 200 mg of morphine equivalent per day!
You really need to get off of the Norcos onto a medicine that doesn't have tylenol combined in it. You are killing your liver! Having high liver enzymes spells, liver damage! You cannot live without a liver and liver transplants don't come by easy and you are guaranteed to not get a liver transplant if your liver was destroyed by abusing prescription medications. Taking 12 norcos before 10 am is an extremely high intake. The max you can take within a 4 hour period without causing liver damage is 3 norcos.
Your doctor is violating the hippocratic oath: First, do no harm! By prescribing to you an enormous amount of norcos that will result in liver failure down the road is not practicing medicine appropriately.
I understand that you have chronic pain but you are not taking your medications appropriately for management of your chronic pain. You need to understand that the pursuit of being pain free is not the goal, nor is a secondary high. You are heading down a road with a dead end. Eventually 36 norcos will not be enough; will you take 45 norcos instead? What happens if you are no longer able to see this physician that is prescribing you this insane amount of norcos? Most other physicians would have dismissed you from getting any opioid therapy after finding out about your norco intake.
I know my post sounds harsh, but man! It is so hard for many with pain to get effective treatment through opioid therapy because of patients that are non-compliant and the addicts and abusers out there. Please take all medications AS PRESCRIBED and talk to your doctor if they are not working for your pain. There are many effective extended release medications out there but you must understand that they release very little euphoria; they just relieve pain. There are some people that don't like that and proceed to say they don't work. Not to say that you are saying those things but it sounds like there are two goals: pain relief and euphoria. Chasing euphoria will put you in a place where your tolerance is so high no pain medication in any amount prescribe-able will touch your pain. Additionally, all opioid pain medications are metabolized by the liver. If you end up with liver damage or acute liver failure, ingesting opioid medications can land you in the hospital and/or be fatal.
Please consider getting some help for your addiction/abuse before it is too late.
femmy
I know you probably already know what I am about to say but you shouldn't have used your cousins Fentanyl patches...that is extremely dangerous! It sounds as if the patches were a low dose; otherwise, you could have been in real trouble such as your brain telling your body not to breathe!!! You should never take pain medications that are not prescribed to you, it is very dangerous. Opioids like Fentanyl come in a wide range of strengths. The strongest Fentanyl, I am not even opioid tolerant enough for and I am on just a little over 200 mg of morphine equivalent per day!
You really need to get off of the Norcos onto a medicine that doesn't have tylenol combined in it. You are killing your liver! Having high liver enzymes spells, liver damage! You cannot live without a liver and liver transplants don't come by easy and you are guaranteed to not get a liver transplant if your liver was destroyed by abusing prescription medications. Taking 12 norcos before 10 am is an extremely high intake. The max you can take within a 4 hour period without causing liver damage is 3 norcos.
Your doctor is violating the hippocratic oath: First, do no harm! By prescribing to you an enormous amount of norcos that will result in liver failure down the road is not practicing medicine appropriately.
I understand that you have chronic pain but you are not taking your medications appropriately for management of your chronic pain. You need to understand that the pursuit of being pain free is not the goal, nor is a secondary high. You are heading down a road with a dead end. Eventually 36 norcos will not be enough; will you take 45 norcos instead? What happens if you are no longer able to see this physician that is prescribing you this insane amount of norcos? Most other physicians would have dismissed you from getting any opioid therapy after finding out about your norco intake.
I know my post sounds harsh, but man! It is so hard for many with pain to get effective treatment through opioid therapy because of patients that are non-compliant and the addicts and abusers out there. Please take all medications AS PRESCRIBED and talk to your doctor if they are not working for your pain. There are many effective extended release medications out there but you must understand that they release very little euphoria; they just relieve pain. There are some people that don't like that and proceed to say they don't work. Not to say that you are saying those things but it sounds like there are two goals: pain relief and euphoria. Chasing euphoria will put you in a place where your tolerance is so high no pain medication in any amount prescribe-able will touch your pain. Additionally, all opioid pain medications are metabolized by the liver. If you end up with liver damage or acute liver failure, ingesting opioid medications can land you in the hospital and/or be fatal.
Please consider getting some help for your addiction/abuse before it is too late.
femmy
Thanks femmy I found the information very helpful & I will do more research on the kinds of patches u told me about. I took 2 of my cousins Fentanyl patches and it did not make me feel free of pain as me taking 12 Norco did.
I take 12 Norco at a time 3x a day but recently started only taking 30 a day (not much of a cut back). My primary Dr. has done a liver panel & my numbers were WAY WAY UP. My pain mgt. Dr. doesnt do any blood work he just prescribes more & more pills to me, with injections every 3 months & epidurals for my leg every 3 months. The pain has started to go down my left leg all the way to my foot & now I get extreme pain in my foot. My foot hurts on the hill & I get hard balls of muscles in the arch of my foot & those bring extreme pain. Will I ever get some relief?
I take 12 Norco at a time 3x a day but recently started only taking 30 a day (not much of a cut back). My primary Dr. has done a liver panel & my numbers were WAY WAY UP. My pain mgt. Dr. doesnt do any blood work he just prescribes more & more pills to me, with injections every 3 months & epidurals for my leg every 3 months. The pain has started to go down my left leg all the way to my foot & now I get extreme pain in my foot. My foot hurts on the hill & I get hard balls of muscles in the arch of my foot & those bring extreme pain. Will I ever get some relief?
Thanks flames 4 your reply :)
I have went from 36 a day to now taking 30. I know thats still a realy HIGH #. My family is surrering from my mood swings from these when I dont have no more & yes I am addicted. I thought by taking a pain patch I wouldnt have to take all the pills I do, but from what I am hearing it would be like jumping from the skillet strait into the fire (if i switch 2 the patch).
I have went from 36 a day to now taking 30. I know thats still a realy HIGH #. My family is surrering from my mood swings from these when I dont have no more & yes I am addicted. I thought by taking a pain patch I wouldnt have to take all the pills I do, but from what I am hearing it would be like jumping from the skillet strait into the fire (if i switch 2 the patch).
thanks Mikeln for replying :)
today I have taken twelve but it's only 10am. I am interested in getting off pain killers but I dont wanna live my life in serious pain either. I have tried several different kinds Vicodin-percecet-Norco-Tramadal & have taken them for so long, now my body has 2 have them (ADDICTED)
today I have taken twelve but it's only 10am. I am interested in getting off pain killers but I dont wanna live my life in serious pain either. I have tried several different kinds Vicodin-percecet-Norco-Tramadal & have taken them for so long, now my body has 2 have them (ADDICTED)
Thanks for your reply!
I was given pain pills because of 2 fractires in my back due to a serious car accident. I suffer from chronic pain and now the pain has started to go down my leg.
I was given pain pills because of 2 fractires in my back due to a serious car accident. I suffer from chronic pain and now the pain has started to go down my leg.
Norcos and Ultram are very weak in terms of strength. Norcos contain Tylenol or Acetaminophen and taking 36 Norcos pills a day can cause liver damage as that is an overdose of Tylenol. The maximum amount of Norcos you can take in one day without harming your liver is 12 pills. You were taking 3 times that amount. I recommend that you request a liver panel from your doctor so that you can know whether or not you caused liver damage by ingesting that much tylenol.
The next tier up from Norcos is Oxycodone with or without Tylenol. There is a wide range of other medicines in pill form that are powerful such as Morphine and Oxymorphone. Morphine is lower in strength than Oxycodone but Oxymorphone is the strongest pain medicine available in pill form. The next tier up from Oxymorphone is Fentanyl.
Even with taking 36 norcos a day, you are not opioid tolerant enough for oxymorphone or fentanyl. You need to be on 60 mg of morphine a day consistently for at least 1-2 weeks before switching to oxymorphone or fentanyl. There is also Dilaudid which is slightly weaker than oxymorphone.
I assume that you were taking that much norco due to pain and not for the "high". If you were doing it for the "high", I encourage you to detox or if the pain is intolerable, you could try the Butrans patch as it has a built in ceiling...above a certain point, no additional pain relief can be achieved and its euphoric effects are much weaker than other pure opioid mu agonists.
femmy
The next tier up from Norcos is Oxycodone with or without Tylenol. There is a wide range of other medicines in pill form that are powerful such as Morphine and Oxymorphone. Morphine is lower in strength than Oxycodone but Oxymorphone is the strongest pain medicine available in pill form. The next tier up from Oxymorphone is Fentanyl.
Even with taking 36 norcos a day, you are not opioid tolerant enough for oxymorphone or fentanyl. You need to be on 60 mg of morphine a day consistently for at least 1-2 weeks before switching to oxymorphone or fentanyl. There is also Dilaudid which is slightly weaker than oxymorphone.
I assume that you were taking that much norco due to pain and not for the "high". If you were doing it for the "high", I encourage you to detox or if the pain is intolerable, you could try the Butrans patch as it has a built in ceiling...above a certain point, no additional pain relief can be achieved and its euphoric effects are much weaker than other pure opioid mu agonists.
femmy
its my understanding that many pain patches will have similiar narcotic ingredients so you would just replacing 1 opiate with another. can you try tapering down? or detoxing and starting over with a different med?
Hey Queen... How much have you been taking lately? Like today, for example? R u interested in changing Meds or finding a way off them completely if possible?
not sure how to help. Can you share why you were give pain pills by the doctor. Different things work for different types of pain and why you have the pain. A little more info will help. Yes you are right 36 a day is way too much. Your body can only tolerate that for a small time and then all sorts of things could go wrong.
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