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The Opana Experience
I wanted to post an update regarding my new pain medication for chronic pain called Opana ER. As many of you know from my previous post, I delayed taking it because I along with a couple of pharmacists were convinced that the dose was too high. However, after thinking about many of your online comments and the amount of breakthrough pain medicine I take daily along with discussion of my concerns with my doctor, we decided that 30 mg of Opana ER during the day was accurate. However, we reduced the nighttime dose to 15 mg.
After starting to take Opana ER, the adjustment period was rough and the worst of it lasted about a week. During the first week of taking Opana ER, I experienced extreme fatigue in the morning so much that I kept my eyes closed for a good hour after waking up...I was getting ready for work with my eyes closed! Additionally, I would wake up at 3 am every morning in severe pain. After about 3 days of extreme fatigue in the morning, I finally started to feel my normal level of tiredness when waking up in the morning; however, the evenings were still spent in exhaustion.
On top of the extreme fatigue, I experienced withdrawal symptoms and accompanied with that was severe pain that had been suppressed by my old medications. I was amazed at just how extremely painful it was to walk 50 feet to my office building! Additionally, during my days I had to deal with shooting pains through my buttocks and down my legs. This really saddened me as I now know just how much my pain medications are needed and what type of pain the ruptured and bulging discs in my low back are causing me as I never felt the brink of this injury as I was on some type of pain medication already for mid to upper back pain when I injured my low back.
So later in the week last week, I called my doctor and told him all of this and stated that I was going back to the original dose of 30 mg in the morning AND at night. At this point, I was about to toss the Opana ER and go back to the Morphine ER BUT before I did that, I researched more about Opana ER and discovered that it takes 3-4 days to reach a steady state level in the bloodstream so I decided to stick with it awhile longer.
By Saturday morning, the Opana ER I had been taking the past 3 days reached full strength in my blood stream and along with feeling NO PAIN I became extremely dizzy and had to lay down with my feet propped up on a pillow for about 2 hours. I was still dizzy after resting but wanted to get up and when I did, I was extremely nauseous and ended up vomiting twice. After vomiting the dizziness disappeared. I thought about what I took around the time I got dizzy and it was Gabapentin so the next day I waited longer between the Opana ER dose before taking the Gabapentin and I only took half the dose and I felt fine.
This week I still dealt with the tiredness and fatigue but by Tuesday or Wednesday, I felt my energy level increasing. Starting Monday I began taking my other meds (muscle relaxer, gabapentin, valium) on a different schedule that I drafted up over the weekend and all week I have been successful at taking my regular dose of these meds without getting nauseous or dizzy. For the past 4 days, I only needed ONE dose of Percocet (10/650 mg), which was taken in the early morning about 3 hours before my Opana ER dose. This is nothing short of AMAZING as I usually require 3-4 doses of Percocet for breakthrough pain throughout the day.
So in summary, I can't believe how well my pain is controlled on Opana ER. I actually feel almost CURED from my chronic pain; however, before I take the one dose of Percocet in the morning, I am sadly reminded that my pain is still there as it breaks through the Opana ER taken before bedtime. However, this is much less breakthrough pain than I was experiencing on the Morphine. Out of the 11-12 years that I have been battling chronic pain with various medications and modalities, THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST PAIN RELIEF I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!! With the Opana ER, I won't need epidural injections anymore as at this time my pain is the worst it could be because I haven't had an epidural since September; however, the Opana ER is controlling it PERFECTLY! I am so happy about this as the epidurals eat your bones away over time and I have had 5 injections thus far, such that I am probably at more risk of inflicting irreversable bone damage if I continue more epidural injections.
The other nice thing about the Opana ER is that it has quiet power as it doesn't make you feel out of it or loopy like Percocet can. The only annoying thing about Opana ER is that you have to take it 1 hour before eating or 2 hours after eating. This has made dinnertime a rushed event so that I can finish eating by 7:30 pm to be able to take my nighttime dose of Opana ER at 9:30 pm. Additionally, I am a very early riser so I go to bed typically around 8:00 pm. I have had to set my alarm clock for 9:30 pm just to wake up and take the Opana ER as staying awake until dosing time was just adding to the fatigue in the mornings.
I am doing well and couldn't be happier with pain management right now! :) It is all so surreal.
femmy
After starting to take Opana ER, the adjustment period was rough and the worst of it lasted about a week. During the first week of taking Opana ER, I experienced extreme fatigue in the morning so much that I kept my eyes closed for a good hour after waking up...I was getting ready for work with my eyes closed! Additionally, I would wake up at 3 am every morning in severe pain. After about 3 days of extreme fatigue in the morning, I finally started to feel my normal level of tiredness when waking up in the morning; however, the evenings were still spent in exhaustion.
On top of the extreme fatigue, I experienced withdrawal symptoms and accompanied with that was severe pain that had been suppressed by my old medications. I was amazed at just how extremely painful it was to walk 50 feet to my office building! Additionally, during my days I had to deal with shooting pains through my buttocks and down my legs. This really saddened me as I now know just how much my pain medications are needed and what type of pain the ruptured and bulging discs in my low back are causing me as I never felt the brink of this injury as I was on some type of pain medication already for mid to upper back pain when I injured my low back.
So later in the week last week, I called my doctor and told him all of this and stated that I was going back to the original dose of 30 mg in the morning AND at night. At this point, I was about to toss the Opana ER and go back to the Morphine ER BUT before I did that, I researched more about Opana ER and discovered that it takes 3-4 days to reach a steady state level in the bloodstream so I decided to stick with it awhile longer.
By Saturday morning, the Opana ER I had been taking the past 3 days reached full strength in my blood stream and along with feeling NO PAIN I became extremely dizzy and had to lay down with my feet propped up on a pillow for about 2 hours. I was still dizzy after resting but wanted to get up and when I did, I was extremely nauseous and ended up vomiting twice. After vomiting the dizziness disappeared. I thought about what I took around the time I got dizzy and it was Gabapentin so the next day I waited longer between the Opana ER dose before taking the Gabapentin and I only took half the dose and I felt fine.
This week I still dealt with the tiredness and fatigue but by Tuesday or Wednesday, I felt my energy level increasing. Starting Monday I began taking my other meds (muscle relaxer, gabapentin, valium) on a different schedule that I drafted up over the weekend and all week I have been successful at taking my regular dose of these meds without getting nauseous or dizzy. For the past 4 days, I only needed ONE dose of Percocet (10/650 mg), which was taken in the early morning about 3 hours before my Opana ER dose. This is nothing short of AMAZING as I usually require 3-4 doses of Percocet for breakthrough pain throughout the day.
So in summary, I can't believe how well my pain is controlled on Opana ER. I actually feel almost CURED from my chronic pain; however, before I take the one dose of Percocet in the morning, I am sadly reminded that my pain is still there as it breaks through the Opana ER taken before bedtime. However, this is much less breakthrough pain than I was experiencing on the Morphine. Out of the 11-12 years that I have been battling chronic pain with various medications and modalities, THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST PAIN RELIEF I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!! With the Opana ER, I won't need epidural injections anymore as at this time my pain is the worst it could be because I haven't had an epidural since September; however, the Opana ER is controlling it PERFECTLY! I am so happy about this as the epidurals eat your bones away over time and I have had 5 injections thus far, such that I am probably at more risk of inflicting irreversable bone damage if I continue more epidural injections.
The other nice thing about the Opana ER is that it has quiet power as it doesn't make you feel out of it or loopy like Percocet can. The only annoying thing about Opana ER is that you have to take it 1 hour before eating or 2 hours after eating. This has made dinnertime a rushed event so that I can finish eating by 7:30 pm to be able to take my nighttime dose of Opana ER at 9:30 pm. Additionally, I am a very early riser so I go to bed typically around 8:00 pm. I have had to set my alarm clock for 9:30 pm just to wake up and take the Opana ER as staying awake until dosing time was just adding to the fatigue in the mornings.
I am doing well and couldn't be happier with pain management right now! :) It is all so surreal.
femmy
Thanks Tuck! I am for certain delighted at the results from my new pain medication. I have a feeling though that I won't be "pain free" forever as over time I will build a tolerance to the medication like the others; however, I hope I at least have a year or two before I would need to take more breakthrough pain medicine. Only time will tell.
You are so right that pain management is a trial and error process. My old PCP was only willing to titrate my dose twice on anything. He was very rigid in his prescribing practices and I truly thought the he was the best and that anyone else would do worse. However, that was not true and I wish I would have switched insurances sooner as my employer has been covering my current insurance for years. My new PCP has a great deal of trust in his patients and his compassion is amazing. I can't believe he was willing to help me after only the first appointment. He does drug test and I have never had to deal with that before; however, I didn't have to sign a pain contract...not that I would do anything differently if I had to sign one but it is nice to see that he trusts his patients to do the right thing.
I got your PM. I was going to write back for you to check out my new post, which you just did. The only other hurdle is determining if generic Opana ER is just as effective as brand Opana ER. I haven't switched from brand to generic to test it out yet. Perhaps tonight before bedtime. If it is not as effective, I don't mind footing the bill for the brand tablets since I won't be paying an enormous amount for those epidural injections, which were only effective for 6 weeks...doesn't seem worth it given the damage it inflicts over time on your bones.
Keep in touch.
femmy :)
You are so right that pain management is a trial and error process. My old PCP was only willing to titrate my dose twice on anything. He was very rigid in his prescribing practices and I truly thought the he was the best and that anyone else would do worse. However, that was not true and I wish I would have switched insurances sooner as my employer has been covering my current insurance for years. My new PCP has a great deal of trust in his patients and his compassion is amazing. I can't believe he was willing to help me after only the first appointment. He does drug test and I have never had to deal with that before; however, I didn't have to sign a pain contract...not that I would do anything differently if I had to sign one but it is nice to see that he trusts his patients to do the right thing.
I got your PM. I was going to write back for you to check out my new post, which you just did. The only other hurdle is determining if generic Opana ER is just as effective as brand Opana ER. I haven't switched from brand to generic to test it out yet. Perhaps tonight before bedtime. If it is not as effective, I don't mind footing the bill for the brand tablets since I won't be paying an enormous amount for those epidural injections, which were only effective for 6 weeks...doesn't seem worth it given the damage it inflicts over time on your bones.
Keep in touch.
femmy :)
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Your post proves that pain management is a trial and error process and takes adjustments, patience and time.
Delighted you are feeling so good!
My Best,
~Tuck