How does Lorcet 10 rate in the order of pain releaf?
I had my upper and lower spine fixed with steel rods and have a scar on my spine. I am all ways in pain. What can i do to help my self. Doc. gives me 3 loratab 10 a day and said that is what the law allow. I have a hard time beleaveing that. What can i do to help my self. C.D.
Lortab 10 is the strongest form of Lortab made. According to RxList the usual dosage for Lortab 10 is a tablet every 4-6 hours with no more than 6 tablets a day. Do not increase your dosage without your doctor's permission. Lortab can cause numerous side effects. Lortab 10 is a 'schedule three' drug which means it can cause physical dependence or addiction. Patients can also become tolerant to the drug; i.e. - recieve less benefits from it over time.
There are many different types of pain medications and different options you can pursue to get pain relief. You might consider getting a second opinion if you feel your doctor is not pursuing all the options possible. Good luck!
http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/find-drug-24941-25.html
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First of all your doctor is Lying to you! I get 6 percocet 10mg a day!!!!!! Sounds like your doctor is afraid to prescribe to you what you need. You might want to tell him that the lorcet does not help, and that you would like to switch to percocet. Percocet is almost 3 times stronger for pain relief and you can take less of it for the same effect on pain. And its spelt LORTAB!
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Spooky
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 09:25 PM
This may be bad advice according to some people, but I go to a pain specialist and after 6 years I'm up to 6 oxycodone 30 mgs per day and 8 hydrmorphone 8 mgs per day. This would KILL most people. I am highly opioid tolerant. Be careful, but there are MUCH stronger meds out there. Do your research but don't be in pain! If you are near the Tulsa OK area, see Dr. Sorenson.
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Spooky
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 09:28 PM
Dr Sorenson will be thrilled you've given him a reputation as a doctor who will prescribe strong narcotics. That could make the DEA watch him just that much closer.
yeti105
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 11:42 AM
if dr sorenson is not breaking any laws then he may be a bit uncomfortable with that reputation, but if DEA came down on him as long as he has paperwork to back up his prescribing methods there would be no reason for him to worry. my 2nd pain management doc lost her license cuz 2 of her pt's decided to commit suicide, using meds she prescribed of course. though these people would have found a way in any way if they were that intent, it just so happened that it was her perscriptions that did them in. she then had to go before the board, do numerous tasks and such to get license back, she had to go through hell as far as paperwork for DEA records. we, the pt's, had to do range of motion, and sobriety type testing before she would even see us. she did random urine testing to see if her pt's were using something she had not prescribed. i do say though that most of the pain management doc's that JUST give meds and do not send you to other physicians for further testing are not doing anyone a service and exploring all avenues of recovery. in the long run she had such a fight w/all the other doc's in our area due to that fact she gave up her narcotics license. the side of the story on doc's that do not do justice for their pt's and keep them just lingering in pain is when the thoughts of suicide come in to play, that is me, before i found this doc every one i went to decided for themselves that i was not in pain therefore i was a drug seeking addict, of course i was seeking RELIEF. it is hard to be a pain management doc as pain is so subjective where is the line drawn that says joe can only take this much and it works but sally must take 3 x's more to work? the guy that get's only 3 lortab a day is the one that may be cruising toward the big light in the sky due to his pain issues there is only so much anyone can take, i know it says somewhere in the bible "God only gives you what you can handle" well i think for a long time my handle was broken. thank God for the doctor who went WAY above 3 lortab's a day to help me. sorry to run on but when she gave up her license it may have broken a lot more handles.
How old is your back surgery? I think it's pretty common knowledge among back patients that, you hope for 10 relatively 'good years' per surgery and anything more is icing on the cake. If you get less than 10 well, you hope to get as close as possible to 10 as you can. If your back surgery is recent, read on...
I would recommend that you consider a pain management specialist. If you have Rods after major back surgery, they should have already removed the pain causing issues, such as impinged nerves, etc. What is causing your pain? Not a scar... I know everyone is different, I really do.
My first surgery was done without rods. I never did get relief from that surgery. Finally 9 years later, I was in a wheel chair. Second surgery: I was cut on both sides - about 16 inches on my belly down to my crotch and another 14-16 inches on my back. The surgery was 14 hours. I have rods from L3 to L5-S1. I had more pain in front near my hip where they took the bone to cement the rods... and I wouldn't classify that as pain. I didn't even take an asprin for it. Amazing relief! After being wheel chaired prior to my second surgery, I was taking stairs within 14 hours. I was so giddy I felt like a kid in a candy store!
I have had complete Laminectomy, Foratomy and Discectomy at every one of those levels and then rods 7 years ago. I was completely thankful for the rods.
Sure, I have the occassional bad day, most back patients do. I doubt this is what you wanted to hear, but there it is for what it is worth. Good luck...
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Spooky
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 09:31 PM
Exactly! The surgery was supposed to be pain relief! A pain specialist should be consulted to determine why this pain relieving procedure seems to have caused so much pain! Narcotics may be necessary, but the wrong doctor is being consulted and under those circumstances one almost always comes up looking like a drug seeker.
Hydrocodone is the narcotic component in Lortab. The law doesn't say how much he can prescribe, but doctors are watched carefully to make sure they are screening patients who get narcotics carefully to make sure patients aren't abusing or reselling them. Hydrocodone is a fairly weak narcotic, effective against mild to moderate pain. It is recommended that an adult not take more than 70mg of hydrocodone/day--which would be 7 Lortab 10/400. The danger in that dose is more from the APAP (Tylenol) in it than the hydrocodone. In short, Lortab is simply not likely to help you in any dose and your doctor is irresponsible to give you any at all, IMO.
Lots of things need addressing, here. What you are having is chronic pain--which is different than acute pain both in QUALITY as well as quantity. Lortab is GREAT for acute pain, but all but worthless for chronic pain--in any dose. What, besides Lortab, are you doing for your chronic pain? How much physical therapy did you have after surgery, and will your insurance company pay for more? Have you tried a TENS unit or ultrasound? Both of these are available for you to do yourself at home and both have helped many people cope with chronic pain. Also, a good relaxation program usually helps bring the pain down as well. Tricyclics, often on-label for depression but NOT ALWAYS--one of the most common tricyclics is cycobenzeprine--brand name Flexeril, and on-label for muscle relaxation, often make a great deal of difference improving chronic pain, especially at night when they can ease the pain and help you sleep. They do usually take 1-3 weeks to work and you do have to take them every day.
If all of the above have not been tried, you should not be given any narcotics for chronic pain--even 3 Lortabs/day.
Now that I've pissed you off--Lortab is among the least effective narcotic pain medicines. It is the same medicine as Vicoden, and it is GREAT for getting high, which is why it is so often abused. That's probably why your doctor is telling you he can't give you more. Most people who take hydrocodone for pain keep taking it to get high after the pain is gone. I'm not saying you are, I'm saying that it's a bad medicine for the kind of pain you're describing, and clearly the doctor you're seeing is not a pain specialist. If, after you are using all of the above, you still have pain that prevents you from doing the normal activities of daily living--that's what the rule is, you know, not "do you have pain" but "how much is it interfering with activities of daily living"--find a pain doctor. They are trained to treat pain and are less likely to prescribe based on fear that the DEA will take their license away for prescribing pain medication because pain docs are expected to prescribe pain medicines. They will help you maximize the pain relief you get from non-drug methods and, if you still need it, prescribe strong narcotics that will help get your pain level down to a level where you can participate in daily life again. If he does this, you will sign a pain contract that will obligate you to follow rules like briinging you med bottles in a certain number of times so they can count your pills and confirm you are taking them as directed and take regular drug screenings to confirm you are taking prescribed meds in the correct amounts and not using any illegal drugs, etc. No, the law does not say you can only have 3 Lortabs a day. Your primary care doctor is unlikely to give you any more than that and you should thank your lucky stars if he gave you that much more than 2 or 3 times. A pain doc can give you any amount of any drug he feels will improve your activities of daily living, but you have to be in a pain program, and that requires you work hard on both drug and non-drug methods of improving your life.
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yeti105
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 11:55 AM
you are right on about lortab/vicodin/hydrocodone/norco all the same w/different name. it is crap,it never relieved my pain, it never got me high but i know someone who's dr is not addressing her issues what so ever and hiking up the pain meds each session. she is on fentanyl (very good chronic pain control,but patches don't stick on me) 150mcg every 72 hrs,vicodin 10/325mg 4 day,oxycodone 30mg 4 day, valium 10mg 4x's day,soma 350mg 3x's day,ambien 10mg for sleep. i am sure there is more, this has been going on almost 2 yrs now she was also on oxyfast but they quit making that for regular pt's i heard now it is only for cancer pt's. she has been waiting for MRI and EMG for 1 1/2 yrs. i say pt advocate, she is usually so stoned she cannot even talk correctly but her doc says that she has not gotten the full benefit from oral meds. that is crap, if i were her family member and in good health myself i would go w/her and demand to be tx'd w/respect for what i am going through. sorry i will shut up vicodin is crap. oh and the most i have ever seen given is when i was still a nurse on post op floor a doc prescribed one pt 2 vicodin 5/500mg every 3 hrs, i was not comfortable w/that amount of APAP but i was just a nurse and the doc said so.
Yes, and and I take fentanyl, which is 100+ times stronger than percocet and would surely be illegal if 3 Lortab 10/400's were since it's 40 times stronger than HEROIN! You are missing the point. I also use both a TENS unit and ultrasound several times daily, use several topical pain meds made for my specific kind of neuralgia by a compounding pharmacist that reduce my need for medicines that go through my whole body, participate in a relaxation program and am an active participant in my care. He needs to consult with a pain specialist and get a program of both drug and non-drug pain programs designed to relieve his particular pain, because his spine surgery was supposed to take away his pain, NOT cause pain he needs narcotics for. He has to go through the steps toward getting his life back rather than focusing so much on how much medication he can get legally.