Dearest Robin, I am surely sorry to hear that the meds are'nt helping
you, especially on your anniversary. For what ever it is worth, Happy
Aniversary. I pray that God will show His mercy and give you some relief
until your return visit. I can understand that you do not get any relief from
the vicoden and the 4mg diludid. I am on the patch and I use morphine for
breakthrough pain. You might have to ask your Dr. to up the patch and to give
you the morphine suckers in order to achieve the necessary pain relief. I had
to have my patches uped last week, and I am up to 350ugh which is an
outrageous amount of opiates, however when a person has the chronic pain that
I have, and more surgury is not an option, then I have to do what I have to
do. Please be careful and consider asking your Dr. to get you off of the
diludid because if he were to increase the strength of it, you could
experience kidney problems. Personally, the diludid really did some damage to
my kidneys, and I had to have two surguries and now have implants just so my
kidneys will work. Kidney failure is some of the worst pain that you can ever
go through. When my kidneys shut down, the pain was worse than when I crushed
my lower back,and broke seven vertabrae. So please consult with your Dr.
about using another drug for breakthrough pain other than diludid. The
vicoden is basically loritab with an anti inflamitory, which really is'nt a
very good drug for breakthrough pain, and I would ask the Dr. to just give
you the morphine suckers and increase the strength of the patches. Loritab is
like asprin to those in such pain as you are experiencing, and the anti
inflamitory in the vicoden is also harmful to the kidneys, especially along
with the diludid. Hon I wish you the very best and I will keep you in my
prayers. Just remember that the Dr. is only human, and neds to know the
amount of pain that you are suffering, as well as the length of time that the
pain is constantly bothering you. He, or She is there to help, and can only
help when they know the reality of the suffering that you are going through.
So do not be afraid to tell the Dr. that the meds that you are taking are
just not working. One more point that I might stress is that the morphine is
a clean drug as opposed to the vicoden and the diludid, as the morphine is
much easier on the liver, because the liver has to break down any and all
pill forms, that the body takes in. The patches are absorbed through the
skin, and the suckers go straight to the bloodstream. In the meantime, for a
small amount of relief, you might try a hotpack on the patches, as the
hotpack will increase the amount of absorbtion that the body recieves, and
may give a bit more relief until you can get in to see the Dr. I would'nt say
a thing, except I have been where you are at right now. May The Lord have
mercy on you and I will keep you in my prayers. God Bless You.........Dave