Questions About Your Opana Prescription...

I have been taking Opana for over 4 years now and it has been a God send. It is by far the best pain medication that I have ever taken, and I have been prescribed many over the years. I went to the pharmacy this month and when I opened my bottle I noticed that the pills are round now instead of an octaganal shape. The bottle says that they are a new shape but the medicine is the same. Well... I have to disagree with Endo on this one. I was experiencing withdrawal symptons for the first four days of taking the new shaped pill and my pain level was much higher than with the old ones. When taking the old ones my pain level was at a one or two most of the time with a few parts of the day a four or five. When my pain level increased I would take an Opana 5mg IR for breakthrough and within 20-30 minutes it would be knocked back down to a one or two. Like I said, it is a wonderful pain medication! Well with the new ones it takes as long as 4 HOURS to kick in and once it kicks in my pain level is still a three to a five! It feels as though I am taking about half the medication! Well, I go back to my doctor next month for my monthly appointment and I wanted to get some advise from others that have been taking Opana for a while. I have been taking Opana ER 40mg 2 times per day and
Opana IR 5mg twice per day for breakthrough pain for my two herniated discs in my lower lumbar region and degenerative disc disease. Up until now this was working wonders for me but now I am waking up in the middle of the night in pain and having to take another pill to sleep. This has happened four times since I got my refill 10 days ago. Slowly but surely the withdrawals have gone away but the pain level is still elevated.

I have two beautiful young daughters and a wonderful wife that are suffering along with me and that is not fair to them. When I am in pain they suffer because I cannot give them the proper attention that they deserve. I also work full time and and have a wonderful career and I do not want my pain to interfere with my customers.

I need others assistance to find out how much Opana you are taking per day and what injury you have to be taking the medication. Have you had similiar experiences with the new Opana? Are you taking the same amount per day or more now? Have you switched to another medication? Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you and have a pain free day!

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I forgot to include this as my two year old needed my attantion... My doctor is wonderful and I wouldn't trade him for anyone. I have been seeing him for over five years and we have a very open and truthful relationship. I take my medication as prescribed but I am worried about being switched to another medication and him not increasing my Opana. I have tried other meds but they do not work anywhere close to as well as the Opana does. I know Actavis has the 15mg ER and I would be open to trying that even though I would be going down in mgs, but they have to work better than the new brand name. Maybe I should ask to have my IR doseage increased? I don't know... Like I said any recommendations will be greatly appreciated!

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Yes, I'd suggest talking to your doctor about increasing the dosage of the IR, if they'd be willing to do that and if this is the medication that works best for you.

There have been many posts about the new Opana formulation that say it doesn't work as well as the old one did, it is very similar to what happened with Oxycontin, when they changed the formulation of it.

Learn more Opana details here.

I'm very sorry you are suffering, but the best I can do is to suggest you talk to your doctor, as I stated above, so hopefully they can help you find a solution and you get your quality of life back.

What other medications have you tried?

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I have tried roxicodone, OxyContin, Kadian, and about six months ago Fentanyl patches. The Fentanyl worked extremely well with controlling my pain, almost as well as the Opana, but they would come off no matter what I did. If I would sweat it was over and it would peel off. I wrapped my upper arm in tape but the medical tape would cause my skin to break out really bad, I have really sensitive skin and unfortunately both of my daughters took after me with that annoying trait.

I have heard of many Opana users being prescribed the 40mg ER's three or four times per day. I have heard/read about people being prescribed Opana 5mg or 10mg IR's three or up to six times per day. My doctor is a little on the conservative side and I really respect him for that but I have never asked for an increase in my dose age of Opana because I have never had the need for it until now. I am very apprehensive about asking for an increase and I need some advise in doing so. Opana is absolutely been the best pain medication that I have ever taken until now. It really upsets me that Endo changed the medication. I cannot find anything online about any clinical trials that were conducted for this new Opana. I have read on several sites that there are carcinogens in the new medicine and that scares me, I mean they have plastics in the pill!!! But anyway I am rambling on... I am suffering and having to take more than normal. The office personnel at his office can be very rude and it's almost impossible to get any messages to him. I have NEVER, EVER had to take more than two of the 40's and two of the 5's per day. This really scares me because I am going to run out early. I do not want to switch medication because nothing works like Opana does when I have the proper doseage. I am just going to have to work up the courage to tell him what's going on because I have no choice but to do so. I just need to know that I am not alone in my complain about the new Opana ER and that I am not asking for anything out of the ordinary. Opiod medications have a lot of strings attached to them and people automatically think of the worse when they find out that you take them. I would appreciate any and all feedback by you guys!

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Also... Are you a medical professional or a pharmacist by chance?

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Hi Joey.I've been on the Oxymorphone 5mg since 09' but was taking the brand name Opana when it was still available.Took it up until they came out with the generic.I went thru hell in the process cuz every month they wouldn't have all my 180 5mgs so it'd mess everything up.I later heard it was cuz they were changing the formula(whatever you call it)&taking out what gets addicts *high* but of course the pain stuff is still in it.I've had 3 different kinds of 5mgs. I have em right now as we speak.There's the tiny little round white ones smaller than an
eraser that say 54 then below that says 956. (54956) then there's the bigger round chalky blue ones that look almost identical to the Opana.They say E794. They tend to give me more heartburn than the tiny white smooth ones&seem less effective.I'm on 3 different stomach meds.Then there's the blue oblong shaped like a long john donut.They say 01 on one side and 93 on the other. Ive never even taken em all day,my 6-8 a day. The pharmacy only gave those to me 1 time&it was 75 then the rest the white ones.They told me the reason was cuz they were so expensive&that they'd be losing a lot of money considering my Rx only costs $2.55 for generics when for the past year I've been getting 240 of those so if I had to pay cash its close to $800.That's insane&anyone who does that is out of their minds.Was in the $600 range when I was getting 180.Now that it's 2014,my insurance will only cover 6 a day so I'm back to 180 which sucks.I think I might try switching to Hydromorphone which is Dilaudid. Oxymorphone cuz it's like taking Ibuprofen.I can't tell that I took anything yet it helps my pain.Years ago I got up to a max of ten Hydrocodone 10mg&they make me feel all jittery.My reason for being on mine is:My 1st back surgery in 06'.Was a Laminectomy at L3 but my back problems started in 05' at age 25.Applied for disability after that surgery because I ended up having way more problems,couldn't work&needed a fusion.Got my disability in 08' with a back pay settlement of $27,000,started running every diagnostic there was,then Feb 09' had a 3disk 3level anterior inter body fusion which still today has ruined my usual way of living&I'm in a lot of pain with lots of restrictions.I'm fused from L3-S1.I don't sit in chairs or lay on my back,since 09' even tho it was anterior&they went thru the front.It's miserable.Sleeping on my right side&watching TV on my left is so painful&sore. Can't lay on my stomach either,my spine is stuck where it is/fused so hurts to be on stomach.That's all the info I have.Thank you&hope you've gotten answers since you made your post.

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