Oxycontin and Itching-put up with it or is it time to lower the oxy?
 

Hey Guys

I'm after some feedback about the insane itching I deal with all night, every night. Would you take something else to relieve the side effects or do you think I may be getting less tolerant of the oxy itself?

I've been on oxycontin for over a year now, and have been on 80mg a day for about 4 months. I've always had itching (mainly on my face) if I've had a fair dose of endone (ie 20mg), but not with the oxycontin on it's own.

But in the past couple of weeks it's gone from mildly annoying to out of control, with me being awake all night, itching one spot after the other and feeling like I should be in a padded cell! I'm needing to scratch at itchy areas (all over my body, not just on my face like with the endones) every few seconds, for HOURS.

I take phenergan (an anti-histimine)when it gets really bad and that really helps, but I don't want to do it every night. I don't know if it's ok to take that every night.

The oxycontin works SO well for my pain, I'd hate to have to give it up, but these side effects have become too hard to live with.

We tried swapping my other meds to the morning (instead of taking most of them at night) but that hasn't changed anything.

Can anyone offer me any suggestions as to how to deal with this? Or is it a sign that my tolerance to oxy is decreasing rapidly?

Thanks heaps
x Kate

Will they let u take benadryl? I have allergies to hay grasses and trees and it seems to help really well..

If it works for your pain stay on the Oxycontin, just ask your doc about other meds to help contain the itching if your unsure about the one your on, i am pretty sure you can take the one your on every night. I am currently on Oxycontin 80mg 3x daily and its doin zip for my pain and does zip to my body overall. Sorry your itching but i would rather itch than have pain. But definitely ask about other meds to counter the itching as well, If you need suggestions for those just let me know i can give u a few. Wishing the best for ya. :)

Kate,

I am also on Oxycontin (a little over two years I think), but have not noticed itching. However, I had a similar experience with Fentanyl. It worked great for quite a long while and then all of a sudden I had itches all over. No rash or other explanations, just itch. When I stopped the Fentanyl, the itching stopped.

I suppose it might be possible that our bodies will tolerate drugs like this for a certain amount of time and then “rebel” on us. I have switched pain meds several times for reasons like that. The med works pretty well, and then either gives a goofy mild reaction or stops being effective.

Definitely discuss this with your PM Doctor. As Sunshine and LordWood suggested, a simple addition to treat the itch might be the answer. But, don’t just do it on your own, even though it is over-the-counter.

Good Luck

Mike :hug:

Great!
 

Another unpleasant effect to watch for...lol...2 60mg oxy's per day, works fairly well with 3-4 7.5 percs for break through, no itching that I've really noticed. Do have a question though; do oxy's make one more susceptible to sunburn, or is it one of the other pills I'm on? (Serax, Soma, Welbutrin) I have sun poisoning on my upper back, had it before but it never hurt like this, and I was only out for maybe two hours. My 15 month old son had less of a problem. (Yes, I forgot to put sunscreen in his bag.)

Cake: I have a friend that is on Oxycontin 80mg also. He told me that when the itching becomes a problem for him,along with taking the Benadryl he said sometimes it helps to take a paper-towel and wipe the outer coating off. With just a little damp water. I am talking about doing this on the Oxycontin. It does help with the itching. Also it does dot take away the stregh of the pill. I do think you should talk to your Dr about this situation before doing this. I also do think the sun could maybe affect you? However I do not know if you are a sun person? Take Care! Breezy55 :hug:

Hello,

I was told my itching is a side affect of my RSD. I started having horrible head to toe itching about 3 years ago. I take 2 mg. of Periactin twice a day. Sometimes when my pan is flaired I take it 3 times a day. It works great for the itching.
Take care,
Sherrie

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm waiting to see my pain specialist, but it might be a long wait so just wanted some tips in the meantime.

As for the sun issue, I don't have a problem with that. I'm in a very good area of Australia as far as climate goes- it doesn't get too cold or too humid) and direct sunlight doesn't bother me.

I'll keep going with the phenergan for now, but also talk to my local pharmacy and ask what else is available. I don't want to come off the oxy as it's the only med that helps, and I've exhausted the rest of the possibilities. WIthout oxy working, I'm a tad screwed, lol. I'm hoping I can have another infusion sometime soon, but I won't know that until I talk to my PS.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. You guys are just angels! :hug:

Hi Cake
welcome to my world,,my tolerance is down,,you can swap out to another,but once you have a reaction to one opiate,,your bound to have it with another and even with hydrocodone[vicodin]],, if you start haveing a rash itching on your hands or feet,,thats a liver toxicity,,the liver is trying to off load the med because it is in a weaken state.thats the boat that im in ,,your liver may be healthy,a blood test and aldolase test will tell you how your livers doing,,opiates are brutal on the liver and they are horrifying to detox off of,, talk to your dr,,see what he thinks,,but id run the blood work,,good luck to you,,,bobber

Hi Breezy and Cake,
I wouldn't be wiping the outer coating off oxy it is very dangerous. Oxycotin stands for oxycodone continuous release meaning this is a compressed time released med. by wiping off the outer coating which helps delay the release of the med, you are blasting the oxy into the bloodstream at a faster rate which is very dangerous and since you are breaking out now you will really have an adverse reaction because the faster release of the med into your system. I've heard of people who have cut the pills and didn't know you can't do that with this med or have wiped them off, it can be very dangerous and it will only make your tolerance level of the med go higher.

Bobber: I guess I did not really wirte down what I really meant to say about wiping off the outer coater off Oxcontin. I know that is very bad to do. I guess what I meant to say or what he told me(also I do not know if I agree) was he just dampens the outer coater to control the itching. However that is him! I would not do it. Also I am not on Oxcontin. I do not think that anyone should do anything to there meds. Before talking to there DR. So Bobber you are so right! Please do not take his advice! Also maybe I should have not even told anyone what he does,because he is putting his body at harms way! I am so sorry- Love To All! Breezy55 :Oops:

Bobber, I gotta say, you are the only person I have ever heard of that claims that opiates are rough on the liver. Quite to the contrary, they are easier on the liver than nearly all the newer drugs, although I'm not sure exactly why that is. I've read where heroin addicts of twenty and more years who have no physical problems associated with their abuse(aside from needle marks, etc, I should think) When years ago I was in rehab, the junkies actually looked down on the alcoholics because they knew that could they kick, they wouldn't have the liver problems the alkies would. Also, I know quite a few people who have had life threatening reactions to morphine, yet they can take vicodin. Strangely enough, codeine and morphine must be pretty closely related, for the folks that can't take morphine usually can't take codeine either, although most I've noted don't have life threatening reactions to the codeine. Since I'm on enough opiates to have concern, if you have a link that shows liver issues, please provide it. I don't want to be dying in a few years from liver failure (ouch!) nor do I want to mislead anyone else. From every doc I've talked to and whatnot, I've told them I'd prefer to take an opiate rather than say neurontin or one of the other new ones due to health concerns, and have yet to hear any of them disagree that this is a valid concern. Detox off of them does suck regardless, but if you don't wean yourself off very slowly, it is a horror. Quite frankly though, as this is a lifelong condition, and my pain levels only fairly slowly increase or decrease (the 'base level', that is; spikes don't fiddle around, some days I can't control it at all) I can change the levels of pain meds needed gradually. I don't have to stand on concrete all day at work anymore, and my pain levels have gone down, mostly. Spreading to my foot though, and the new area hurts more. I really hate it. Spikes are more frequent and worse than before. But the base level is lower, so I won't be needing as much painkiller as I did, I should imagine. And pray. Anyways, my apologies if I tweaked you, I certainly hope I am correct, and if I am, well, I had to say something. If I am incorrect, I would like to know, fer sure.

Later,
Smoke

Smoke,,,,,,,,,,,,you can go to mayo clinic.com or drugs.com or medicinenet.com or ask your dr or read the paperwork that comes with the meds or punch the info into any internet engine , they can cause liver toxcity,,induced hepatits on the liver,,,serious and fatal liver disease[quote],, the meds like percocet and vicoden are dangerous because they are stacked with aceaminophen,which perpells the oxycodone or hydrocodone,, even oxy or hydrocodone alone isnt good on the liver,its even worse when the dose is upped or stacked with muscle relaxents and other meds,,cymbaltra is hard on the liver too,,,smoke,,,i take them too,,im just giveing you the info you asked for,,i have a sensitive liver ,,i just wouldnt want or wish it on anyone here,everything taken with moderately is ok,,but long term or high doses isnt,,,your buddy not foe,,,bobber,,,,

I'm sorry Smoke, but opiates are broken down by the liver. Here are a few references for you, but I'm sure you'll find others should you do a search yourself.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic....com/Narcotics

http://meassocnews.blogspot.com/2006...-possible.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine

I did read that comment about wiping the outer layer of the oxycontin off, but there's no way I'd do that. It's a slow release med so wiping off the coating is as bad as breaking it in half.

I have had dramas previously with my liver, during a ketamine infusion 3 years ago. We had to cancel the infusion on day 2 (of a 7 day low dose infusion) before my AFTs went from 40 to 100 to 140 within those two days. Two weeks later it had gone back down to around 50, but with each infusion I've had since then, they've done daily blood tests to check my liver function is all ok.

So I'll bring that issue up when I see my pain specialist and see what he thinks, if the itching is related to my liver.

For now I'll just carry on with phenergan to help control the itching, but only take it on the bad nights, not every night.

Thanks again for all the feedback

x Kate

You're quite right about not disturbing the outer coating of the Oxycontin Kate. Once that coating is gone the full amount of the drug can be released over an extremely short time period. It's something drug addicts do to get a kick, but in doing so it's often the last thing they ever do. :(

If the tablet is slow release like Oxycontin is, no matter what the dose.... that amount is meant to be released over 12 hours. Without the protective coating the whole amount would be released into the blood stream immediately, often causing death. Well .... "often" is an understatement really. I should have said frequently causing death because opiate overdose it's one of our big killers.

I'm not talking through my hat. I've taken Oxycontin and Endone for many years in an effort to control my own chronic pain. I'm also a registered nurse who spent a large number of my 40 years as an RN years rescusiitating and caring for, people who do dumb things like remove the slow release coating from their pain killers. A large number of them die.

Sending you some hugs :hug: and wishing you the best of luck when you see your doctor. Sometimes the itch means that your body has had enough of this drug and you need a change. Sometimes it means you need a lower dose. Sometimes it means little at all except you need to take an antihistamine. It always means you need to speak with your pain doctor, as they're the ones who know all the options available to you.

Kate: Just like Koala77 said disturbing the outer coating of Oxycontin is what drug addicts due. So lets just put that subject to rest! The man I know who does it has one leg and does take to much pills for his own good! I know deep in my heart that he is a drug addict. Also one of these days he will die. By doing the things he does. Kate just trust your Dr's and most of all trust your mind and your body and heart! I know that you will and that you have all the support that you need. We are all with you! Breezy55 :circlelove:

Foes? Never!
 

Quite the contrary. One can never have enough friends. My point was not that the liver does not metabolize the drugs, nor that it is a smart thing to use them if you have liver damage or hepatitis. I am simply saying that they in and of themselves when used properly as directed do not cause liver damage. Now, being on four thousand different drugs along with them probly makes the likelihood of having some damage very likely, unfortunately. Bummer. However, I would rather be on them than something that can give me diabetes or have other insanely dangerous side effects along with liver damage. In regards the acetaminophen, I find it sad that it is bundled with everything, "so safe you can give it to infants"...'but we don't know how or why it works'. Idiocy. I did find some information that methadone can damage internal organs though, and as I was intending to get on it, I am now looking for an alternative long acting painkiller without those dangers. Probly end up on MScontin again, which worked, but virtually stopped my need for a toilet, if ya get my meaning. Anyway, my battle against using more dangerous drugs as the first line of attack against pain because they are "non-addictive" instead of using safer older meds with physically addictive properties in a chronic pain setting continues. Onward Christian soldiers...
Later,
Smoke


[QUOTE=bobber;541099]Smoke,,,,,,,,,,,,you can go to mayo clinic.com or drugs.com or medicinenet.com or ask your dr or read the paperwork that comes with the meds or punch the info into any internet engine , they can cause liver toxcity,,induced hepatits on the liver,,,serious and fatal liver disease