So- i’m on my way to hopefully get medical cannabis. I’m treated for pain. I have diabetic neuropathy for 11 years (out of 13 of been diabetic) and really bad migraines.
I’m on the pump now and happy to report that on the dexcom. I just read the insert for the new drug that the pain doctor gave me… percoset. took one but then i realized.
I can’t take it when on the CGMS. right?
Also - why does it keep saying stuff about dka and the percoet?
is it really a higher risk? or just one of those things…
Will going for oxy with out the paracetamol ( I think it’s called targin) - will still have the same problem with the dka risk? (because the dexcom should be fine with just oxy).
@Kittywolf…I have a different perspective. Chronic pain is a chronic illness like any other and it needs to be treated aggressively. The opioid regulations these days are very strict, with lots of peeing in a cup and monitoring. Unless you want to go goofey and underground, you would have a hard time getting carried away…
I have dealt with fibromyalgia since 1976, arthritis in knees since 1966–and other joints now, a “dumb left foot” with nerve damage since 2006. The side effects of lyrica were worse than the pain for me, though it may work for some. Therapeutic exercise is extremely helpful–such as Yoga for arthritis and sitting yoga when I can’t stand, and Tai Chi standing or sitting.
However, I have also taken oxycodone for 4 years and it gives brief periods of relief that nothing else does. I take two/day for most of the year, and 3/day during our wet, cold winters in Oregon when everything aches 24/7. I, also, have been thinking about marijuana for sometime. At the moment, I can get out of bed in the morning and garden and take walks and engage in purposeful movement—I can feel Present. Chronic pain does not allow that. So I will wait to decide on marijuana.
No med works forever because our bodies are always changing, so I retain marijuana as an option…
I am a T2 controlling with diet and exercise for 8 years, so I cannot help you with advice on pump interactions, but I know there are many here who can be very helpful…
You and your doctor will need to decide what is appropriate for you. I have been working on chronic pain issues with my beloved doc for many years and this works for us. I am closely monitored, as is appropriate with opioids, but it is not a burden----not in the face of constant pain. Relief from pain–even if just for a few hours–is revelatory and life-changing—because life can happen again for a few hours!..Blessings and best wishes for sorting it out…Judith in Portland…
It is terrible to have so much pain and often I see patients suffer from more than just pain which include judgements of their own or others. Do research and make your best judgements. People do have a tendency to build a resistance to the same med over time. Be careful if you have any respiratory compromises. I do monitor folks and have to be aware of some pharmacology. If it were me, I know I would be worried about the signs of hypos being masked. I hope there is relief for you and I respect the situation you find yourself in if you are in pain and can find little if any relief. I am not aware of respiratory and cannibis . I will have to learn.
I have a family member with chronic pain, and he tells me the meds he takes don’t get him high, just take the pain from a 9 or 10 level to a 3 or 4, allowing him to have a life, as @Judith_in_Portland says. Others in our family think he shouldn’t be taking these meds, but I would never tell him how his pain should be treated, as I don’t live with what he has to live with.
Percocet is a combination of acetaminophen and oxycodone. Acetaminophen (which also has the alias paracetamol) does mess with CGM readings. Acetaminophen is also a pretty dangerous over the counter drug, the FDA reports that 1,000 people die every year from acute acetaminophen poisoning and probably many more suffer permanent health problems. The DKA risk may be due to the fact that acetaminophen messes up you meter and CGM readings resulting in not accurately knowing what your blood sugar is.
So Percocet is probably not good option.
I am also personally a bit upset at accusations aimed at other members suggesting they are drug addicts. We should be a community that has empathy for others. Members with invisible chronic conditions pain don’t deserve this. Let’s try to have more empathy and understanding of others.
Sarah, they sometimes make the prescribed take unrine tests to prove that “they” are taking the meds as prescribed and not doing something illicit with them…
I keep seeing “opiate overdose’s” in the news but wonder what the breakdown of these are as the most likely to kill are Heroin deaths (and always were the number one of the years).
Wow, there’s a lot of misinformation being thrown around in response to the OP’s legitimate question. A simple Google search will show you that urine testing is indeed a useful tool in pain management. Example:
Urine drug testing (UDT) is a useful tool in pain management that provides valuable objective information to assist in diagnostic and therapeutic decision making. Results of a UDT provide confirmation of the agreed-upon treatment plan (adherence/compliance). They can diagnose relapse or drug misuse as early as possible, and they also can be used to advocate for the patient with third-party interests.
Amen to that. I have deeply personal–I’d say agonizingly personal–experiences around opiate addiction and the devastation it can wreak on a family. But I think this conversation is in danger of alienating valuable members of this community on both sides and I’d really hate to see that happen.
I speak from the position of someone that has experienced a lot of pain from spinal and shoulder issues. I have taken these pill for very short periods but was always mindful that they can become addictive. I work in a industry that is subject to Department of Transportation regulation and long term opiate use would be incompatible with their rules.
Were I not held by these rules I may have taken more. I know there have been times that I could have used the relief they bring. For this reason I will not condemn someone that finds them necessary. One may possibly become addicted to the opiate but he or she also deserves a chance at a life free or almost free of pain. Properly managed these pain medications can be used safely.
No assumptions at all, my dear. It sounds like you have a handle on what you need to do. One thing I worry about for me with marijuana is what I remember from Ye Olden Days as the munchies. Has that been a problem…
Also, I had migraines for years, then none for years, then again, etc. For me, hormones make a difference—bad ones at puberty, none for years after my daughter was born. And also I would get just the aura and no other symptoms After a big show was done and I could relax, not during the tense build up. I remember reading years ago something about the blood vessels in my brain relaxing somehow and that bringing the aura on. I did find that if I spotted the aura a the first sign and chugged down a big cup of coffee it may abate. But I never saw a doc about them and it sounds like you have good support on that front!..Blessings on your journey…
regrading the munchies… I tried only 5 times ( a friend of mine also takes for very bad headaches…). so far - actually good. it helps my relaxed…
The main problem is that i end up throwing up… and dehydrating… and viola… dka.
For me - I had some in my teens and then none… and then back again. so i also believe hormones play a role here…
Blood vessels in the brain… under hot water in the shower - it helps it sometimes… it makes them expend.
Please let us know how cannibus works for you. I have taken vicodin and plain tylenol which didn’t seem to affect my dexcom at all as far as I can tell. I have never become addicted to those drugs, you have to have certain brain chemistry for addiction to occur, for most people who are using them for pain it doesn’t happen. Lately I’m not taking them at all due to constipation which can cause lows for me so when needed I take anti-inflammatory drugs but they have problems too( one is that they cause stomach upset for me), as does plain tylenol- I remember being told by an orthopedic doc that it was ok to take up to 8 tylenol per day which simply isn’t a good idea.
The last time I had increased pain was when I tried a statin for two weeks, my pain got worse each day and I was taking AI everyday so I stopped the statin- it took a few weeks for the increased pain from the statin to decrease after that so I think it was causing muscle damage.
I would be more concerned about the possibility of dka since you said your migraines can put you into dka.
So does Codeine affect CGM’s or blood sugar reading. What does it do? I’ve had to take a cough syrup with codeine the last few days and this is the first thing I’ve heard of this. I’m very ignorant in the ways of narcotics since I steer away from them, since my daughter is an herion addict and will seek out all those meds.
I deal with my neuropathy by trying to keep my blood sugars flat. In a year, I don’t have the burning, stabbing pain, etc. Just the pain that feels like sand paper between the toes. I’ve been able to stop the gabapentin, so I believe it’s getting better.
I have been in so much pain before I thought of biting a bullet. If not for the ER giving me Valium , I may have seen it through. My specialist kept cancelling my appointment for 2 months, but unknown to me, his wife passed away.
I empathize with anyone in a lot of pain and respect a person’s need to get relief through their physician’s care.
Kitty wolf, I take Lyrica, oxo’s and muscle relaxers and does not affect my cgm reading. Do not listen to anybody but your self. You and your doctors should know what is best for you and nobody can tell you how you are feeling.
it is very lonely world but your pain can ease up, you can take them safely and not be addicted. I do not have to pee in a cup ever for taking them. however I do have to sign at the pharmacy that I have received them so they can keep track of how many I take/need.
there is a recently published book entitled dreamland about the opiate epidemic. doctors were told patients could not become addicted to opiates. this idea was based on a letter to the editor written years before to i think the new england journal of medicine where a doctor (jick?) said patients do not become addicted in a hospital setting. that message was twisted when pharma sales reps went out and spoke half truths: they said ‘research in the new england journal of medicine has found that opiate medications are not addicting’. if there is a history of addiction of any type in the patient’s family, doctors are now warned to reconsider prescribing these opiate meds. as for getting high, my mom took morphine daily to deal with stage 4 bone cancer. it helped with the pain, but i saw no personality change in her, ie no evidence of being high.
kitty, have you tried bernstein low carb to try to reverse your neuropathy?
