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You bring up another interesting issue. Most people INCLUDING Doctors have no idea what a pain med regimen costs. I've been to a couple of pain clinics and the first thing they wanted to do is take me off the cheap opiate that worked and put me on a cocktail of more expensive drugs, one being $50 per 24 hour dose AFTER insurance vs the opiate that cost $8 per MONTH.
But drop the snark. I never said or implied that "losers are the ones that REALLY need opiates." I don't consider myself, or my mother, or my grandmother losers in any way.
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And I never implied or said that either....
definition of snark: (your words)..."I guess you could ask my uncle--no, wait,he's dead".
I know acetaminophen is horrible on the liver, and I know they are combined..... but why blame the opiate for the liver damage, but not the acetaminophen?
Hydrocodone can be compounded at the pharmacy w/o acetaminophen. No idea how practical this is, but it can be done. I dislike that they don't just offer the pill form that way. My mother was allergic to the acetaminophen. No Dr. offered compounding. Tramadol according to her is weak. She had to step up to oxy to get any relief, but most Drs. wouldn't script that. Only a hospital doc sometimes.
Sorry to read that....it's really throws docs for a loop when you tell them you can't have acetaminophen...nurses as well...some of them just flat our express disbelief.
I've always told them I take asperin because of it...that seems to calm them down.....unless you're just out of surgery....then it's a bit of a delay while they figure out what they can give you instead.
1 50mg of tramadol has the same potency as 2 mg of hydromorphone, yet the hydromorphone costs much less than half of what the tramadol costs.
Atheistastroguy - I feel your pain in many ways as I also have a relatively rare disorder (CRPS) albeit not nearly as rare as yours. But it’s permanent and can be controlled but will be around for the rest of my life. I thankfully get by on a very low dose of opioids currently and am trying to for as long as possible because I fear what you describe especially since I’m only in my 30s. Hang in there and I pray you continue to get the meds you need in the doses you need.
Jimj - you have excellent points re costs. My opioid is $2.56 a month. My PT is $50, 3/wk, MD is $50 copays, same with psych counseling to learn alternative coping mechanisms. I spend as much on appt copays as I do on my mortgage each month. If it reaches a point where I don’t see the return on that investment I will be scaling back and relying on meds more but for now, it’s worth it. But I can definitely see how someone wore less resources and time wouldn’t opt to do all of these other things.
"these results indicate it was the acetaminophen" [tylenol] "rather than the opiate that was having the effect" [liver damage].
Tylenol is the number one cause of acute liver failure in this country now. We had a patient just this morning, had her Percocet at 6am, had therapy at 11 am when it was wearing off. With an hour to go before the next Perc, the nurse says "I can give you some Tylenol if you're having breakthrough pain". Hello, you are giving her Tylenol on top of more Tylenol. For some reason the medical community still looks at it as a benign drug.
Tylenol is the number one cause of acute liver failure in this country now. We had a patient just this morning, had her Percocet at 6am, had therapy at 11 am when it was wearing off. With an hour to go before the next Perc, the nurse says "I can give you some Tylenol if you're having breakthrough pain". Hello, you are giving her Tylenol on top of more Tylenol. For some reason the medical community still looks at it as a benign drug.
Good Lord. I was told to take ibuprofen when I was on hydrocodone. IIRC one of each every 3 hours, so there were 6 hours between each kind.
What could possibly go wrong with a war on opiates by overpaid detached bureaucrats in Washington?
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