Hydrocodone - Not To Overdo It! (Page 2) (Top voted first)

I was put on Hydrocodone for 3 years due to a stroke I had. My pain is coming from the brain. The PM'S started me off with 5-325. No results on the pain. Then they increased the dose 7.5-325. Some relief but not much in order to have a quality of life. Then they increased it to 10-325 90 per month. In the wee hours of the morning I would wake up with pain, so I was cutting one in half, leaving me short of pills for the month. So they increased it to 120. I got to where I was taking too many and the PM discharged me for a breach of contract.

Then I found another PM. Same thing happened, but this time instead of discharging me they put me on week to week basis - 21 pills a week. I had to visit the doctor's office once a week and then take the script to my pharmacy. Once I proved I could be trusted they now have had me on Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen 10-325 (90 a month) for the past 3 months. I still have my moments but it's not like it was before. I asked for an increase to 20 a month but they say I need to prove to them. By the way, the pain is coming from the right arm and hand, no blood circulation. Do not want to lose this PM.

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Re: Terri (# 11)

I got hurt in an accident in 1999 got slapped across the lower back with afire hose that had 180 pounds pushing it. The same day I got a second one slapped across the neck throwing me to the ground it was also at 180 pounds pressure. I have been fighting with them since then. I have received no compensation or moneys. I was put on Fentanyl patches. It did a good job of really screwing me up. Now they want to take me off the patches and the codeine without giving me any other meds. What a joke. I have been to any doctors that they have asked me to go to with no results since the accident I have not been able to do any work, cant sleep because of the pain. I spent 43 years on the Fire dept and this is what I get. The Doctors don't want you to get better but they will try and take you off the meds this might be short sorry but I can hardly think properly. If this isn't correct then you know how I feel. if any one ahs suggestions on how or what to do. I am also suffering from very bad headaches all the time. This is the quality of life that I have to get used to

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DOUG (# 19) --

I also am prescribed hydrocodone and, assuming you are taking a generic, the manufacturers have changed the formulations not only does the active ingredient have a 20% variation allowed by law ( in other words if you are prescribed 7.5/325 hydrocodone the manufactuer can legally put as low as 6.0 milligrams of hydrocodone n the pill. The inert ingredients are the lowest quality compound the manufacturer can find and get away with. I was told (off the record)by two Pharmacists that they have had dozens of complaints about the new generic formulations. If I want hydrocodone that is truly effective to ask my Doctor to write no generics on the prescription. BOTH of these Pharmacists reccommended the brand name Vicodin be prescribed. I am currently trying to get my insurance to pay for the name brand but it is a big fight. I have to get precertified first. I am going to have a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge to have my appeal heard in June. I have this insurance company dead to right but I am hoping with this "opioid crisis" that the Judge is not in the pockets of the health insurance company's debt rules on the applicable law and not emotions.

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BOB (# 18) --

I was not condemning anyone. I was educating a pt based on my 35 years in the field. If a pt has nerve pain they should try anticonvulsants. If a pt has vascular pain, they should consider blood thinners and or anti-inflammatories. There are powerful treatments out there other than opioids, and in the witch hunt climate we find ourselves, people need to be creative when it comes to pain management because the opioid horror show will get worse. I have noticed in this chat room that pts will ask for info, but they often do not give enough info in their posts to get an informed recommendation. Hope things improve for you.

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Re: DR TIM (# 23)

Are you meaning to reply to me in this message, Dr. Tim? I’m not aware we were having a conversation. Please refresh my memory.

Thanks,
NADA

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Re: DOUG (# 18)

the manufacturer have reduced the pain meds its not you its them they don't work like they use to if you can ask your doctor not to prescribe generic you want brand name if your insurance will pay for it

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Re: Billybob (# 4)

My doctor kicked me out because morphine was in my test.i dont nor never have used anything that wasnt prescibed.i have L4 andL5 with fibromyalgia and arthritis.gabapenten doesnt help.

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DOUG (# 19) --

You are probably getting a tolerance. Sounds like you need a higher dose of what you are taking. Has nothing to do with companies putting less pain med in the medicine.

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You are one of the lucky ones. I was on hydrocodone for 40 yrs. 5's for 35 yrs under my doctor's order due to chronic syndrome from a car wreck then fibromyalgia for the past yrs. All this under my doctor's orders. Now they said morphine showed up. I have never used morphine. The doctor went from 30 to 90 to 120. I was satisfied with 30, now he said i broke the contract and I only had a contract for 2 yrs.

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Re: NotADrugAddict (# 12)

I AM GOING TO GET ME SOME CBD OIL AND TRY IT.

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Re: Vince (# 15)

Omg have you gone threw withdrawal. Because i have an it almost killed me some of us actually have mefical readons for taking those meds i have had the surgeries the dhots the physical. Thearpy an now all thats left is the pain meds the. Last time i was with out meds. I was out for 8 months sn was put in hospital for 3 werks to get the pain under control guess what i was givin demerol then sent home with a nurse who came every day to monitor. The pain level i alsohad a stroke .pain like thid is nothing to play with . now i was told by the doctors that i must take the psin medd. So please don't. Suggest. Going. With out medication. For those of us who actually. Have legit issues

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Re: ED (# 27)

Tolerance is always a possibility. However, the generic hydrocodone has been reformulated, and, for example, if one is prescribed a 7.5/325 mg hydrocodone/acetaminophen the manufacturer is allowed by law to have a 20% deviation in the active ingredient. This does not even address the issue of remanufacturing the active ingredient and changing the inactive ingredients. It has been widely reported that the generic manufacturers are trying to reformulate the active ingredient so that a person prescribed this medicine will supposedly get pain relief but not any of the associated euphoria that comes with this medication. The issue is that the reformulation, while trying to leave in the "pain relief" and remove any of the "euphoria" aspects of the pill has failed miserably. When you reformulate the pills to remove the euphoric properties of the pill and leave the pain relief what you end up with is a pill tantamount to a Tylenol or Advil. The pain properties are lost in this reformulation. This does not even address the inert ingredients that have been cheapened to the lowest quality these inert ingredients could be reduced to. It is not always "tolerance" that causes a patient to want to increase their dosage.

I noticed a huge difference beginning with my refill in January 2018. I spoke with the Pharmacists in TWO major Pharmacies and both of them told me (off the record because they do not want their jobs put in jeopardy) that they have had many complaints both at the local and national level of their companies about how the efficacy is awful and that if a patient wants a medicine that works they should request "NO GENERICS" on the prescription. I have been taking hydrocodone/acetaminophen 7.5 for over 12 years and never complained about the pills given until I refilled in January 2018 and I noticed a huge difference in the efficacy of the pills. I went through many different "step" therapies before it was decided that the prescribed pills were the best for me. My insurance must preapprove the name brand and so far they have refused. I am taking them to Court next month to argue their policy. I have the law on my side but in this political climate of every group trying to assault chronic pain patients I am not optimistic. These insurance morons have sent me a suggestion that my Doctor prescribe a much stronger generic, like oxycodone. I don't want a stronger pill. I just want one that works. BOTH Pharmacists, from TWO different large Pharmacies, recommended that I try the "name brand" of the medication I am taking as they have had no complaints on this. When Pharmacists from two different Pharmacies say the same thing it appears that they may be on to something.

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Sorry. Some of you responded to me with questions and I just saw the major typo in my #16 post. First I recommended getting Kratom not "Meat on" whatever that is. This is a natural opioid agonist that will get any of you through withdraw symptoms at least temporarily. No I was not an addict but since I was on narcotics for nearly 13 years the dependence issue is so strong it didn't matter that I wasn't an addict. The problem is with the doctors. Instead of letting you get a tolerance to any one medicine they should constantly break up your routine if you are a chronic pain person. Vicodin for 3 or 6 months then Oxy for a few months then Dilaudid etc.none of them have a brain in their heads but now due to the narcotics hysteria all they want to do is either give you something else like Lyric a which is far more dangerous or they want to cut down your script. Demand more from these quacks!

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Re: w john (# 31)

John have not had the problem of less help with my medication that I have been taken for about a year now. I will have a tolerance by the end of this year I know because I have a very high tolerance for pain medication. I am on 6 10-32 oxycodone a day and 100 mg fentynal patch every 2 days. I am still in pain. Years ago I was on oxycontin, but medicare will not approve it. Problem was the same with that. I got such a tolerance. I was taken so much oxycontin that I do not know why I am alive, but it did stop the pain. No hydrocodone for me since it would most likely not even work. Good luck.

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Re: ED (# 33)

I believe that if you have been prescribed oxycontin and then oxycodone AND a Fentanyl patch too that there is no possibility that any formulation of hydrocodone would be worthless to you. You have been receiving a much stronger pain medication for some time so something way below the pain medication you have been receiving would be worthless to you. In my case, I do NOT want to go to a stronger medication AS LONG AS the meds prescribed to me will work and I want to find out if they are properly manufactured by following the recommendation of the TWO Pharmacists who have told me that the generic formulations are now crap. They were fine for over a decade with no complaints from me but since the manufacturers have changed the formulation to make the pills ineffective I want to try an allegedly better product. NOT a stronger one.

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Re: w john (# 34)

Good luck with your lawsuits. If you feel what you are taking helps with the pain go for it. I will take whatever it takes to help my pain. Not being negative to you, please understand that.

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Re: DR TIM (# 23)

Dr. Tim, I have been sick and was not ale to answer you until now. I have one thing to say that your advice is true. Now why patients like me and others who need painkillers suffer do to others that don't need them. When I was working at a disability clinic 90% of the patients were not disable. These patients were going to crooked lawyers and doctors to cheat the system. These lawyers and doctors know how to get these patients on disability. The insurance companies, workers compensation and social security all get screwed. But the patients who think they are cheating the systems. They are cheating themselves by the drugs the doctors and lawyers give you to play this game. There is no reason unless really needed. I wish I never had polio but I think the painkillers to survive I think are worse then polio. But at the age of 80 years I don,t believe the gov, dea and doctors should make me suffer for what other crooks do. Think what they doing to real patients in need of pain medicine. I hope they look into this. I don't know how much longer I can take this pain and feel for others who are going thru the same. Wake up gov, dea and doctors this why painkillers got out of hand starting in the 1980 until today. Pray for change.

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Ed Davies (# 20) --

That's horrible, Ed! I thought the nation's Fire Depts. really took care of their injured on the job, and the families of fallen firefighters. But that is just awful treatment! I mean, yes, chronic pain patients in the entire country are affected by the DEA's newest recommendations. I finally at the end of last year decided to wean myself off of Norco and Ativan (although I need both to have any sort of life). I was railroaded into taking a different brand of Norco by my insurance, and it may as well have been a placebo. So I took a month to get off them. Then I got off the Ativan as well. Tired of being jerked around and counting pills and having to pick up in person. I don't have a life, but I'm opioid and benzo free.

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Re: ED (# 35)

I had a 45 minute hearing the other day and I am optimistic that I will prevail. I hope I do because this will set a precedent for all insurance companies that without a prevailing good reason that the insurance company cannot deny a name brand medication. The insurance company and a Doctor they hired tried to testify against me but the Doctor was asked if he had my medical records and had he ever examined me to render a determination on my request. He said NO he had not and was told that without both being so that his testimony was moot. The insurance rep also got her ass handed to her because she was relying on what the Doctor said to deny my medication request and his testimony was riled irrelevant for the above stated reasons. I remain hopefully optimistic not so much for me but others similarly situated that has been denied their pain medicine requests for absolutely no good reason. I may still lose given the state of our so called "opioid crisis" but I do feel that I was given at least a fair hearing and I will respect the rule of law as that was how I was raised.

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Re: ED (# 35)

Ed, I just went back and reviewed an earlier post of mine to you and it seems that the spell check "corrected" a word I posted and it made the meaning of the word way different than what I meant to write. What I MEANT to post was that if you had been on oxycontin or some such formulation of this pain medication that any formulation of hydrocodone would probably be of no value to you because this pain medication, while still an opioid, is way weaker than any normal formulation of oxycontin. I hope this clears up what I MEANT to post NOT what the spell check corrected my intended word to say.

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Re: w john (# 38)

Good for you. It is horrible the way insurance doctors determine if someone should have a certain prescription. They have no idea your situation. Good luck.

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