Opana and Blood Pressure

[reddragon3668]

I've been on Opana ER for about six weeks now. The last few appointments I've had with the doctor, since going on Opana, my blood pressure has been high. Last time it was 180/110. When its high like that, I get very listless and fatigued, and always have a faint headache that won't go away, no matter what I take.

Opana has been working great for pain, but yesterday, for some reason, I was hurting so bad and no matter how much Opana I took, I couldn't get relief. I had forgotten that I had allot of used Fent patches and a couple of 50mcg new patches left over from when I was on it, but in desperation, I went to the medicine cabinet and found them. I put on the 50 and in a couple of hours, the pain began to subside. At the same time, I also noticed that the headache started going away and after about 12 hours, I feel much much better. I have a PM appt in a few hours, and I am going to keep the patch on and am curious to see if my blood pressure is lower.

Has anyone taking Opana ever experienced this? I know pain can cause your BP to spike as well, but the few times it was up, my pain level was relatively well controlled. I thought most pain meds induced hypotension, not hypertension.

I appreciate any responses.

[Ludakris]

I personally don't use it, but a coworker of mine does. Her doctor upped her BP meds for this same reason, he seemed to think it was normal for Opana to rise BP...though she's never complained about it not controlling pain when it spikes like you mentioned...then again, it's not a breakthrough med so that may have something to do with it.

[reddragon3668]

Thank you for the response, Ludakris. Looks like my assumption, however, was incorrect. My BP was still up there today. I'm a little mythed about it, though. I've lost another seven pounds, been watching my salt intake and increased my water consumption, and its still not going down.

I've been Rx'd both Lisinopril and HZT for diabetes and blood pressure. Until today, I've not been taking the HZT. But, I went ahead and got that script filled, along with my Lisinopril. I'm going to go see my PCP around the 1st of February, been putting it off because PM has cost me a fortune over the past 6 months or so. I've finally gotten stabilized medicine wise in PM, so I finally got a month's worth of medicine and don't have to go back for another month. For the past six months, I have had to go to PM a minimum of every two weeks, which meant double the copays on both the visits and medication. It has sucked royally.

Until I see my PCP, I am going to just double up on both the Lisinopril and HZT. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

Thanks again, for the response!

[Ludakris]

Thank you for the response, Ludakris. Looks like my assumption, however, was incorrect. My BP was still up there today. I'm a little mythed about it, though. I've lost another seven pounds, been watching my salt intake and increased my water consumption, and its still not going down.

I've been Rx'd both Lisinopril and HZT for diabetes and blood pressure. Until today, I've not been taking the HZT. But, I went ahead and got that script filled, along with my Lisinopril. I'm going to go see my PCP around the 1st of February, been putting it off because PM has cost me a fortune over the past 6 months or so. I've finally gotten stabilized medicine wise in PM, so I finally got a month's worth of medicine and don't have to go back for another month. For the past six months, I have had to go to PM a minimum of every two weeks, which meant double the copays on both the visits and medication. It has sucked royally.

Until I see my PCP, I am going to just double up on both the Lisinopril and HZT. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

Thanks again, for the response!

Sounds rough dude...I know, just from friends/family, that being diabetic and taking pain maintenance meds can just throw all kinds of shit out of whack. Hypertension/hypotension can just be up, down, and all around. And then finding that "sweet spot" with BP meds is a real trick, and then it can change over night. My grandfather is currently a stage 4 cancer patient with heart problems and he has the same trouble trying to find a happy mix of the pain and heart meds, the doc put his heart meds a little too high and it actually gave him a heart attack, damn mix and match meds/health problems.

Anyhow, I hope you can find that perfect balance and soon, it's no fun to control one problem just to have another get out of control.