Re: Newbie/Doug

[Guest guest]

Hi Doug and welcome. I have arthritis in my hands and neck. I have been on

oxycodone for about 3 yrs. I also take tramadol to help when I need an extra

punch to control the pain. I also take muscle relaxer for muscle spasms in my

upper back. I was tried on morphine, but it did not work well for me.

I have heard of a new medication out for neuropathy. Sorry can't remember the

name. Have you been tried on neurontin or Lyrica? They both are used for nerve

pain.

I can't take anti-inflammatory medications anymore because they really bother my

stomach. I was told to take them for years when I had carpel tunnel.

I can take Excedrin (acetaminophen and aspirin w/caffeine) if I spread out the

doses and only use it occasionally. That seems better tolerated by my system.

A great website for information on chronic illnesses is butyoudon'tlooksick.com.

they post new medical information, good sites for more information on specific

conditions and like this site you can post questions and exchange ideas. they

cover all types of subjects related to dealing with chronic illnesses. It is

free to participate. hope this helps. hope you get are having a manageable day.

Hugs,

Tami

--- Doug wrote:

>

> Hello all,

>

> I have chronic pain from degenerative Arthritis and Diabetic Neuropathy.

> I suppose what bothers me most is that for pain so far am on Oxycodone 5mg and

was told it I need to can in addition add in 500mg Tylenol.

>

> Does anyone have experience with other pain killers that may be more

effective? I am simply concerned about long term use of powerful narcotic pain

killers.

[Guest guest]

Doug, an oxycodone dose of 5 mg is the lowest possible dose. If it

helps, that's fine. If it doesn't help, then you need a stronger dose.

Tylenol is OK for occasional use but long term use of Tylenol could lead

to liver damage. In my opinion, Tylenol is more dangerous than

oxycodone. Alternatives for 5 mg oxycodone include 1) higher doses of

it or, even better, 2) a time-released opiate.

For treatment of my chronic neck pain, I was first started on a dose

like yours. However, after seeing a pain specialist in 1998, my

medication was changed to Oxycontin, which is a time-released version of

oxycodone.

Oxycontin developed a bad reputation when addicts starting abusing it, so my

health insurance carrier stopped paying for it.

Without insurance, Oxycontin was costing me over $300 a month. So it

was back to a pain specialist for an alternative medication. I'm now on MS

Contin, which is time-released morphine sulfate. It's cheap and it works well.

The deal with time-released medications is that a small amount is

continuously being delivered over a 8 to 10 hour period. With oxycodone like

you're taking, the entire amount is released quickly and then it gradually wears

off after a few hours. That means that you get some relief fairly quickly but

then it goes away.

I don't understand the physiology, but my neck does much better with a

time-released dose. Besides MS Contin, another time-released medication is

methadone (it's not just for recovering addicts), and an internal pain pump.

I've been on time-released pain medications for 12 years now. Other

than dependence, I don't have any problems related to my medication.

Dependence means that my body has become used to the medication.

If I stopped all of a sudden, I would go into withdrawal. If I ever decided

that I didn't want to take an opiate any more, then I would work with my doctor

who would prescribe other medications to help me gradually withdraw.

Dependence is very much different from addiction. Addiction is more of a

psychological problem than a physiological problem.

The statistics of people legitimately taking opiates for chronic pain show that

only a few percent become addicted and some of those had prior addiction

problems.

Talk to your doctor. You have alternatives.

Joe S. (also from New Mexico)

>Doug wrote:

> I suppose what bothers me most is that for pain so far am on Oxycodone 5mg and

was told it I need to can in addition add in 500mg Tylenol.

> Does anyone have experience with other pain killers that may be more

effective? I am simply concerned about long term use of powerful

narcotic pain killers.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the information Joe. I will talk to my doctor when I see him in

Albuquerque on Wednesday. I am going to try and get a referral to a

Rheumatologist as well as pain management.

As for the medication I am on for pain, my primary care doctor only wrote the

prescription of Oxycodone for the narcotic itself minus the Tylenol.  He stated

if I need the Tylenol to go ahead and use it.

However with my other health problems I take 14 different medications. Three of

those are 3 times a day for Neuropathy and Blood Pressure.

Doug

[Guest guest]

Thanks Tami for the information.  I currently take Neurontin at a dose of 300mg,

3 times a day.  It is not helping much with the Neuropathy pain.  My doctor

wants me to take Lyrica but it is not on the drug formulary for my insurance. 

So for now, the doctor is trying to fight the insurance to get Lyrica covered

for me as an exception.

Thanks also for the reference to the website listed below.  I appreciate this

information as I am fairly new to chronic pain.  I say fairly new as this has

been only 3 months now.  The worst of the pain though is in the left shoulder

and arm where the severe degenerative arthritis is located.  As well as the pain

killer I will start to go to Physical Therapy starting at the end of this week. 

Hopefully this will help as well.

Hugs,

Doug

Tami wrote:

A great website for information on chronic illnesses is butyoudon'tlooksick.com.