Oxycodone and other mind-numbing drugs

[Endless]

Okay, folks. This isn't exactly epilepsy related but I know you'll help me out.

I have horrible headaches. On a scale of 1-10, some days they are a 50. It could be due to seizures, another neurological condition that I have, or something else. Who knows.

My neuro has given me painkillers to help. I have oxycodone, hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, nuprin, and tylanol. I am allowed to have pain meds two days a week, no matter which ones I choose to take. This is so I don't get addicted, and to avoid rebound headaches.

I still haven't taken the oxycodone because I'm afraid of it. Afraid I'll go on some horrible trip from hell. Afraid I'll get hooked on it. Afraid it'll turn my brain to mush and it'll stay that way.

Well, here's my question. Anybody in here ever been on this stuff, either short term or long term? Did it create a dependance, and what was that like? And do you think the above restrictions will be enough to avoid this?

What are the side effects of oxycodone? I know what the package insert lists, but there is usually lots of other stuff it doesn't list. Especially when you mix drugs. My docs and my pharmacist know what all the drugs are that I'm on, but I'm still scared to take Lamictal, a sleeping pill, and a painkiller together. My brain will be chemically pickled.

My head is killing me and I think I'm probably sliding into a bad night. I really hate drugs. Think I should take the da*& pill anyway?

Lordy, the ice cream truck is going by right now, blasting "roll out the barrell" in those chimey-bells. It's hard for me to stay serious about anything when I hear that. Even when my head hurts bad. Anybody got a couple of bucks for a fudge bar?

 

[momof3boys]

Before I was switched to the Keppra XR back in November 2010, I suffered big time from headaches. Some were not bad, other days I felt like staying in bed all day and holding my head. They were not good. They thought mine were due to seizure activity, so they increased my Keppra dose, but made it even worn and I had break through seizures. So, thats when I got switched over to keppra xr. The headaches went away. But I was to try Advil Migraine pills, and also was prescribed hydrocodone. I did take that, but I'll tell ya what, it did take care of the pain, but made me very tired. So I didnt take it as much as I did the Advil Migraine pills. I havnt tried any of the other medications you listed.

I hope the headaches stop soon for you!

 

[Nakamova]

I was prescribed oxycodone when I had shoulder surgery. The first week post-surgery I took half a pill if the pain woke me up in the middle of the night in pain. That half-pill was enough to let me get back to sleep. No side effects: no nausea, no trippiness, no weird dreams, no hangover in the morning, no mushy brain, no addiction. I still have almost a whole bottle full.

 

[CathyAnn31]

Have you tried Topamax? I don't have migraines, or if I do, they are of the silent type. My dr just added them along with my Lamictal and it's helped my headaches tremendously.

***hugs***. I hope you find relief soon.

 

[matchu]

take a bit more and your body will eventually demand it. is good stuff though

 

[Endless]

Good suggestion, that. And thank you. Topamax is good for preventing migraines, and I'm not having migraines. Mine is a headache caused by my brain being squeezed / fluid pressure in my head. (IIH) Ugh. Topamax does have the effect of slightly inhibiting CSF production, but there are other drugs that do it much much better. Moot point, though. I can't take topamax. It made me horribly depressed.

I'm curious how many people have another neurological condition they are dealing with, in addition to epilepsy. It complicates things.

 

[k2s4ever]

Because I have problems with a vague headache, this is how my neuro has thought that my olfactory and gustatory auras may be a migraine variant. I don't get daily knock down/drag out headaches, but when I have too many days of the aura, I get vague headaches, which I would think when you spend 12 hours in a row smelling awful burnt rubber and its variants, who WOULDN'T have a headache?! But, I also have had periodic episodes of headaches so bad, I end up with nausea and vomiting, or near to that, enough that the only think I can do is pop 800 mg of Ibuprofen and go to sleep. Usually a two hour nap will do it. I'll wake up feeling like a Mac truck hit me, but I'm functional again.
I had one of those episodes in November, but it had been several years. However, I had also been taking a prescription NSAID Nabumetone for back pain. I have major lower back problems. In the years I had taken that, I rarely had headaches, in fact, never. Well, ever since the auras started 4 years ago, now I get some headaches, but the vague ones are not the same. So I had been on Depakote ER with Keppra on the chance that I have migraine, and if it's SPS, well then an AED medication that also addresses migraine-both possibilities covered. Neither kept the auras totally away, and the Topamax as I have discussed in other threads, had side effects, so I am now on Lamictal with Keppra, although I don't think Lamictal seems too aimed at migraine prevention. I'm just leaving it alone because I could simply have both, but the two AED's for migraine didn't stop the auras completely, and I don't think the meds for migraine like Imitrix, etc, are meant for my type of possible migraine anyway, plus due to arrythymia issues, I couldn't take those types anyway. So for me, I just take Naproxen OTC for my low back and then for headaches. I could go on a narcotic pain reliever for the back, but I don't want to for reasons you cited. When I had surgery 10 years ago, I had a morphine pump and it made me sick. I refused narcotic pain relievers and asked for prescription Ibuprofen on discharge! Now Naproxen is my thing, and I take a "prescription level" dose as needed, per my neurologist. I mentioned my back issues to him and he ordered an MRI and man, have awful nerve involvement, pathetic state there but I knew that-I just hadn't been looked at by an orthopedic dr in years. But we don't get too into the back stuff-it was just a peripheral thing. I may eventually see a pain specialist and maybe look at facet joint procedures, but I have enough issues going on right now. (despite the sciatica pain and constant muscle spasms in both upper and lower back).

 

[Endless]

First of all, sorry about the pain, and the seizures.

Hey - it's GREAT to hear from somebody who has a similar smell seizure as mine. I smell things that are kind of like burnt rubber. Whatever I smell during a seizure has an acrid undertone to it. It's the part of the burning rubber that catches in the back of your throat, not the whole smell. Except it's just a smell in my head, not the physical catching in the back of my throat, if you know what I mean.

Hard to describe to non-seizure people. Glad I can describe it to you all.

On a different topic, I've had problems wth insomnia. Now it's back to being worse again. And last night I had taken ambien XR, hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, along with seizure meds. I should have been knocked out. Down for the count. Swimming in a sleepy pool of brain chemicals. Instead I got two hours of sleep and a night full of continued head pain. What's up with that?

Still have that awful headache. Hydrocodone didn't touch it. Don't know if I can take oxycodone when I took hydrocodone last night, and my doc is on vacation. I just hate calling the doctor on call. They're never up to date on what's going on with you, and end up telling you to do something very different than your own neurologist would have said.

 

[momof3boys]

First of all, sorry about the pain, and the seizures.

Hey - it's GREAT to hear from somebody who has a similar smell seizure as mine. I smell things that are kind of like burnt rubber. Whatever I smell during a seizure has an acrid undertone to it. It's the part of the burning rubber that catches in the back of your throat, not the whole smell. Except it's just a smell in my head, not the physical catching in the back of my throat, if you know what I mean.

Hard to describe to non-seizure people. Glad I can describe it to you all.

On a different topic, I've had problems wth insomnia. Now it's back to being worse again. And last night I had taken ambien XR, hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, along with seizure meds. I should have been knocked out. Down for the count. Swimming in a sleepy pool of brain chemicals. Instead I got two hours of sleep and a night full of continued head pain. What's up with that?

Still have that awful headache. Hydrocodone didn't touch it. Don't know if I can take oxycodone when I took hydrocodone last night, and my doc is on vacation. I just hate calling the doctor on call. They're never up to date on what's going on with you, and end up telling you to do something very different than your own neurologist would have said.

Do you have a pharmacy near you that you can ask a pharmacist if you can take another medication that will help?

 

[dbrownpilot]

I took oxycodone after surgery last summer. I started getting addicted to it. I was taking it every chance I got and hiding it from my wife. I finally had my wife throw it away.

 

[valeriedl]

It's kind of funny because I was going to start a post similar to this.

As long as you take the meds as perscribed and don't abuse them you should be alright. It's when you take them every day weither you need them or not then that's not good.

I have a family member who got addicted to pain killers. With them the more you take your body gets used to them so you need more to make the pain stop. You might start out taking one a day, then your body gets used to that so your body is telling you that you need two a day. Then your body gets used to that so you need to take three a day to get rid of the pain and so on....

Just becareful how you are using them. If they don't make you feel good or you don't like them then stop taking them and as said talk to your paramist or dr to see if there's something else.

My question is can the epilepsy or epilepsy meds make your body not react to pain killers? For my headaches I was given Butal and Sumatriptan Succine shots that I can give myself and they do nothing, I've even taken two of the Butal pills but I still lay there with a bag of ice on my head till I fall asleep. I only take one of these when I get a headache after a seizure, which is maybe 1 or 2 times a month at most. After alot of seizures I don't get a headache so I don't take them.

Also I have back problems, every so often it will act up so bad that I can't even move. I was given Vicodin and muscle relaxers for those. I get these that are that bad every few months, other than that every week or two, for a few days, it seems to act up and really hurts if I walk, stand, lay down or sit for to long. The Vicodin really don't seem to do anything for that either, also I've even taken 2 at a time sometimes and I still hurt like crazy. I'm not abusing these, I'm not taking them every day and not even when it just hurts a little, I'll usually just deal with that. I only take them when it starts to act up bad so I know I'm not getting addicted to these. It's always been that way with pain meds and me.

I take these as pescribed and I'll only take them if I'm hurting. Probably 3 pills days, that's how it's pescribed - it's been acting up, but nothing. My dr gave me steroid shots in my back and that really didn't feel like it did too much. I'll just end up taking a muscle relaxer which makes me fall asleep so I don't feel the hurt then.

I hope that made sense. Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[Nakamova]

My question is can the epilepsy or epilepsy meds make your body not react to pain killers?

That's a very interesting idea. Pain pathways are very complex and still somewhat mysterious, so I don't think there's a lot of hard data out there. I found one study that suggests that something called "Complex Regional Pain Syndrome" might be sustained and exacerbated by epilepsy. It could also be that in some cases epilepsy correlates with lower amounts of the body's own natural painkillers (endogenous opioids) that play a role in both pain relief and seizure control. A low amount of those opioids might make someone more vulnerable to seizures AND less able to alleviate pain.

 

[Endless]

Well, I took an oxycodone last night. First pill that's taken the pain away. And my brain isn't mush, lol... I still think I'll only take one of these every couple of weeks or so. I'm still wary of addiction.

Thanks, everybody.

 

[Nakamova]

that's great that it did the trick!