ms contin or oxycontin for pain?

[renton]

Hey I use percocet mainly to deal with my chronic back pain but need to switch to something thats a sustained release. I've been on the fentanyl patch before which worked great but I kept getting a rash from it. Whats the difference between morphine slow release and oxycontin? do they feel the same and do they have different side effects? I've heard oral morphine can make you really sick and throwing up but not sure if that goes away. I'm thinking of asking for Avinza as it would be nice to only have to take it once a day. Most docs seem to prefer oxycontin cause they say it has less side effects than morphine, I dont know if this is true at all or not. Thanks for any info.

[exitwound]

I've been on both in the past nine months, and I would have to say that Oxycontin is a superior medication for most pain sufferers.

Of course, Avinza is nice because of the 24-hour time release but it's also correspondingly less flexible and for several reasons, morphine is often less desirable...

Its pain control isn't quite on par with Oxy, it can cause more nausea or even vomiting in sensitive people, and in the form of Avinza or even Kadian, it's at least as expensive as the Watson/ABG generic OC's. MS Contin is cheaper, by about 1/3, but if you have a choice, I would suggest oxy. For another thing, you will tend to be more awake and alert on a give dose of Oxy than Morphine.

As for the morphine nausea/vomiting, it does get less problematic with time, but it's not necessarily something that ever goes away. I had a lot of trouble reaching doses that worked for me, without risking a whole world of trouble with a major vomiting episode.

My first suggestion would be to try to find a new brand of Fentanyl patch and see if you can work around the skin problem....if not, then Oxycontin would probably be next in line on my list.

[renton]

thanks for the info. I can see how morphine would be more sedating than oxy and I know it doesent work well orally like oxy does. With the fentanyl patch I asked if they had another brand but they dont yet in canada, only the duragesic no generic. Wearing them was always kind of a pain though cause they fall off allot after a bath or shower so I was constantly taping it back on. So does oxycontin actually work for 12 hours though? I've heard it is more like 8.

[exitwound]

Yeah, I am prescribed three OC80's per day....that's one every eight hours.

[caesee]

I also have chronic back pain, and have been on both mscontin and oxycontin. Mscotnin did not control my pain, and did give me nausa untill my body adjusted, but every time the dose was up the nasua was back for awhile. I did not find the moprh that effecive for me, and I was taking my breakthorugh medication very, very often. I was rx 10mg percs then 30mg oxy ir, and I was taking those along with the morph and almost to the point where I would use the break through meds all day long and not using the morph. When I reached this point my doc switched me to the OCS.
As EW said Oxy is a superior medication compared to morph for choric pain. When i was swichted there was a 70% differce in my pain levels, and the overall way I felt. (even though i was supplemting my regiment with oxys for freinds, but not enough to take on a daily basis) Now I am to to the point where I am actually begining to have a great surplus of meds being as I am not needed to take my breakthrough meds daily, and nor am I taking the daily amount of oxy's, they work to the point that I am content at a lower dose some of the time. For back pain I would highly reccomend going with oxycontin if you have the chance, it has enabled me to do many things that i could not while on morph.

Also I had the same problem with the fent. patch when i was rx it. It gave me a horrible rash where the patch was almost like posion ive, it itched horrably. I have tried the name brand patches and Mylan ones and they both did the same thing to me. Becasue of this I will never use a fent patch, the irration was way to much. Any other quesions it seems like Ew and myself have both been down this road, so we sould be able to help you out.

[jab]

This is why opiates are so subjective.. I get much better releif from MSContin then from OXYContin. You really have to try both and determine which works best for you.

Or you could go the same route I (and many others) went.. Get MSContin for pain and Oxycodone (IR) for break-through, or OXYContin for pain and MSIR for break-through. That way you get the best of both worlds. I prefer the first, but what works for you may be very different than what works for me.

Be safe and good luck!

[renton]

What's an average dose people with CP settle on with oxy or mscontin? Do you end up staybilizing on a dose or does it just go up forever? Allot of people here seem to settle on something like 40mg oxy 3times a day. Right now my doc is only giving me 10mg percs to take every few hours so I end up having about 4 or at most 5 a day but I still get bad pain and the pills only seem to work good for maybe 2 hours which sucks. I hate having to carry pills around all the time as it makes it more of a temptation for me to pop an extra one if I'm just bored or crave it and not really in pain. I'm thinking either the really long release morphine like kadian or methadone might be the best cause that way I will only take 1 and not be as tempted to take a bunch. Dumb logic I know but it works for me.

[Curio]

if you truly take them for pain, when needed, you should take the same dosage milli wise or even less in a long term release form because you don't have that drop in therapeutic levels in your blood that you get with the short acting meds...you know like you are always trying to "catch" the pain train and "beat" it back in time with a pill....esp. if you are having nerve pain....oh yikes w/d have sucked a bit lately, but I'm sure glad most of my nerve pain is gone...

ya know the kind where you want to saw your own extremity off if it MIGHT help the searing burn go away? If you don't, I hope to God you don't have to ever feel that....

I would definitely recommend trying the DXM formula or whatever is available to combat the tolerance you will naturally tend to develop to the opies.....that was my main prob....getting enough pain control out of the doctors while medical science could catch up for me to have freakin three surgeries and get ahead of the pain curve.

[Curio]

I would definitely recommend trying the DXM formula or whatever is available to combat the tolerance you will naturally tend to develop to the opies.....that was my main prob....getting enough pain control out of the doctors while medical science could catch up for me to have freakin three surgeries and get ahead of the pain curve.

[renton]

So how much dxm do you take to help with tolerance? I've taken it before in large doses for fun and it did seem to get rid of any cravings I might have had. And I know what you mean by playing catch up with the pain train, it's such a pain in the ass waiting for that pill you just took to kick in so you dont feel like dying from the pain.

[bronyraur]

Just my 2 cents: I was on OC's 10mg 2x daily and didn't have really great pain relief (I have chronic low back pain), so I was just switched to MS Contin 15mg 2x daily w/ Percocet-5 for breakthrough pain. In comparing the two, I can say that while I had fewer side effects from the OC's (itching, sweating, etc.), I have better pain control w/ the MS Contin. I'm on a low dose, so side effects are minimal, but they are a minor nuisance, although they do go away w/ time. Except for the damn constipation!

[Curio]

Just my 2 cents: I was on OC's 10mg 2x daily and didn't have really great pain relief (I have chronic low back pain), so I was just switched to MS Contin 15mg 2x daily w/ Percocet-5 for breakthrough pain. In comparing the two, I can say that while I had fewer side effects from the OC's (itching, sweating, etc.), I have better pain control w/ the MS Contin. I'm on a low dose, so side effects are minimal, but they are a minor nuisance, although they do go away w/ time. Except for the damn constipation!

that's a lousy dosage of OC or MScontin....I wouldn't feel much relief off a 10 mg OC either...yikes...I was only taking those 10 mg. tabs towards this last part where I was tapering to avoid w/d...You probably needed a "loading" dose of a 20 mg. OC and maybe another 10 before the end of the day

[Curio]

So how much dxm do you take to help with tolerance? I've taken it before in large doses for fun and it did seem to get rid of any cravings I might have had. And I know what you mean by playing catch up with the pain train, it's such a pain in the ass waiting for that pill you just took to kick in so you dont feel like dying from the pain.
http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=852
there's a good start^^^^for more info...i wish i'd known before my 3 year tour was nearly up...i never really got to see how effective some of the methods are.

[Sitar]

Opiates vary greatly with how they affect people.

For me, Morphine is the most pleasurable substance on the planet (never tried H, though), and Oxy doesn't even come close.

I have NEVER gotten nausea or vomiting from Morphine except when I have greatly overdosed, otherwise it's good to go. However, my sister always gets nauseated from even a small dose of Morphine, and doesn't think it's pleasurable at all.

I'd rather have Morphine any day, but that's just me.