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Can someone explain in plain terms how different pain medications relate to one another strenghtwise? Specifically, how do Fentanyl, OxyContin and Lortabs relate the following way: 50mcg Fentanyl patch equals how many mg of OxyContin which then equals how many mg hydrocodone?
Also, is there any (Rx) muscle relaxers available that work exactly as Soma does only with longer-lasting effects? I have tried Flexeril, Skelaxin and Robaxin with no success at all and with bothersome side-effects including stomach and digestive upset and a dizzy or "cloudy" feeling, I have found that Soma is the only one that works for me with minimal side effects (mild stomach upset, slight reflux) but I find it very short-acting, effective for about 3 hours or so and I am only prescribed to take it 2 times per day (spaced approximately 12 hours apart, basically morning and evening). If there is nothing comparable to it, is it possible and safe to take Soma more than 2x per day? Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking if it's OK to break the rules and take more than prescribed, I know that is wrong and dangerous. I'm just asking if it's common practise to prescribe Soma more than 2x per day or if that is the max and I shouldn't bother asking the Dr at all.
Is there a common ingredient in the muscle relaxers I listed that might be causing me to get the stomach and digestive upset?
Many Drs do not like prescribing Oxy's because they are highly addictive and sold as a street drug. They are one molecule away from heroin and called hillbilly heroin.
Many Drs do not like prescribing Oxy's because they are highly addictive and sold as a street drug. They are one molecule away from heroin and called hillbilly heroin.
Hello:
Bingo!!!
Doctors are more concerned with HOW it's gonna LOOK to the DEA, instead of how to control their patients pain....
If you had a "nice doc" then you could possibly do it over the phone, BUT....
The prescription must be in the pharmacist's hands with 7 days or postmarked within 7 if using a mail order pharmacy.
If the psysician is part of a large organization like a hospital, this can add significant transit time in he mail. He also has to provide the stamp.
Some docs can really picky with these meds. They may either require an appointment, only give enough for a month, and/or require you to physically pick it up.
What looks good is getting it from the same pharmacy prescribed by the same doctor for a reasonable length of time and that you would have no leftovers. He needs to ensure that say, you have an appointment every 3 months.
I do the oxy through the mail all the time. I use it as needed (PRN) which would be an "off label" use.
Say you normally require 20 mg a day, but some days you could use 10 and other's 30 or even 40. That's being able to change based on the amount of pain, but it doesn't solve the abilty to handle something acute, lie adding acetminophen or aspirin to the combination. When you add Acetominophen your essentially making Percoset.
You didn't say what kind of injury we are talking about, but drugs such as Soma (muscle relaxer) and Neurontin (kin of a nerve deadener) should really be used as a first line of defense.
Another rule with pain is that if you medicate at the slightest hint it will get worse, then a smaller amount of medication will be necessary to get relief.
A simple example of this:
You burn your finger. It's not hurting. Place in cool water immediately. It will hurt less and not blister as much.
You hit your head. Ice pack immediately. The swelling will reduce and it will hurt less.
And the final one. You stomach hurts and you drop a rock on your toe. The toe now hurts and the stomach doesn't.
yeah the problem is you DID have an addiction so the doctor knows you are prone to addiction. They will not prescribe something that is highly addictive if they know it can lead to problems. Plus many people that have had or do have addictions are not only taking their meds but combining them with alcohol or drugs. So the doctors have to take all this into consideration when they prescribe meds.
IDK but I know when I have pain what works for me (and I have had somas a couple times in my life) is I break them and take pieces at a time so that I am not getting too much at once and then it wears off and I have to wait.
I don't know if you need the entire pill at once for your pain or if that would even work for you but it works for me but I don't get severe pain,
Some of what you ask for for equivelency is in the prescribing information, I think.
Hdrocodone, I believe is not available separately. It's mixed with varying strengths of Aceteminophin (APAP) inthe brand name Vicodin. Acetiminophen has limits due to liver damage and that's what all the hoola has been about recently.
Soma http://www.soma250.com/pdf/full_prescribing_info.pdf
is avalable at 250 and 350 mg strengths and I know can be taen 4x per day. The half life is less that 2 hours, so the effects are totally gone in 10 hrs
Absorption: Absolute bioavailability of carisoprodol has not been determined. The
mean time to peak plasma concentrations (Tmax) of carisoprodol was approximately
1.5 to 2 hours. Co-administration of a high-fat meal with SOMA (350 mg tablet) had no
effect on the pharmacokinetics of carisoprodol. Therefore, SOMA may be administered
with or without food.
Soma has been used for long-term relief (years) despite what the prescribing info says.
Intestinal upset can be a tolerence thing. A typical diabetes drug took me a month to get to 1000 mg/2x per day. I started with pieces of the tablets and took until my body tolerated it and then gradually increased it.
Stomach upset can usually be relieved by taking with food and/or milk. Some things like antibiotics are rendered less effective by taking calcium.
NoHelp, yeah I was addicted to the pain meds, but I was legally prescribed them. The physical addiction came from the long term use, not from any kind of abuse. I took the meds as prescribed. I used the meds for a very long time, so I think anyone using it for that long would become physically addicted. But anyway, my GP Dr doesn't know this, this script was from my Neurosurgeon. All my GP knows is that I was seeing a Neurosurgeon, had surgery, surgery has since failed badly. I told him what meds I had been on, and instead of having me on Lortab, he put me on a roud-the clock opiod treatment. The damage I could've done to my liver from taking the acetominophen so much like I had been was what he wanted to eliminate. SO, I am no longer taking any acetominophen, which is great. He did a LFT (Liver function test) to make sure I hadn't done any damage. My GP knows nothing about me being physically dependant on any meds, I have only been seeing this GP since fairly recently. At the time when my Neurosurgeon dropped me, I had no GP.
As for my need for the meds, it's a neuroligic issue (spinal) and another issue that I am not really comfortable talking about, as I haven't really come to grips with it yet myself.
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