I'm confused about what to do

[discretekarma]

I've been on Oxymorphone (Opana) 80mg per day and 15mg x 4 per day of Oxycodone for breakthrough pain for about 6 months.  Before that I was on Kadian and before that I was on Oxycontin.  I started having severe anxiety on the Kadian (200 mg per day) and so my doctor switched me to a slightly higher dose of Opana and the anxiety stopped. I've been on the Opana for about 6 months and I had a Discectomy and Laminectomy about 10 days ago.  I was taking the Oxycodone 6 times a day instead of 4 for a few days after the surgery but quickly switched back to 4 a day.  The Opana has stayed the same.  I have been having really bad anxiety for the past week.  I realized that it's withdrawal.  I went c/t about 9 months ago from a 160mg per day Oxycontin habit so I know what the withdrawal feels like.  I think I was feeling w/d in between my doses on the Kadian and that's why I felt better when my doctor switched me to a slightly higher dose of Opana.  I made an appointment to go to my doctors tomorrow morning and I wanted some opinions.  It's not realistic for me to stop taking the meds all together since my back is still in a lot of pain most of the time.  Suboxone nor quitting all together isn't an option now even though they will be in the future.  Continuing to feel the way I do now also isn't an option.  I know my doctor will do whatever I want within reason since he trusts me.  I really didn't want to raise the Opana and I also don't think it will help to take more Oxycodone.  I also don't really want to take any Xanax or any other anti anxiety because I don't feel like this is a short term problem that'll go away in a few days.  For some reason I am coming in and out of withdrawals with my current dose and I'm not sure why.  I barely come out of wd at all through out the day.  I'm basically just hovering with the beginning stages.  It's not full blown wd though.  I just don't know what to do.  I'll talk to my doctor but I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions so I could have some things in mind when I went it to the appointment tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure if this makes sense or is the easiest to read since I'm having a hard time thinking straight.  

Thanks

[discretekarma]

That's what I thought.  I appreciate your feedback.  I'm really hoping that taking the same dose but more frequently will help out.  Maybe even just mentally.  I'd really like it to solve the problem so I don't have to raise the dose anymore than it already is now.  I don't think raising the dose is the end of the world though.  I'll have to ween off eventually anyways so raising my dose would just mean that I ween for a little longer.  

[lisa650]

Hi there, my opinion, plain and simple is that your tolerance went up when you upeed your dose.  Your body liked having more drugs, then you tried to go back to your normal dose and your body didnt like it. Hopefully if you stay on your normal dose you'll be okay, but the truth of the matter is that with all drugs, we get used to them and eventually build a tolerance and we have to start using more. That has been my experence.  Like when i first started 1 vicodin used to get me f eeling pretty good.  That was a long time ago.  After that it was 2 or 3 then i went to percs. then morphine 13mgs, soon that wasnt enuff towards the end i was usingabout100mgs daily.

[discretekarma]

So I went to my doctors and now I'm back home.  My doctor insisted that the anxiety and cold sweats I'm experiencing isn't due to withdrawal.  He said that some people don't get 12 hours of relief from ER meds like they say they should but that would just lead to pain; not withdrawal.  I'm not sure if I agree with that but I accepted that since he's the pro.  He kept me at the same dose since I requested to stay.  Also at my request, he switched me from 40mg every 12 hours to 20mg every 6 hours to see if that helps.  He said that I may be having anxiety because of the pain and that would cause similar feelings.  I went cold turkey from a  high ammount of Oxy so I do know what wd feels like.  It's definitely not full blown withdrawal like I had then so I just agreed to try what he suggested. I took my 40 this morning so I haven't switched yet but I'll probably switch tonight.  I took my 40 at around noon today so I figure around midnight tonight that I'll take a 20mg and then go to sleep.  I'm sure I'll wake up early in withdrawal and I'll take my next 20 then which should be around 6am.  I have 8mg dilaudid's and I'll just use those accordingly to get me transitioned.  He wants me to go back in a week to let him know how this feels for me.  He said that if this doesn't work that he'll either adjust my dose or switch me off Opana.  I like Opana so I probably wouldn't choose to switch off.  I'm hoping this will work and it won't come to it.  

[worried878]

so u r asking what can u do to no longer feel wds?   the answer is to up ur doses of medications..u r on heavy duty meds but in the light that u need them there is not much else u can do other than take a comfortable dose....when u r ready u can come down of the meds and try non narcotic pain control...I guess i would try and up the short lived meds/oxycodone verses the long life meds if ur goal is to quit one day

[discretekarma]

Thanks Kim. Anyone else?

[kim715]

I don't know anything about the drugs you're taking but I wanted to bump your post back up to the top.Hang in there someone will come along who will be able to give you some answers.Peace...........Kim