Fibro friends, what do mean by "breakthrough pain"?

31 Dec 2011

Its pain that breaks through your regular pain control regiment. Like if you lift something heavy and it causes you a lil more pain than usual, the pain regiment you are on may not be enough to contain that extra pain. So you take a breakthrough pain med aka xtra pain medicine to keep you pain level the same.

31 Dec 2011

Hey Minda, what I view as breakthru pain is the pain you experience inbetween your regular doses of meds. If you are on a 6 hour schedule you may need to go to a 4 hour schedule. If you are on an extended release pain med the doctor will sometimes give you extra 4 to 6 hour pain meds if you have extreme pain inbetween the extended release doses . That about explains it. Hope this helps you understand it... Mary632009

31 Dec 2011

Minda,
Looks like you have great answers here.
I am not sure if you are on a extended release pain med or not if not you may ask if you can get one. I have been on extended release pain meds for about 10 years & never found it necessary for a breakthrough med. I know there are times I might have needed some but due to the high dosage of opiod med I am on I would not want to add another pain med. The times I am in additional pain it is usually due to me pushing myself to much. Talk to your dr. if you feel you need it but also talk to your dr about a extended release med. Good luck & have a Happy New Year may 2012 be a better year for all of us.

1 Jan 2012

So you have your regular level of pain, but then you do something that aggrevates your pain, and it gets worse... that is breakthrough pain. I always jokingly called it 'bonus pain'. A pain Dr. might give you a base medication for your regular pain and then something else that you can take during flare-ups. Its called breakthrough pain because it "breaks through" your base pain medication.