You should've been place on long acting a long time ago. Short acting meds should only be prescribed as break thru meds or for acute episodes of pain. IF you've been chronic for awhile you should be on oxycontin or methadone. Sounds like your dr isn't paying attention to your needs. I would just ask him/her about long acting meds. I wouldn't ask for a specific med let him/her suggest some.

I was placed on extended release medications right of the bat. My pain Doctor believes that taking ER meds with a boost for break through pain should be the way that all pain Doctor's manage their patients, but unfortunately it doesn't happen that way. Yes, talk to your Doc and ask him for ER Oxy, and then you can keep the IR for when you need a boost for break through pain. Good luck Hun,

Yes Yes, long acting is what you need, You know how i hated that up and down feeling all day, it would seem i would take a pill wait an half hour for it to kick in and then i would have an hour to an hour and half of pain relief and then have to wait for another pill, I took kadian, it was great it is morphine, lots of side effects for me, especially constipation, but i really liked waking up in the morning not needing a pill to get me up and going. Break through pills i wanted but my doctor would not give me, she said the kadian should be enough and for the most part it was,

When is you next appt to the doctor, talk to him and see what he says

when the doctor put me on meds, he put me on slow release and then gave me fast release ones to help with the pain when it's flares up.
i would ask for slow release and use the fast release one when the pain is high.

I didn't get to read everyone's replies so I've repeated anything, I apologize but I don't have much time....but, still wanted to give you my two cents.

Once I was diagnosed I was just given Vicodin 500 mg which stopped working after a year, so then I went onto the Norcos. I recently started seeing a pain management doc and he thought I needed to be put on a long term pain med which is my fentanyl patch (replace it every 3 days, and it's the lowest dose available, 25mcg/hr) and to keep my Norcos only for break thru pain. The Norcos were losing their effect after 5 years, but now that I rely on the patch to keep my pain down to a 3-4, I only use the Norcos when I feel that it's starting to escalate and that brings me back down to that level again.

As far as using Norco, my PM doc said that some peeple go on forever on Norcos without any tolerance towards the drug, while others become tolerant right away or about after a year of it. Everyone's tolerance level is different. I think you should talk to your doc about it. Oxycontin is a long time releaser whereas Oxycodone is short term so maybe you should be on Oxycontin for the main chronic pain and keep your Norco or Oxycodone for the breakthru pain. Just a suggestion. Good luck!

It took me over two years for someone to listen to me and try to help me.

It also took me 2 years to find someone to listen to me. I was given 1-2 Vicodin or Vicodin ES per DAY before I found my very excellent pain doc. I wouldn't mention specific names of medications since that is a "red flag.") (Totally stupid, I know.) Tell your doc that the meds aren't lasting long enough and if he can recommend something that will last longer. If he can not or will not, start your search for a pain management specialist who will take you seriously and then adhere to their strict rules so that they keep you.

It took me about 2-3 years, but I'm extremely stubborn and I didn't "always" need the immediate release medication every 4 hours every day (maybe every 6 and every once in awhile I could go a whole day without any). It took a lot to convince me that living at a steady 8-9 all day every day was just too much. My doctor wasn't the issue at all; he repeatedly, gently brought up the issue of the sustained release medication on a number of occasions. I just wasn't emotionally ready to accept that I was at the point of needing them. The same thing happened with my transplant evaluation. It took 2 years of discussing the fact I will need a dual liver/kidney transplant before I finally accepted that fact and made the arrangements for an evaluation. I'm not listed (my kidney function is still a bit too good; it's my liver that's the cause of the intense pain), but at least I finally took the step and went through the initial evaluation.

When it comes to medications, sometimes it's the patient, sometimes it's the doctor. Both sides have a responsibility to speak up if the treatment isn't working or something needs to change. So if your doctor isn't, then it's time for you to speak out. I recommend doing so in a manner that simply states you need more consistent, sustained pain relief that will enable you to live your life around the clock instead of constantly chasing the pain with the different types of immediate pain medication (you'll be able to work while taking the sustained release medications because they provide a small, but constant amount of pain medication all the time and you don't get that groggy feeling like you do with the immediate release). Then ask your doctor what the options are. Like kmiller, I wouldn't ask for a particular med but let your doctor suggest some (although do make sure youu doctor is aware of any allergies). Just be sure you also have a breakthrough pain medication as well (e.g. the oxycodone immediate release) for those occasions when the pain is more than the sustained release medication can handle, because those occasions alas will occur.

Good luck and please, talk with your doctor so you can get the pain relief you need. Check back in and let us know how you're doing.

I agree with tipper! Good luck,