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Hello,

 I have many problem but I don't think that you all need to know all my infirmaries so i'll get right to my questions, it's regarding the differences between Percocet and Norco.

Currently Im prescribed 2 Norco 10/325 every 5 hours.  My main problem besides my pain is that I don't have regular sleeping habbits, In a normal month around here, I might stay awake completely for the first 7 days, then crash hard for 3 days and want to sleep all the time, then have somewhat normal sleeping pattern for 3 o 7 days, then be awake again for 4 days straight, then go into a normal sleeping pattern again.  The main problem this causes is extreme edema, not just turning my ankles into cankles, but extreme swelling from my waist all the way down to my toes.

My doctor has tried all of the ambien type of drugs, none of which do anything to help me sleep.  He prescribed me Dalmane 30MG and told me to take 2 before bed.  I tried that many many times and they didn't help, he upped the dosage to 90MG before bed and it still did nothing.

Upon my visit to him today, I queried him some more on what else he could prescribe to help me sleep, knowing that if I get to sleep 6 to 8 hours straight, then I will urinate out the excess water, and my edema will be kept in check like it is on those weeks where I get a normal sleeping pattern and aren't sitting up at my desk overnight working.

So today, he said that the "old" medications aren't in use any more, the barbs and what not else (can't remember all the types of drugs he talked about) but wanted me to mix and match, and prescribed me Percocet 10/325 and said to take one of those with a dalmane before bed to see if that knocks me out.

 Now my thinking is this.  Im already taking 2 Norco's, and not generally taking them before bed unless extreme pain, or it happens to coincide with when I should be taking them, but taking two of them  Norco's do nothing to knock me out, even when taking them with the dalmane.  So what is the difference here, how will Percocet and dalmane bring on sleep where as Norco and dalmane didn't?

Also, he didn't explain it to me, but Im assuming that when I take the percocet, then I should not take the NOrco normal doses, would this seem right?

Lastly,I know that there are times that I miss a dose of the Norco in the evening if I do happen to be extremely tired I generally forget and go to bed, however I often either wakeup in a couple hours very irritable (like going through withdrawls from the norco), and am wondering if taking the percocet before bed is going to relieve any type of withdrawl symptoms I might feel from skpping that dossage of Norco at night time?  I know about the widthdrawls of the NOrco as I generally go through them every couple months when I stop taking the norco to let my body readjust to the pain to see where Im at with it, and generally it makes for a very sleepless nights, so will the percocet offset that feeling?

Thanks,

Yest the percocet will fix any withdrawal symptoms you may be fixing weather it is you skipping a dose or intentionally weaning yourself off. As to why he would prescribe the percocet with the dalmane...i dont understand what the percocet will do that a norco will not. They are both opiates and when combined with the dalmane should do the same thing. Perhaps he thinks you dont normally take the norco at night or something. As far as the sleeping med goes if he doesnt want to go to the barbituates yet is willing to prescribe a benzo like dalmane ask about restoril (temazepam) it is another long acting benzo that is used as a hypnotic and might have a better effect than the dalmane. There are a bunch of others like mogadon and others but they arnt as widely known/prescribed in the US...i have only ever heard of dalmane and restoril being used in the US. Combining a benzo and opiate usually leads to an increase in sedation so I understand what our doctor is trying to do but be warned that high doses of opiates and benzodiazepine together causes respiratory and you could stop breathing if you just take a bunch of each against the doctors orders thinking it would help more. Listen to your doc and go up in dose slowly and follow the prescription dont just take a handfull of each thinking its just a sleeping pill and will make you more tired.