United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Since my surgery in February I decreased the Oxycontin from 120 mg a day to 40 mg a day. i have found in the last couple of weeks that the medication only lasts about 4 hours and it is supposed to be a 12 hour pill right? Anyone have any suggestions? Is anyone else takeing Oxy? I have heard its very addictive. thanks for any help

Andrew

Be really careful with this stuff Andrew, here's a couple of websites about it. http://www.oxyabusekills.com/ http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/o ... tin-qa.htm
It's an opiate, heavy duty stuff, which is I suppose why some people are abusing it. Talk to your prescribing doctor before changing your dose and don't mix it with anything. Hope the surgery helps, from what I've read the pain often starts to fade as the nerves regrow, but every case is different. Good luck, the pain is by far the most debilitating aspect of a tbpi, mine was truly awful for ages but it's fine now, just breaks out occasionally. Keep us posted on your progress, and good luck :0)

good articles Jenny.........interesting reading, especially the first link you posted. The withdrawel effects would scare anyone. I also realize that this drug has it's place. Thanks

George

Hi Andrew.......sorry you are having to endure that much pain. Well.......after reading the links that Jen posted, I would definately recommend passing your concerns on to your treating physician, and be very candid with them. It may be as simple as tweaking the dosages for your situation. Hope your surgery brings much gain. The pain usually lessens with time, but unfortuanately takes quite a bit of it ) Good luck in your recovery !

George

Hi Andrew! Just wanted to let you know that Jason in on 40mg 3 times a day. Oxy is "supposed to be" a 12 hour pain reliever for the average person, but we all know bpi's aren't average when it comes to pain. We constantly have problems with the insurance companies covering it because they think its a 12hour too. But the pharmacist told us when its pain like this, it usually lasts about 8. We tried doing the 60mg every 12hours but it is unsuccessful. Jason is also on Neurontin and elavil. Sometimes the meds work and sometimes they don't. We are in the ER about every two weeks for the pain. They give him 150mg of demoral to get back on top of the pain. Jason takes his meds religously so we don't understand why it doesn't work continuously. It is very addicting and scary. We've talked to 3 pain specialists and the oxy is the only thing they recommend. When it comes time to come off of it, they should wean you off. That's what we were told anyway.
What surgery did you have done and how long ago was your injury? Jason is 7 months in and he's having an intercostal nerve transplant May 9. We are also going to see if the doc will remove some scar tissue. We've heard it sometimes helps with lessening the pain.
Well, don't mean to ramble! I hope things work out for you. As far as Jason's pain goes, it's still at the same degree it was when he had the accident.

Jason&Amy