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@heisenberg34 I can answer that about my pump. My doctor was very conservative about dosing. In theory it’s supposed to be micro dosing. Took well over 2 years before I got to some relief which is to get my pain to a 4. And it got there for several years. Now I’m on flex dosing. I get 1.97ml. Continuous, with 4 daily 2.5ml. Per bolus. Right now, after 8 years I’m at 12.1ml. Per day. And it’s keeping me at a 6. When I was on 24 continuous, I had 2 bolus per 24 hour period. I’d use them both. But wasn’t enough. I think my body has acclimated to the morphine and it’s time for a new drug. Maybe hydromorphone or Dilaudid.
Replies to "@heisenberg34 I can answer that about my pump. My doctor was very conservative about dosing. In..."
@bilt4pain Do you mean 1.97 mg continuous?
@bilt4pain I have been searching for information regarding my pain pump. Many out there have been a great help. More recently I have been increasing my pump by 15% every three weeks. I had one good day of pain relief back in September, but nothing since. After my most recent visit, the doc put it up to about 2.3 mg/day of Dilaudid with six boluses. No help. I am getting a bit discouraged. I know that some of you have reported getting to 4,5, or 6 mg/day. Can you please share how you felt, trying to get to a helpful dosing from your pump? Were you discouraged along the way? Thank you.
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@bilt4pain Thanks for getting back to me. I really appreciate it. Wow! Over two years! Now that's what I call being really conservative...or really cruel. Seems like you should not have had to suffer with that pain for so long. I'm at about the 2.5 year mark since my surgery, so it appears that my docs were being conservative as well. There was a point about 16 months ago when I was so discouraged that I began to have that pump output decreased, with the thought of having it removed. I'll just say that after several months and some research I decided to keep it and start going up again. That was a little over a year ago. I have hydromorphone which is 4-5x as strong as morphine. I am at about 1.74 mg per day with 4 boluses. I managed to get all this info from my own searches and from my fellow commenters like you. How was your trial? Injection or temporary pump?
I think hydromorphone might be a good choice for you. If not, you can always go back to morphine. Pain level of 6 doesn't sound like much pain relief. What was the worse that your pain was? I hope you can back to a 4 or better! Have a blessed day!