Good Morning to Debs

[Guest guest]

Debs,

I saw in your letter to Laurie where you said you were still having

some lack of coverage with the fast and slow Oxy. They say here that

sometimes it's better to use a different BT med than Oxy IR when

you're taking Oxycontin.....one with a different chemical makeup. Do

you think there's any chance that your doctor would consider the

morphine or something other than the Oxy IR for breakthrough? You

might get better milage that way. Are you still taking the Neurontin,

too?

I'm using Oxycodone, (10 mgs.) for BT with my Duragesic, and I'm not

all that happy with it. I often need more than just 10 mgs. to work,

and would love to find something else to replace it. Morphine never

did much for me, though, so I don't know what else there is that

doesn't contain tylenol that would work. I tried the morhine when I

was using Oxycontin slow acting, so perhaps in combination with the

Duragesic, it would work better. I plan to talk to my doctor about it

when I see him this week.

Just love all the fruit trees that you've planted! I would love to

have any fruit trees, all we have is a banana tree, and that will die

off during the winter, so we never have any fruit from it. Fruit

trees grow well here, but with only 1.25 acres, a portion of it which

is house, garage or greenhouse, we just don't have the room for more

trees. Our soil is sandy with a heavy concentration of oyster shells,

so it's not that good for planting, but our neighbor has figs and a

lemon tree that thrive well, so some growth is possible.

Don't try to do that rotar tilling yourself....you'll end up in

hospital again, and it's not worth it! Get Colin away from his books

and out in the yard working on it, maybe it will bring some sense back

into his now warped and wrongly influenced mind! I could wring that

Nazi quack's neck for the brainwashing job he did on Colin.....

I know you'll miss your mum, and her advocacy for you, but know that

you'll do okay now that the quack is history. Take care of yourself,

first!

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

Note: All comments or advice are based on personal experience or

opinion, and should not be substituted for professional medical

consultation.

[Guest guest]

Heidi,

Just wanted to chime in that when I was on Duragesic, my breakthrough

pain medicine was dilaudid in pill form. They come in 1mg, 2mg, and

4mg dosages. I used 2mgs for a while and when it got bad there for a

while I used 4mg. I could take one every 4 hours. It worked much

better than oxycodone. Of course if you have issues with dilaudid

then that would not be a choice.

Another med that is not that often prescribed is Levomethorphan. It

is

commonly used in end stage cancer in either long acting forms or

short

acting breakthrough forms. It comes in a wide variety of doses I

believe so there is probably one small enough to try before bumping

up

to big guns.

And don't forget Actiq, the fentanyl lollypop. They work well but are

very short acting.

Hope this helps.

Bert

>

> I'm using Oxycodone, (10 mgs.) for BT with my Duragesic, and I'm not

> all that happy with it. I often need more than just 10 mgs. to

work,

> and would love to find something else to replace it. Morphine never

> did much for me, though, so I don't know what else there is that

> doesn't contain tylenol that would work. I tried the morhine when I

> was using Oxycontin slow acting, so perhaps in combination with the

> Duragesic, it would work better. I plan to talk to my doctor about

it

> when I see him this week.

>

..

[Guest guest]

Bert,

Thanks so much for your suggestions for an alternate BT med other

than oxycodone. It's always nice to have feedback from someone else

who has tried others.

Dilaudid, unfortunately, isn't an option. I was using it for a while

three years ago, and had to stop because it gave me the most horrible,

evil hallucinations and nightmares that I would literally wake up in

the middle of the night in total terror....also found myself walking

in my sleep as a result of one of these night visions - woke up at

the front door, trying to leave the house in my nightgown! At the

time, I was raising Austin and my husband was, (is), gone four nights

out of each week. I decided it wasn't a safe medication for me.

Oddly enough, I have had it in the hospital in oral form or in a PCA

pump, and it didn't do anything like that at all, it was most

effective and the drug of my choice for the pump. Very odd, indeed.

I've never heard of Levomethorphan, and will bring that one up with

my doctor. Back in the 80's, Dilaudid was the drug of choice for

many end stage cancer patients. My mother-in-law was taking it up

until the day she died, and it made her quite dopey and

scatterbrained, but I don't know what dosage she was on. All I know

is that when I first started taking it, my husband was shocked and

opposed to it because of how it made his mother act. I guess now

this Levomethorphan has taken the place of the Dilaudid.

As for the Actiq, I have had an occasion to try two of these pops,

but haven't had a full prescription for them. I did find them very

successful, but as you said, the coverage didn't seem to last too

long. Due to their expense, I'm not sure that my doctor would even

consider them, but I'll mention those to him, also.

I had hoped to discuss all of this with my PM doctor on Thursday,

but my appointment was moved up by a month, so I'll have to wait

until September. I have to pick up my son at the airport on Thursday

afternoon instead, he's coming home for a 6 day family leave before

he leaves for Iraq.

I'll hopefully have news of a new BT med then, and will share it with

everyone at that time. Thanks again, Bert.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Rep., PAI

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should

not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Bert

thanks I found the info great, I never knew of the levamo.... and will

bring that up too

It seems you have trie d alot of these

Heidi

thes actiq pops how much are they over there?Your hallucinatiosn

sound scarey. arghh I have ha dthat on sleepign pills before I was

scare dto go to sleep an dI threw them.

So your son is in Iraq, how scarey what is his role over there?

debs

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