Is Oxycodone as widely prescribed as is indicated on TV

my "magic drug" is Naxyn.....

i take it for muscular problems and/or severe lower back pain

over the years different doctors have prescribed their "favourites"
but the one that works for me is naxyn

.,

The main brand name here is Naprosyn, but I think it's the same thing. In the US you can get low dose forms OTC (over the counter with no prescription) but the higher doses are still Rx only.

and a "mental evaluation" is part of the process

it's a "popular" drug on the streets too

,.

There must be something other than naproxen in it or else something in addition to naproxen. I hate the fact that drugs have different names in different countries.

over naming conventions.

Rob

Hydrocodone-apap causes constipation and can mess with ones liver. Cyclobenzaprine messes with men with enlarged prostates. How many men over 60 don't have that? So now you get to counteract the side affects by taking other medications and/or pouring fluids into your body faster than you can eliminate them. You can wind up taking more pills for the side affects than for the treatment drugs and need a carousel type spice rack to contain them all. If you weren't that sick before, you surely are now....and why did my wife say my breath smelled like cloves?

to a greater or lesser degree. That's why I try to limit my intake.

Old time opium smokers suffered from this problem too.

Don't know if this is equally true about Pethidine or Meperidine or Demerol (all the same thing). They were invented in Nazi Germany which had no access to the Poppies that produced Morphine and other similar drugs.

Rob

In terms of muscle relaxants for back pain due to spasm or injury, Robaxasal (with ASA) or Robaxacet (with Tylenol) are widely used here. Primary ingredient is Carbamazole. It gives me very restless legs. I had a rotten tooth many years ago and neither Tylenol 3 nor possibly Percoset was holding me. I was taking too much Percoset, partly because I was sufficiently disoriented not to have remembered taking my most recent dose, and partly because I was still in incredible pain without any let up. They opened up the temporary filling and that released the pressure. Then they prescribed Xanax. I can't quite describe what Xanax felt like except I felt nauseated but completely numb at the same time. I ditched that med after the second dose.

I take Naprosyn EC (Enteric Coated) for my arthritis in knees and feet which is the primary component of Naxyn (did I spell that right Jonah?).

All Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs or NSAIDs save one have significant gastro-intestinal side effects and can cause ulcers and bleeding. The exception is Acetaminophen or Tylenol. Incidentally, Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs are even worse on the gut. There is no escape. My wife favours Ibuprofen, otherwise known as Motrin, and Aleve I think. I used to take Brufen ****** which was 800mg of Ibuprofen at bed time. and slept well because my feet didn't ache. You can't buy that formulation on this side of the Atlantic and taking 2 400's is not reccommended. Liver complications.

Rob, as always deferring to Dr. Bill on questions of health.

Hydrocodone is a similar drug to codeine phosphate, and is filed in the CPS (the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties the equivalent of the Physicians Desk Reference if memory serves) under the blanket name of Opioids which includes Morphine, Pethidine/Meperidine, Codeine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, and Methadone. Oxycodone = Oxycontin, they're the same drug. I did drive my Dad home from the hospital when he was loaded on Morphine, and it was an amusing drive one summer in the early 70's when he would periodically open his eyes and look around and do the middle aged equivalent of "Oh, Wow, man. Heavy." and close his eyes again.

I would like to solicit Dr. Bill's advice on this since I've had back pain since I was in my late 20's. My approach is to take T3 and the second dose anywhere from 2 and a half to 3 hours later if my back has started hurting again. From that point on it's srictly per the doctor's order, but I feel it is important "to get ahead of the pain curve" as I call it. From that point on it's every 4 hours, and when combined with Robaxacet or its generic equivalent, I'm usually okay in 3 days, though I often wear a back brace if I think I'm going to be doing something potentially difficult for my back. There is an additional problem in that both Robaxacet and T3 contain Tylenol which is hard on the kidneys. In Britain a dose of 1500mg of Tylenol is often given for migraines or post operatively. and that's what 2 Tylenol and a Robaxacet contain, so I don't worry, but I am aware of what I'm taking. It's curious here that post gastroscopy where they generally gave 2 Extrastrength Acetaminophen (1500mg), here they give 1 500mg Acetaminophen. Oh and I cut back on the T3 after the first day to 1 q4h (that's every 4 hours)

I mentioned it because I had researched Dilaudid as one of the alternatives when my wife had cancer and my pharmacist told me that me there wouldn't be any 'good' alternatives for breakthrough pain to go with it. Eventually I requested methadone and roxycodone which kept her comfortable until her passing.

I'm not a pharmacologist nor am I an expert in pain management but I don't know any reason Dilaudid would be a problem in combination with the usual short duration narcotic analgesics.

I'm not sure that the standard Dilaudid preparations have long enough duration to be entirely satisfactory as the long acting agent in pain management but that is a separate question. There is a sustained release for available.

He did point out to me that of the long acting analgesics that methadone was the best choice. He explained that the other opiates only bind to one of three opiate receptors whereas methadone binds with all 3. It also has the longest half-life of the lot giving it a more steady level of relief without the peaks and valleys that happen with the others.

He is right that it has a longer life in the body than the other alternatives, but it does have some problems. I used to use a moderate amount of methadone in chronic pain patients, especially if they lacked good insurance, because it is inexpensive. Unfortunately, it can cause heart rhythm problems in some patients and it has some problematic drug interactions. Also, although the medication itself stays in the blood for a while its analgesic effects do not last as long as we used to think they do but the toxic effects can last for quite a while. The result is that there are usually better choices for chronic pain.

terminal cancer patients like my wife. Methadone worked well for her and she moved to it from MS Contin. She tried the fentanyl patches but she had a hard time keeping them on and they were expensive. If I remember correctly the MS Contin wasn't that expensive either should you have some patients that can't afford the alternatives. The doctor did have a hard time getting her blood pressure stabilized toward the end because of the extremely high dose of Methadone she was taking but she didn't seem to have any problems with any of the other 15 or so meds she was taking. If any of her doctors prescribed anything that didn't mix well with what she was taking my pharmacist would let me know and advise on alternatives.

Morphine Sulfate in a time release (i.e. continuous ) format, just as Oxycontin is Oxycodone in a time release format. I'm not surprised that Methadone worked better, and I'm not that surprised that she had trouble with Fentanyl patches. We used to tape them in place with old fashioned cotton tape that we bought at external pharmacies because the non-allergenic tapes available in hospital wouldn't stick. People in pain often perspire. It's a big draw-back to the patch and they should work on an improvement, but they haven't yet. All of us on our ward were out of pocket for tape because the hospital wouldn't order it or supply it. We made up a rota, and tried to stay at least 2 rolls ahead at any time.

Rob

For Renal Colic as the symptoms of kidney stones are called, they used to prescribe Dilaudid. It was the classic 40's and 50's junkie jazz musician tricks to walk into a doctors office with a hand on the hip, index finger pointing down, and hunched over, and when asked for a urine sample, they'd ***** their finger and add a little blood to the sample. That and perhaps some money under the table could get them a prescription for dilaudid which was then cooked up and injected.

Rob