Pain - Wife has fibromyalgia prescribed oxy 30mg and dilaudid 8mg need to reach dialudid?

All I can say is WOW! She is on a lot of strong pain meds now. I can't believe they are giving her that much already. I don't think you are going to find too many patients that are even receiving as much as she is on. I have a friend that takes 30mg oxy, & 10mg oxy for breakthru well, that's actually my brother, but my friend who is a member of the site takes diludid at 4 to 6 mg. & Opana also, & that is a lot of pain med. I am sorry she is in such pain. The thing is with pain meds is you build a tolerance to your dose, but I can't see a reputable doc giving her more than what she is already on. The oxycontin is time released, & a lot of people say is doesn't work very well because they changed the way it is made to make it where it can't be used by drug abusers. Maybe she needs her pains meds changed to see if there is a difference. One is the fentanyl patch which you wear for 72 hours, & most people get relief with it.

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Might mention it to her doc. I'm not trying to be a smart a$$, but I'm surprised with the amount of meds she takes that she is even awake most of the time. I wish you the best & her too of course. It is very hard to see your loved one go thru this. My husband & I are both disabled & take pain meds, but not to that degree. Oh, another thing they could try is gabepentin or Lyrica. They are seizure meds that work great on pain. You have to start on them at a low dose & work up to a dose that feels like it is helping. I take the Lyrica & my hubby takes the gabepentin. I wish you the best, & am sure others will be right behind me with better answers to your question... Mary632009

She is on a LOT of pain meds, especially short acting. She may have a better time of it to take long acting oxycodone (OxyContin) and then use the shortacting oxycodone 30's for the breakthrough. This is what I take and it works much better to keep me with even pain relief all day. She would probably do well with 60mg of OxyContin three times a day and then use oxycodone 30mg 4 times or so, a day, as needed, for breakthrough pain. With the OxyContin, she wont need quite so many oxycodone 30mg tabs She wouldnt have so many pain ups and downs. Mary mentioned the Fentanyl patch which is a wonderful idea. It is another that gives good consistent relief for several days. She could still use her oxycodone for breakthrough. I definitely think she should be on a long acting drug with something short acting for breakthrough.

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She should get most of her pain control with the long acting drug and use the short acting for occasional spikes in pain-for instance, if she is doing a certain activity she knows exacerbates the pain. She is on a lot of medicine already so she should really try not to increase it. She might very well benefit from a rotation to another drug, like the Fentanyl to drive her tolerance to the oxycodone back down so that if she comes back to it after a time, it will work better next time. As far as the new formulation of OxyContin-that is more of a worry with folks who were previously on OxyContin. If she has not been on it all this time then the new formulation wont be an issue. It works fine for people new to it. It is the folks who took the old formulation who notice the difference. The new formulation is effective, it just releases differently than it used to and people who were taking the old formula dont feel it works the same. She, being new to it, wont have a problem. I have been on the same dose for years (of OxyContin and oxycodone 30's for breakthrough) and it still works fairly well for me. She should, most certainly, look into some of the non-opioid pain meds to help enhance her opioids. Things like Lyrica (pregabalin), Neurontin (gabapentin) or Cymbalta (duloxetine). These are anticonvulsant and antidepressant drugs that also work well to decrease pain levels, especially nerve pain which is a great deal of fibromyalgia origins. They help the opioids to work better. She might also try adding an anti-inflammatory like Celebrex, Naproxen, or some other NSAID. Fibro sufferers sometimes benefit from an anti-inflammatory to help their opioid work more efficiently. Oxycodone is EXTREMELY habit forming, especially the short acting form which just floods the opioid receptors. It tends to have more euphoria effects than the long acting and sometimes when people start the long acting form, they dont "feel" the drug the same so they think it isnt working. She needs to judge her pain, not the "feel" of the medication.