I have been taking Hydrocodone 10mg/325 for years and it just is not working or if it does it wears off within a couple of hours. I just got a script for Oxycodone 15mg. It works but knocks me out, where the Hydrocodone
hyped me up. I worry about driving on the Oxycodone.
I had been wearing a Butrans patch but still had pain even with a #20 and I break out with pimple like sores under the patch. The best thing about Butrans is you can wake up with NO pain. With oral pain meds I feel like hell when I wake up and until I take something and it takes time for it to kick in.
I am finding that I HAVE to eat with the Oxy but don't with the Hydro. This morning I took a Hydrocodone 1st, as who feels like eating with your body is racked with pain plus I am not a person who likes to eat right when I wake up / can't remember ever wanting to.
I have 2-3 types of pain... trigeminal nerve pain, arthritis, and possible fibro.
I am currently wearing my arthritic gloves as my hands have been so painful since the weather turned cold here in the North West.
Interested to hear back about anything I mentioned.
Anyone use the Butrans patch with oxycodone for break through pain?
Question posted by daily strength on 4 Oct 2013
Last updated on 20 January 2021 by sprgdgrl
6 Answers
I too have been experiencing sometimes severe pain in my back e we since I became a dental assistant 12 years ago. For the first few years I went through all the narcotics and my tolerance kept increasing so we switched to a medication called Nucynta. Started at a low dose and increased to the 100mg. That was the best medication as I had no pain at all when in it. Unfortunately it made me want to sleep the minute I got home from work. So that was a horrible side effect. But I was able to function at work. Oh it also made me very hot and itchy. But being pain free was heaven. I decided to give my organs a break and quit my job about 3 years ago. Then 2 years ago I got another job assisting again. And again my pain is now back. I don’t want to be a zombie so I’m very interested in this patch you are all talking about. Are there any side effects??
Hello and I hope you are well! I have been on oxycodone since2012 with a broken neck and 2 neck surgeries. I am/was the same way in the mornings... IT SUCKED painwise , and I never liked eating when I woke up. I started out by eating yogurt each morning and after a while I had that and toast, then graduated to an egg sandwich or oatmeal and I know from experience that food in your system helps most medications for pain tenfold! I have been on the Butrans patch for a month now and the breakfast is a huge help! Hope this helps you. Have a good day!
I had severe 24/7 migraines caused by a major stroke. Acupuncture has successfully treated my migraines that I am in the process of decreasing my Butrans patches. Have gone from 15 mcg to 7.5 mcg. Also I have trigeminal neuralgia which feels like electric shocks at its worst. Acupuncture has decreased the number of Baclofen pills that I take to control the trigeminal neuralgia. When I decreased the Butrans patches, I had more pain and needed more pills. But not with acupuncture. It has also helped me with other pain issues. I hope that this can help someone else.
Find an acupuncturist that works for a "Community" acupuncture place. The rates are very low. E.g. I only pay $20 a session. Plus my acupuncturist can work on two different things at the same time. If after 3 or 4 times you don't feel any difference with your headaches, then try another acupuncturist. The first one I tried did not help at all. It might have been because the sessions were too far apart. Just don't know.
Also I've gotten far more relief from acupuncture than I got from Botox.
I take Percocet 10s 3x a day, and I use a 15 mcg/hour Butrans patches. It doesn't help me at all. But thanks to people buying illegal Fentanyl (which I tried first, but did nothing, but that was real Fentanyl from the US) I can't get anything stronger or anything else to help my chronic pain. After 4 back surgeries, they basically told me they had given up and there was nothing else they could do for me. I wake up every morning in so much pain I can't even get to the bathroom without help. Sometimes I wonder why I am even alive if I have to live like this. But for some, these patches and medicines really help. I just don't know what else to do, and I'm SO happy they help you! I, too, have Fibro, along with Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and no discs between my sacrum and L5. I have osteoarthritis in my neck, as well as my knees.
I have had 2 back surgeries. The most recent was a fusion of L3-L4, L4-L5 & L5-S1 April of 2012. 11 months after the fusion I began having excruciating pain. Unfortunately the 4 vertebrae above the fusion have now disintegrated. I have been on routine pain medications for around 6 yrs now. I did the pain management epidurals, took Norco 10/325 2 tabs 4 times a day, then when that didn't work any longer we switched to Percocet. I have been on 15mg 4 times for just over 2 years. Last week I was started on the Butrans patch, #10, and it has been a life changer for me. I still take Percocet for breakthrough pain, but only once or twice a day. Some days I can go 24 to 36 hours before I need the Percocet. I also take Cymbalta 60mg BID & Magnesium 400mg BID & Soma 350mg QID for the muscle spasms. I gotta say, the Butrans has really worked well for me.
I no longer wake up with pain so severe that it seems to take hours to get it back under control. Don't know if any of this will help you, but thought I would let you know that the patch is really been the best thing to happen to me in a long time.
Yes, I wear a 10mcg/hr Butrans. I have been on narcotic pain medication for about 8 years now. Before the patch, I was taking10/325 oxycodone 3-4 times per day. I have several kidney stones a year, terrible migraine headaches, and chronic pain due to an injury. II am a medical professional and I know the risks involved with taking narcotic medications. My tolerance level has slowly increased and I need you as long as I was taking immediate release medication it would continue to do so with no decrease in my pain levels. that being said, do to my frequent kidney stones and migraines it would eventually take so much medication to control my pain I knewI had to make a decision. The decreases and increases and medication levels caused by the tablets were beginning to closely mimic a bipolar disorder. Either I felt great or I was a zombie.
Believe me, if I never had to take another narcotic pain medication in my life, I would not! However, that is not the case.
My primary care physician and I decided to try the Butrans patch instead of other extended release opioids or other transdermal systems. When I first started the patches is it was a little tough because I had to achieve therapeutic medication levels in my bloodstream. The first day I wore the patch, I did have to use a total of 6 percocets to maintain proper levels to curb withdrawal symptoms. at the present time I have had to take no by mouth pain medication, my pain is almost completely alleviated and I am maintaining a constant medication levels in my bloodstream, in turn, has altered my mood back to normal without the ups and downs. I have lorcet plus for breakthrough pain just in case I have a severe migraine or a kidney stone.
It appears you are not new to pain management or chronic pain in general, so you know not expect to be pain free. The goal is to maintain a tolerable level of pain.
If Butrans isn't working for you, at the highest dose, be honest with your doctor and let him know. Most doctors will be willing to work with you to get you to a tolerable pain level. It is not a wonder drug for everyone but it has worked great for me and I am a completely different person since I've made the decision to give it a try. I wish you the best of luck with it and I hope that you will give it enough time with dosage adjustments and to be acclimated to the change in medication if you are on something else.
Extended release medication for chronic pain, in my opinion, is a must. it will help you from developing a heavy tolerance, decrease the amount of Medicine you have to take by mouth, and keep a constant level of medication in the bloodstream at all times and if used as directed is much safer and less likely to be abused.
I wish you the best of luck in finding the right pain management regimen that works for you.
Wow, thanks for your detailed and thoughtful response. I am just sorry I did not see this sooner. I was having computer problems and since I had some it fixed my responses from the website go into my spam.
I have so many questions to ask you that I don't know where to start.
I have been narcotic pain medication as long as you have been or very close.
I have got to the point where my pain is not responding to the hydrocodone like it did. If I get relief it is short lived.
I have worn a 10, a 10 & a 5 together, and a 20. A 20 does not do it, my doctor and I thought I actually did better wearing a 10 with break through medication.
Actually, my doctor wanted me to try wearing a 20 & and 10 together and I refused as it is not approved in the US at that dose.
So I don't know what to do.
It is nice to have that constant medication in your systems so I am not riding that pain roller coaster all day and night starting as soon as I wake up.
I will be in touch. Thanks again.
I wouldnt go overboard w the patch as he wants either... may need to go a step up ti fentnyl if that be the case.
I hope ShanMan72 reads this and will respond... after reading what you wrote, last night I put a Butrans pain patch back on. I feel like you could help me figure out if this patch is more helpful then the very bothersome side effects I get from it. I think I know the answer. I just suffer so badly with pain and based on what you wrote in your response to my 1st question... I know you know how I feel. The difference is when you wear the patch you can go without oral pain medication and I can't. Is there a way we can communicate through this site with private questions?
Being a professional , was the dosing did you have a nurse or a other Dr monitoring your usage or increases as needed ? Very happy for you that you were able to attain s proper balance that works for you.
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pain, hydrocodone, oxycodone, chronic pain, butrans, patch
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