Opana vs Oxycodone

I am on both Oxycontin and Opana. The Opana to me seems to be very effective. I think for most people, with the oxy, they are used to the fact that it gives you energy. Trust me, your pain is still there, but you feel like you can do stuff. With the Opana, you do not get that burst of energy. There is the IR Opana that I take now, and there is an extended release version. Just give it a chance to work, and I am sure you will find the right combo and dose.

Like I said, I am on both. Oxy for long term and Opana for breakthrough.

If you are in need of heavy duty long term opiate treatment then fetanyl patches is probably a viable option. Check into it...

When you were taking the 650 mg p/d Oxycodone dosage was it a mix between "Controlled Release" OxyContin and OxycodoneIR, or just all of one or the other? I'm also wondering why your prescribing Dr. didn't suggest switching you to something else, like MSContin or the 72 hour Fentanyl patch. Would it be too nosey of me to inquire?

I have severe pain caused by my cancer therapy and my oncologist handles my scrips for pain meds. As you are probably aware, terminal cancer patients are allowed more freedom in their choice of pain meds than CPs and they are also pretty much allowed to set their own dosage levels. That's why I'm so curious about your Dr. My Doc suggested that I switch to another opioid after I reached the 450 mg p/d level on OxycodoneIR and I would think that you should have gotten the same advice. Sounds like a bad Dr. to me. Anyway, it had gotten to where I really wasn't keeping track of how much Oxy I was taking on any given day because I was using it pretty much PRN for BTP, as instructed. My dosage rules were "not to exceed 90 mgs in 3 hours" but I always took less than that anyway and I never even came close to being caught short at the end of the month.

This wasn't an abuse problem, it was an uneven dosage problem. By not maintaining a somewhat consistent serum level I was subject to a roller-coaster of various side effects. That's why my Dr. and I (It was mostly me after I did some research here.) decided to switch to the Fentanyl patch. It works great for me and I love not having to keep track of all those 30 mg OxycodoneIR tablets! Since you make it sound like you completed rehab successfully, you should be over the misguided notion that euphoria = pain relief, hence the higher the better, right?

I'm far from a Puritan but the so-called euphoric side effect of Oxycodone is just a very annoying "fuzz-brain" to me. That's another thing that I love about Fentanyl, it provides very little of the euphoria associated with other opioids. Talk to your Dr. about this drug, Roque, maybe it will work for you. If you do give it a try, I as well as almost every other Fentanyl user on this site, recommend the Mylan brand. It's not a reservoir pouch like the others and is much easier to deal with. Duragesic, the original manufacturer, also makes this adhesive-matrix patch but as I haven't tried it I can't recommend it. Please feel free to PM me if you need any more info . . . I will sing the praises of Fentanyl forever. Best wishes and good luck . . .

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PS: For BTP I'm Rx'ed Fentora 400 mcg 4 p/d. This is a super fast release effervescent tablet form of Fentanyl . . . it's also super expensive so you will need to be either rich or well insured. My #120 p/m Rx costs $3,890 retail, my copay is $250 but it's well worth it to me because of the 5-10 minute onset. I also take one 30 mg OxycodoneIR every 6 hours as an adjunct to the patch. The 100 mcg isn't quite strong enough so we added the Oxy until the proper amount was arrived at. As I said earlier, cancer patients are given a lot more control over their pain meds than CPs. I have written several posts decrying this unjust bias, my wife is disabled and receives SSDI assistance because of her CP but she has to practically beg her Dr. of 7 years for her pain meds.