Hey there! I had the same issue because I have ulcerative colitis the meds went through me so fast they didn't get a chance to work.

My first thought after reading the first paragraph is that your liver is not going to stand up to that abuse for any amount of time (Yep, I'm a former nurse too). For that reason, if nothing else, you need alternate pain meds.

The patches you talk about giving your mother would be a great way for you to go. I use them and they work great for me. They are called Fentanyl or Duragesic patches and they come in many different strengths, so the meds can be attuned to you. Just enough but not too much. They are often used with a 6 hour breakthrough pain med, but if you have the dosage right on the patch, you need very little for breakthrough.

Hope this helps and good luck with the doctor!

Hey, I would also ask the doctor to do a liver panel on you to make sure you haven't gone too toxic!

The fentanyl patches are not really supposed to be used on people unless they are opioid tolerant, I am fairly sure. They may be too strong for you, it would probably be better to start with something like oxycontin, ms-contin, or methadone for a long-acting med. Really you just need to talk to your doctor about it and see what he thinks. But the patches could make you very sick if you are not opioid tolerant when you start on them. Good luck and I hope you find some relief.

I hope everyone is having a pain free day,
Circa

I know every time I was in the hospital they had to take me off the morphine pump after the first 12 hours because of severe migraines,and Ihave had stadol for a migraine before and I swear I felt like I was going to pass away any momemt, I don't know what to do I am crying right now from the pain I have a headache and life is sucking pretty bad right now, how can a person be expected to go through this with a sane mind intact.

Since you are on Neurontin, you might ask your doctor about switching to Lyrica. It is taken twice a day, and works better for me. I started with 75 mg twice a day and after a few weeks, I went to 150 mg twice a day. I was also on the Duragesic patches, but my doctor preferred that I take non-narcotic meds, so he gave me Methadone 10 mg twice a day. I also take Tramadol 100 mg 4 times a day.

I guess I should say that I have chronic pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and rheumatoid vasculitis, and a whole bunch of garden variety disorders. I have found that doctors are more likely to give out meds that are non-narcotic, than the narcotic meds.

I too went through the same route, but ended taking so many it killed my stomach. My pain dr switched to longer acting - methodone. Yes it is a narcotic. I stayed on it a year. It took about 3 weeks of hell to completely come off of it. I probably should have gone to rehab, but I refused to have this on my records as then all Drs would then assume that I was an addict which I'm not. I just chose to come off as I didn't like the person on it - I couln't remember anything I said, became obessesed with ebay, conversations became difficult as words wouldn't come to me.... Now, I use the patch with Valium and I'm a new person. Even my skin is a healthier color. My eyes no longer "bug out" I've gone from 18 pills down to 4, 2 of which are for depression. The depression has nothing to do with the pain. However, the more you read here, the more you find out we all react differently to meds, you have to just keep trying, don't give up!

I have to agree with Circa on this one. The patches are used ONLY for those who are opiod tolerant. As u say u get severe headaches if u take the Ultram more than every 6hrs and reacted badly to the morphine u were givin in the hospital, I'm thinking ur definately NOT opiod tolerant! Your best course of action would be to discuss the next step for you with your consultant.
Hope this helps x Dee x

If possible, I sure try the patch, I was on it for years, with loratab for breakthrough. Gee, that is some horrible medicatin you on. Neurontin is great, but all that motrin, I'd be a walking baloon. Hope you get the help you need soon.

Hey,as far as the patches go, they start at 25mcgs and go up to over 200mcgs. The 25mcgs. is a start-up dosage and is used in non-opoid tolerant patients. Once you get past that dosage, opoid tolerance is a must. But at that time the doctor can increase the dosage as needed. I have been on the patches for 4 years now, I go to a pain management clinic, and they work great for me. You do not have to be dying to get them and they can be started as the initial pain medication.

But, talk to your doctor and explain your concerns, because only the two of you can work out the best plan for you.
Purrs--Laura

I take methadone, zanaflex 4 per day with Hydracodone 10 for breakthrough pain, I get pain shots and blocks in my spine every three to four weeks, also have garden variety of other ailments and would love to try something long acting. i go to the pain management doctor, like I said, every three to four weeks. I will keep reading to see what might be out there, that doesn't have to be swallowed!

Here is the issue, especially for someone like her. If she is having problems like that with morphine and tramadol, both of which have much higher therapeutic index than fentanyl, that means that the dose between effective dose that helps her, and the dose that causes lots of problems is much smaller in fentanyl. So she could very easily become sick from the fentanyl because the plasma concentrations with the patch vary tremendously while a person has it on. That is why a person is supposed to be opioid tolerant, so they can handle those ebbs and flows without getting sick or ODing. She already sounds very sensitive to opioids, making fentanyl an especially bad choice. However, if she is closely monitered by a doc and has discussed everything with a doc beforehand, it certainly could work out. It is just that it seems like there are a lot of safer options for her than a fentanyl patch.

Also just wondering, Notthosboss, you said your doc did not want you on narcotics and then he put you on methadone? Methadone is certainly a narcotic, I dont know if he informed you, but it is actually a very strong one at that. It is less addictive than other opioids though and that is probably why your doctor prescribed it.

I hope everyone is having a pain-free day,
Circa

HI, my son takes DEPAKOTE for a preventive & maxalt when the migraine starts up! but you have too take the maxalt asap it feels it coming on! or it does not work sometimes! - also at your local drug store(walgreen, cvs ) buy a box of wellpatches! - put on forhead lassts 8 hrs ! my son says it helps also! please ask your dr about it also !good luck please let me know what they do for you! enjoy your weekend!

My personal recommendation of the patch was simply because it fit in with what you were looking for. It is long acting, you don't have to worry about taking pills every 4 hours, it is much easier on the liver--you are looking at liver toxicity as it is--and it can be tailored to your needs. It is also not in the same class as the standard opoids, hydrocodone and oxycodone--if you are sensitive to one then you are usually sensitive to all of them, fentanyl takes you out of that class. And finally, you cannot get methadone and oxycontin in all states. I know when I was on methadone I had to get the script filled in NC because SC would not fill it. So that may be a concern as well.

But again, talk to your doc. Only the two of you can figure out what is best for you. You should probably even ask to be sent to pain management where they know in more detail what is available and how best to work with you and your sensitivities.

Purrs--Laura

Thanks everybody for answering here and sending me messages my PM appt. is Oct.29th @ 8:30 with a new doctor at this clinic, I hope all goes well, my primary doc. refilled what I already take and put me back on celexa and added xanax and zantac for my nerves and my stomach, he cut my dose of motrin to 800mg 2x a day and did a ast/alt(liver test) so far I have been very sleepy but the pain level is about a 3/10 but I have a friend that got addicted to xanax and tried to kill herself and had horrible tics from it so I do not want to be on it long. Once again you guys do not know what each one of you mean to me, thanks for being here for me.mlp

I read most of the posts and wanted to put my input here if noone minds. I have been on methadone for over a year. I beleive. I can no longer take it due to stomcah problems. I have never been on a patch. I have been also told by my pm doc that he was going to take me off of the methadone because of the complications with taking it for so long at the time. He didn't get the chance to do it before my gastro doc did. Now I can not take any pain meds. Well, I'm tappering myself off of the methadone. A good question that I would have asked if I was smarter would be how long can I take this med before having to come off of it. I know that the stomach prob was prob not something that we would have known to happen. Noone knows the future but I wish that I was never on it to begin with. I had no er visits and as long as I was a vegatable I was ok. Now tappering myself off I am angry and in pain again. This is my story. Not everyones elses. Please consider long risk problems when taking meds for awhile. I will shut up I'm rambling.