Methadone and cancer pain
Common Questions and Answers about Methadone and cancer pain
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Hi Lisa! Congratulations on the remission! I'm unfamiliar with cancer and the pain it can cause but wanted to suggest the that maybe a pain management facility would be worth looking into? Some doctors just aren't all that good at dealing with and understanding patients with continous pain :(.
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. And thanks for allowing me to be a part of... I'm 42, was diagnosed with Cancer in 2007, my tumors were in my chest. At the time I was diagnosed, I already had some osteoporosis. Had pretty bad pain between my shoulder blades, close to where the biggest tumor was. To make a long story short, the Chemo/Neupogen started bad pain for me and I was placed on Methadone. My current dose is 50 mg a day and I take Ultram for breakthru pain.
ve been going to pain management for 12 years the doctor had me on 50 my of methadone a day for pain I have surgery every 8 months to a year for bladder cancer having tummers removed even though my pain Doctor told me that the surgeon would have to give me pain meds after surgery after 4 years have having the surgery done and getting enough hydromorphone 2 my for 3 days after surgery the pain management Doctor released me with a registered letter I went to another pain management and they did
I have been taking methadone for six months as a way to control cronic lower back pain. I have had numerous injuries over the years to my back, hands, legs, nose/face. I have been injected by the pain doctors with the old reliable lumbar punture, 24 times. So far the methadone has literally given me my life back. Shortly after being released from active reserve call up for desert storm, I started having various medical problems, Chronic fatigue,
Sleep problems, Depression, etc.
Hospice does its best to prevent suffering from the pain of cancer, and methadone is an excellent pain medication.
Morphine is preferred for the treatment of COPD because a doctor can better control its effect on breathing, however, both morphine and methadone work in similar ways -- it is just that methadone suppresses the breathing longer. At end of life, it doesn't matter much which medication you use.
Since the person you describe is already addicted to methadone, if the pain problem is chronic and permanent, and the dosage is effective without being high enough to affect function, it might be better to just stay on it. If he/she gets off it, there will be misery from the withdrawals, in addition to the pre-existing pain, which will not be relieved by any other opiate as long as the methadone stays active.
I person in your position with cancer and hip replacements is a wonderful candidate for LIFETIME methadone! Increase dose as needed and prescribe quote unquote " breakthrough pain med " ( which is such a fallacy " ) we never break through the pain... We live with it ....methadone and roxicodone 20s ( blues ) work extremely well for chronic acute pain...
I say it again, get your MD or someone else to get you back up on methadone...
i was on 300mg a day, and what they did was formulate a dose of methadone to match the oxycontin, and slowly took me off the methadone day by day. you cant go cold turkey off methadone. it`s approximately 3x the strength of methadone. so if you were on 40mg a day, you would need around 120mg of oxycontin a day to break even. taking that much, to get you off the methadone, it would take time, and by then you;d be addicted to oxycontin instead of methadone.
I started going to a clinic 7 days ago to seek help for Hydrocodone withdrawals. I had been on Hydrocodone for about 4 years and my new Dr felt Methadone would help. Day one they gave me 30mg. I could not function and I was very sick, vomiting, etc. I told them that was too high that I wanted no more than 10-15 mg per day. I was a little shocked at their encouraging people to take high doses and increase 5 mg per day.
of methadone would do alot for pain, but like any othe opiate your tolerance builds, except methadone stores in your body and lasts 24-38 hrs. for pain patients they start at a high dose to kill the pain, maintenance starts low and gradually increases untill you feel stable with no cravings or withdrawls sympyoms.
Before I was on anti-depressants as well as methadone, and when I tried to reduce my methadone the pain was horrendous. Then when I came off the anti-depressants (amytriptyline) when I reduced my methadone dosage the pain wasn't anywhere near as bad!! So try not to take any other medication ontop of methadone....it just makes the withdrawals un-bare-able.
Here is an article on the best way to taper your methadone dosage:
http://www.stop-drinking.co.uk/methadone.
Ok first I was a kind of person who wanted so much out of life. I bought my first home in my early 30 .happy with my life. Then one day I got sick had ovarian cancer. Had surgery they put me on pain bump I think it was morphine. I stayed on it 4 a week. Then I was sent home with hydros. I took them right at first .Then my dog died I had 2 take one just to go 2 work face people without crying. .I had him 4 13 years. Everyday got easier. Then one day I ran out at work.
Hi everyone , I asked this question one time before and got very little response so I am trying again. I have lost a LOT of hair and I have been told because it's from the methadone I have been taking, then I found out that opiates in themselves can make you lose your hair. I was wondering how many of you have had your hair thinning or lost hair during the time you are/were taking opiates.
Due to methadone’s totally synthetic structure (man made chemical), its pharmacological effects are longer lasting than those of other opiate drugs, allowing for once-daily administration in pain management and opiate treatment programs such as methadone clinics. However, the pain-relieving effects are shorter than the pharmacological half-life, so that dosing for pain control usually requires multiple doses per day. Depending on its form, Methadone can also be known as Dimepheptanol.
she has had severe pain in her joints as well as a lot of pain in her hands and arms...no it is not arthritis.....my question is....what will happen if she combines the methadone and the pregabalin?...she takes methadone about every other day...a bottle of 130mg methadone will last her almost 5 to 6 days....any info would be helpful.
I am a chronic pain patient as well..plates and crud in my neck..list goes on and on and i will not go there
Oxycontin is really more abused than methadone by far...it is time released tho but many addicts break the pill by chewing, snorting, shooting etc so oxy can be a dangerous drug...in reality a drug with a slow release is safer than a drug which peaks and goes away quickly like hydrocodone...
vicki is spot on about methadone and xanax. I have been on methadone for 7 years and every doctor I`ve ever talked to has said that methadone and xanax is a bad mix. It is also true that tapering is the safest thing at his level. He needs to get to a much lower dose if he wants to go CT. Methadone withdrawls last a long time and the higher the dose, the worse the withdrawls are. Also check out the Thomas Recipe.
I have had a rare brain and spinal cancer for 6 years now and became dependant on narcotics I just finished a methadone treatment in feb 2010 and I still do not feel right I feel depressed and have the worst aniexty in the world. I recently relapsed using 30mg of oxycodone a day for the last month and started taking suboxone today.
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