help

[JennaBennaBean]

i broke my foot about 6 weeks ago.  i am allergic to codeine and nothing the doctors prescribe works.  ive lost more than 20 pounds and i think im getting a little depressed bc nothing helps my pain.  i never sleep.  please help me with medications to suggest to my doc bc im terrified.  he wants to operate but i cant have any traditional pain meds after surgery....please help

[Mollyrae]

What do you mean by "Traditional Pain Meds" ?

[Tuckamore]

I understand your fear. There are many pain medications availabe. You may be allergic to codeine but your surgeon can offer meds that are not in the same "family" that will help your pain. I would enourage you to discus this with your medical provider. I am allergic to some but no others, this is not uncommon.
Post-op thay can also instill a "pump" that provides a numbing medication directly to the surgical site. They are effective in reducing pain.
Have you tried other pain medications?  If so, what? Hang in there. There is hope.
Tuck

[Toomanyadvil]

Hi Jennabennabean(such a cute name!)

Tuckamore is right, there are mant other pain meds that arent in the same family. Its defenitly not uncommon to be allergic to codeine.
What kind of allergic reaction did you have?

The reason I ask is because codeine can cause severe itching because it of its activity in MAST cells which can release hystomine. So many people think they are having an allergic reaction.Codeine is also metabolized in the liver by a certain enzyme many people dont have called CYP 2D6 and so the codein will not work and only cause side effects. So many people think with the itching that they are allergic.

Defenitly talk it over with your DR and find out what else you may be able to take instead. They can defenitly find something for you so you can have surgery and get this problem taken care of.

TMA

[JennaBennaBean]

I actually was in the icu over a codiene allergy.  The MDs keep trying to give me advil or methadone and they do not help.  why would i want to have more pain that can never be controlled.  the docs try to reassure me but i know better because ive tried their solutions.  Thank you so much for you input and sound advice

[Toomanyadvil]

yep thats a true allergic reaction.
When your allergic to codeine and have had a life threatning reaction from it you run the risk of having a reaction to any class of opioids so I understand your concern.

Methadone is defenitly in a completely different class. There is something called Propoxyphene that has been used before and after surgery for pain and is in the same class as methadone. Its combines with acethomenophine and Its trade name is Darvocet N.
There is also a different class of opioids like Fentaynl and demerol. There similiar but still in a different class so minimize the risk of an allergy.

Other than those I'm not sure there is much else available except for NSAIDS and acetomeniphine. I'm sorry nothing sems to be working it must be really frustrating and scary that your DR wants you to take the surgery route with no pain killers that you can tolerate or will work.

TMA