What pain meds work well for Gastric bypass patients?

@ejayne01 Your bother needs help for sure. Your parents need to lock their medications away. I hide mine in a place my d-i-l is not likely to look when she visits and lock the door.. she is an alcoholic, but likes to add the pain meds in with it.

Your brother needs tests to see what vitamins and minerals he is not absorbing. Before my surgery I had stopped absorbing vitamin d which helps all the other stuff get into your system the way it should. I had no measurable vitamin d at all. They tried me on a high dosage of it.. I hurt worse than having the flu. So I added low dose of it along with what is in my vitamins.. and eventually was able to raise my level.. still on low side of range, but gradually getting higher. My surgeon told me take a chewable vitamin that will be more easily absorbed... the vitamin d is a small gel pill.

I had more surgery done after the initial gastric bypass. My esophagus had shortened during the gastric bypass surgery and pulled a loop of my intestines into my chest. 1% chance of it happening and it caused a small leak and the leak caused an infection. I was too weak for more surgery. About 5 months later two more loops of intestines went up into my chest pushing my left lung against my ribcage and partially collapsing the lung. My diaphragm got pretty messed up in all of this. I had to have an open surgery for repair.. diaphragm turned, lung cut away from ribcage wall, intestines put back in place and I don't know what else.. a lot!! I had to have one rib cracked and one cut into.. muscle was cut. So I have a lot of pain still from the surgery almost 5 years later. I take 5 mg of oxycodone for pain. I take as needed. It is every 6 hours.. many times a half dose or a skipped dose. It varies to how much pain I have. If pain is bad I may take Tylenol in between doses. I do have severe arthritis...not caused by the surgery.. just aging , but oxycodone does not really help with that pain much... nor with the nerve pain I have. If I add Tylenol between oxycodone doses it helps some with arthritis pain. A cream rubbed on joints and heating pad help. Occasional torodol and depro medrol injections help too.. they calm the inflammation. This is just to tell you my situation is not like your brother's. I really hate taking oxycodone. Some people even when not in pain love to take it.. not sure why... but they tend to crave it.

Who prescribes your brother's medication... a family member may need to talk to the doctor and let them know what is going on.. he/she may not know. Your brother may need to see a pain specialist... if he is not seeing one... who can help him manage the pain better. It could be some of his medications contributing tothe pain. I was on a statin.. I did not realize how much pain it was causing until I went off of it. Other medication can have same side effect. He needs to eat nutritious foods... easily digestible. Soft cooked foods are best until his system is recovered from the surgery. .. It can take a few months or a few years. If he can tolerate them.. a protein shake will help with nutrition. A blood test is really important though to see what he is not absorbing. I also have b-12 injections. My husband gives me mine, but they can be self-administered with a little education from a nurse.

I know your parents need their pain medications and if your brother is not helped he could possibly become violent if he cannot get the medications. I really think it is important that his doctor that prescribes the oxycodone know what is going on. You may be able to talk with his nurse on the phone and the information passed on to the doctor. You may have to insist on going to the doctor with your brother to explain what is going on. To some opiates become a craving... an obsession.

My prayers you all,
ZeeGee

Tramadol is utter crap and your hydrocodone is WAY too low. It’s a joke!

@brambo What med works for one won't for another I've been on Tramadol since I fractured my back It's the only med that relieves the pain.Just because it doesn't work for you is no reason to tell others (it's a piece of crap) Walk in that persons shoes first .Each persons body is different.Have a good day

It does not even work for my dog! Great if u get relief, but read more extensively, join all the chronic pain, CRPS and fibromyalgia sites on FB. You will see pure misery for 99%. They are researching alternative herbs etc due to the sheer volume of non pain relieving drugs with side effects being given them. And most are still barely functional except those on opioid therapy! How did Tramadol “”suddenly” become an opioid or opiate? Lack of adequate pain relief is contributing to overdoses and suicides. It’s fact

An herb in the coffee plant family. Legal most places but it’s under attack. Steep learning curve. May help some but don’t take pain meds. It is a powder I can put in s drink or capsule it. FB has the knowledge groups. Do not believe what u read because big pharma can’t make money on it. Read Dr Christopher McCurdy in FL? Leading researcher

@brambo As with @lioness, tramadol worked for me after a knee replacement and after a hip fracture. It didn't eliminate the pain totally but it sure made it a lot more bearable. We all react to drugs differently. Hydrocodone helped with the pain but it kept me awake at night so I can't take that -- I literally lay in bed for hours staring at the ceiling.
JK

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Regarding Kratom
Indeed kratom is derived from a plant as are many supplements and drugs, including chemotherapy drugs that can be highly toxic. Being derived from a plant or natural does not mean without side effects. Kratom is an unregulated substance, so we consulted a Mayo Clinic pharmacist on the posts. She offered the following information.

Kratom is a natural product but it does have significant risks and side effects. Because of these risks the FDA banned import of Kratom in August 2016 and issued a notice of intent to classify 2 chemicals in Kratom as Schedule 1 drugs (the same category as heroin). There are no FDA-approved uses for kratom, and the agency has received concerning reports about the safety of kratom. FDA is actively evaluating all available scientific information on this issue. (2019) https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-kratom

Kratom can cause dependence and withdrawal symptoms including aggression, anxiety and other negative psychiatric effects, muscle aches, spasms, tremors, insomnia, fever and upset stomach. It can also cause dangerous slowed breathing and seizures. It can worsen psychiatric disease and may increase the risk of suicide. Kratom can impair liver function. Kratom interacts with other herbal medications including Jimson Weed. It interacts with sedating medications. It has the potential for many other drug interactions because of the way it is metabolized.

For more information see:
– National Institute of Health: Drug Facts, Kratom https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/kratom
– Center for Disease Control https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20190411/cdc-americans-are-dying-from-kratom-overdoses#1

Here are additional articles from Mayo Clinic on Kratom:
– Kratom: Unsafe and ineffective https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/kratom/art-20402171
– Kratom for opioid withdrawal: Does it work? https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/prescription-drug-abuse/in-depth/kratom-opioid-withdrawal/art-20402170

Hi there everyone I’m from Australia and this is my first post so be gentle with me. I had a Gastric Sleeve 13 years worked really well till they put me on Lyrica I put on a truck load of weight thanks to that drug. I have chronic back pain like you all a couple in the the neck and then from the start of the Ts through Ls to S1. I really take ownership of my pain after the Lyrica debacle I’ve been through a pain management clinic and learnt everything I can. But now when 1 of the so Health Specialists recommends something I go home and research the hell out of it first. For Instant sake I am having revision surgery done in 4 weeks for my Sleeve and I’m upgrading it to the Bypass and I wanted to know how it was going to effect the pain medication I take Palexia (Tapentadol). Which I take it 12 hourly most likely the way you all take your drugs as well not surprisingly know one could give me an answer. Because of what they do to your insides in the operation it changes how your slow release pain drugs are being absorbed cause they pass through your system so much faster. I’m lucky the Palexia I take does come in a instant release tablet that I can take 6 hourly and what I found while researching was it’s better to take it with food.

Doctor and other Health Workers just annoy me that they just do there bit and don’t worry about the finer points or side effects.
Hope I haven’t bugged everyone to much I mite do this again some time.

👍

Good Morning and Welcome @bigjas747! I am in Arkansas USA and the original poster on this thread in March 2017. In August my primary care doc switched me from Hydrocodone to Nucynta ER (Tapentadol). I started at 100 mg twice daily. It is extended release. It works much better than the Hydrocodone at relieving my pain, but I do still have a good bit of pain. My dosage has been raised twice and I am at 200 mg now. When I have surgeries they give me the acute pain, quick acting version of the Tapentadol but it's just for a few days or a couple of weeks depending on the surgery pain. I absorb it pretty well considering I am gastric bypass. I hope it continues to work well for you and you are successful at losing your regain. God bless.