Re: A post from Angie Frunz

[Guest guest]

Angie -

As long as you're going directly from one opiate to an equivalent (or

higher) dose of another opiate, you shouldn't notice any " withdrawal "

symptoms whatsoever.

Your body only knows that it is still getting a dose of opiates, and

as long as that dose doesn't dip significantly, your body doesn't

even notice that the med has changed.

I've made the change between opiates, and I was worried about the

exact same thing, and found out that I was worried about nothing.

Your doctor should be able to calculate what an " equivalent " dose is

for a different drug - it won't be the same number of milligrams,

because they all have different base strengths - but if s/he gives

you the same effective dose or a stronger dose, you'll be just fine.

You don't titrate down off one and then titrate up on to the other -

that would require withdrawals, not to mention a significant period

of time without pain relief! You simply switch meds one day. You

won't even notice the change, except hopefully you'll have better

pain relief!

Don't let this worry you one bit!

Cheryl in AZ

[Guest guest]

Cheryl,

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I have changed meds from like

vicodin to methadone, but methadone is the strongest type of pain meds I have

been on, so I didn't know what to expect from it.

Angie