hydrocodone question

[Guest guest]

a wrote:

> I continue to toy with the idea of suing the surgeon who operated on my foot

for malpractice, as the foot that had the surgery is not only worse than prior

to the operation, but far worse than the other foot, which has the exact same

problem and has not been operated on. Even though financial compensation won't

change the fact that I can barely walk, I do feel that this surgeon should

somehow be held accountable for my ever-increasing disability.

I'm not an American, so I'm not big on suing people. I'm more of the terse, but

very polite letter, type.

I've had surprising reactions from the handful of physicians to whom I've taken

the time to write a serious letter. They don't like to have lousy outcomes to

anything that they do. They're human beings and medical science is far from

being an exact medicine. It has a long, long way to go to become that.

If you want to sue him " out of principle " and not for money -- you'd get through

to him better with the personal touch -- like a heartfelt letter. Suing is

handled by insurance companies. It is impersonal. All it does is put the

doctor's insurance rates up, which in turn, means he has to up his fees, and on

and on it goes.

--

Lyndi

[Guest guest]

> asked:

> " Though is the doctor you want to sue the same one that gave you the

>prescription?? Otherwise I would call your doctor and let them know >what is

going on, then they normally tell you to take more. "

No, . The doctor I'm thinking of suing is the orthopedic surgeon who

operated on my foot this past June. I'm no longer seeing him for anything.

I did call my pain doc, but his secretary said he's out of the office today and

so will not be able to talk to me until Monday. I'm going to try taking two

hydrocodones at a time, since the prescription allows me to do so, and see if

that makes any difference.

Hugs,

a

Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Guest guest]

--- a wrote:

>

> I've been taking 7.5 mg of hydrocodone every four hours for months

now. The prescription reads 1-2 tablets every four hours, but I've

been sticking to one.

>

> Now that the cold weather has set in, my pain level is going

through

> the roof. I'm using up my Fentoras like there's no tomorrow. Do you

> think it would be a good idea for me to try taking two hydrocodones

> at a time to see if that prevents all of this breakthrough pain?

Hi a -

(Excuse the rather long snip here, moderators, but I wanted to make

sure I captured the whole issue I was commenting on.)

I'm a little late with this reply, a, because it looks like

you've gone ahead and decided to try this, but I wanted to ask you a

rhetorical question: Why have you been so resistant to taking the

prescribed dose of the hydrocodone?

It seems a bit counterproductive that you're willing to allow regular

(and what sounds like excruciating!) breakthrough pain and as a

result take a much stronger med - the Fentora - to treat it, but

you're resistant to taking just a slightly higher dose of a much

weaker med that would help you maintain lower pain levels all the

time.

Take the extra pill. Better yet, get your doc to get you off those

short-acting hydrocodone that are mixed with acetaminophin and switch

you over to an equivalent dose of a long-acting opiate in its place,

so you won't have the roller-coaster pain cycles from it every four

hours, and I'll bet good money you'll find you won't have as much

breakthrough pain! Those four-hour cycles of constantly coming off-

and-on the meds are contributing to your breakthrough pain, I'll

guarantee it. Plus, getting a med without that darn Tylenol in it

will save your liver in the long run.

I hope you find some relief in the extra dose - and if you do, talk

to your doctor about switching to a long-acting med without the

tylenol. I seem to remember you're already on one long-acting like

Kadian or something similar, but if you're taking Norco as well, then

you obviously just need a substitution for it and it can be long-

acting as well.

Cheryl in AZ

[Guest guest]

I was trying to find information about whether anything that we take for

pain can end up with rebound and not just headaches?? And that only the

tylenol can be the culprit?

Was just wondering if that means that I can rebound for back pain or

anything else then?? Ok, maybe I am repeating myself, am sorry for that. I

hope someone understands my question.

G

[Guest guest]

Cheryl wrote: " Why have you been so resistant to taking the

prescribed dose of the hydrocodone?

It seems a bit counterproductive that you're willing to allow regular

(and what sounds like excruciating!) breakthrough pain and as a

result take a much stronger med - the Fentora - to treat it, but

you're resistant to taking just a slightly higher dose of a much

weaker med that would help you maintain lower pain levels all the

time. "

Cheryl,

I've hesitated taking the extra hydrocodone for two reasons. One, the mental

fogginess and fatigue. And secondly, the additional acetominophen. I just feel

like I take so many darned pills already. Silly, I know.

The breakthrough wasn't as frequent as it has been the past two weeks, and so

the Fentora was enough. Not anymore, not even with a doubling of the dose. Yes,

I'm on Kadian also (70 mg twice a day). Good memory.

I also just don't do well with most medications. I'm the queen of the adverse

side-effect. So having found three pain meds that I can tolerate pretty well is

miraculous in and of itself. Although it's now gotten to the point where I'm

going to talk to my pain doc when I see him in two weeks for my monthly check-in

about trying a different combination, because what I've been on isn't holding me

anymore. And nothing seems to help the foot and arm pain, which is beyond

puzzling to me. I keep asking myself, " How can my foot hurt THIS much when I'm

on morphine, for pete's sake? " It just makes no sense. But then, I've never

reacted normally to medications. I've been telling my docs for years that pain

meds just don't work right on me. No one listens though. Maybe they think I'm a

drug-seeker or something; I don't know. But after many of my surgeries, I ended

up on no pain medication rather than the ones I was prescribed, because they

didn't touch the pain and they made me sick.

I'm fully convinced that I just don't metabolize meds like others do. I've

discussed this with my pain doc, and he thinks that may indeed be the case. But

the arsenal of medications is limited; no one is going to create a drug tailored

solely to my metabolism that's side-effect free.

Today is my daughter's 20th birthday, and she'll be coming over later in the

day for dinner, then spending a few days here. I need to cook her a vegan

birthday dinner (help!), as well as a non-vegan dinner for me and hubby. I can

already feel the pain in my foot and arm from all that cooking, but I have to do

it for her. (She travels a lot, and she was in South America for both her 18th

and 19th birthdays. And she plans to be away next year, too. So I kind of have

to make a big deal of having her home this year.)

It's going to be a looooooong day.

Hugs,

a

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[Guest guest]

a, I'm somewhat like you with pain meds, actually all meds. I can only

tolerate maybe half of a normal dose. I never took any kind of meds until I

became disabled then shortly after, I found out I had advanced hepatitis c.

The liver biopsy showed grade 3, stage 3 which is right before cirrhosis, a

very damaged liver. We found this to be the reason that I can only tolerate

smaller doses of medicine. The liver is throwing a fit about processing

meds.

I also realize that I have a fear of medicines. Could this be partly your

problem? If so, don't allow the fear to control you when you need

medication. I hope you get your meds worked out so you can feel comfortable

about them and they can relieve that pain.

judy from Missouri

[Guest guest]

, the hydrocodone doesn't make my mental fuzziness, forgetfulness

etc. go away. I contribute it to the fibromyalgia. judy

I was wondering...has anyone else noticed that after taking pain meds for a

while the mental fuzziness seems to fade?

[Guest guest]

Hi the psychoactive effects of hydrocodone should

take between 2 weeks and a month to go away.

I take much more potent drugs and have very little

mental fuzziness, or confusion

I do have lyme disease that more and more

pathologiststs (SP) are thinking what is also

called fibromyagyia.

I do have bouts of " mental fuzziness " ect. but

I am also on some other meds that can cause that some

PRN

Check with yout Md hydrocodone is mild opiate

i take MS contin and Dildaud heavy duty meds. i

don't have many problems until i need surgrey the i get

very strong doses of dilaudid, fentanyl and morphine and

epam. the I sleep watch to take fiber con

other laxatives and drink lots of fruit juices .

--- Granny wrote:

>

>

> I was wondering...has anyone else noticed that after

> taking pain meds for a

>

> will the mental fuzziness seems to fade?