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I have a Pain pump with Morphine, I'm still in so much Pain

Posted by sox6281 @sox6281, May 11, 2025

After my Trail I did get a lot of pain relief but after that pump was put in I didn't get the same amount of pain relief as the trail Then they told me I just need a higher dose but after 3 months of Adjustments I was receiving 50% more then when it started & I had 4 Boluses that were higher than the trail & still no significant pain relief, I told them I wanted to change to hydromorphone, but they kept telling me I need a higher dose now I'm maxed out of morphine and now they're telling me that I have to dose down all the way back to zero then they can switch me to hydromorphone but in the meantime they're not going to give me anything orally to take for pain, I read clinical trials and also trials that doctors have had with their patients and there's many of them that switched from morphine to hydromorphone when it was time to refill the pump but these doctors are telling me they cannot mix the two drugs even though they pull all of the morphine out of the pump there's only a tiny amount left in the catheter has anyone else had this experience we have to go a couple years to get changed over to a stronger drug?? It seems to me that they can give me a an equivalent dose of hydromorphone and to be conservative give me 25% less, Why can't they switch me when I get my pump Refilled because there's just a tiny amount of Morphine left in the catheter, has anyone had their medication changed from morphine to hydromorphone or to fentanyl?? But without dosing down to zero. I would love to hear from other people that have had this experience morphine did not work for them. Thank You Michael

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sox6281 | @sox6281 | May 7 6:24pm
In reply to @heisenberg34 "@alexandercrps In almost three years I have not had any pain relief from my pain pump...." + (show)
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@alexandercrps In almost three years I have not had any pain relief from my pain pump. It uses hydromorphone after a trial with morphine provided no relief. hydro dropped my pain down to about a 3. I have had the pump checked three times via fluoroscopy. All is well they tell me. As an aside, I had one day of great pain relief about 4 months ago. The next day all the pain was back. I am currently sitting at 3.5 mg/24 hours with six boluses. If I use all six boluses, I seem to experience just a little decrease in pain. Do you know your current pump settings? If your pump is a Medtronic, you can go to the settings on your remote to check them. I wonder if getting the catheter placement by CT is a better option. Thanks for your post. Have a blessed day.

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@heisenberg34
Yes said the hydromorphone got you down to a Pain score of 3, I would love to get to a pain pump score of 3, it would be wonderful

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bilt4pain | @bilt4pain | May 7 7:33pm
In reply to @sox6281 "@bilt4pain I was on the fentanyl patch and it all leaked out through my skin so..." + (show)
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@bilt4pain I was on the fentanyl patch and it all leaked out through my skin so I was in the hospital for 4 days, the doctor removed the fentanyl patch & put me on Morphine oral medication, due to the laws in the State of Florida, after that I had a spinal cord simulator & it helped but not much, I also was on the Morphine instant & extended release which Both were doing nothing so my pain doctor recommended a Intratracheal pain pump, so he referred me to his best friend who does install the Intrathecal pain pump, but I have a high tolerance for morphine so I tried to get them to put hydromorphone from the beginning but they start off with morphine and it just didn't work so I finally just got into the Hydromorphone, I'm sure it will work because I've never been on it before , I didn't think the fitting all would work because I was on it for a while and then it leaked into my system, I have my appendix out and I was in the recovery room can they give me a gram of morphine and a half a gram of fentanyl and it did nothing so I told them to give me Dilaudid and they gave me a gram of Dilaudid and it worked instantly I was out of pain, I certainly hope everything works out for you thanks Michael

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@sox6281 Thanks Sox. I have met many great people in these rooms. But I wish I never had to come here in the first place. Good luck brother!

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sox6281 | @sox6281 | May 21 2:48pm

I wanted to give an update, my doctor finally has me on hydromorphone in my pain pump, and the concentration is 12:1 ( that's 12 X stronger than morphine) I've had 3 adjustments but I'm still at 0.01953, & they increase the dosage by 25%, I feel they started me off too low because they knew how much pain I was in I mean I was ready to call 911 everyday and they have me on such a small dose of oral pain medications and it's like taking candy that do nothing, 10 mg oxycodone four times a day but unfortunately I feel withdrawal between my doses and I've tried to get them to just increase my oral doses too 15 mg to 20 mg a day and then I will be able to function because at the rate that I'm on it's going to take 15 weeks before I get to 0.232 not quite a quarter of a milligram, now before they did Max me out on the morphine at 14.8 mgs of the morphine which did absolutely nothing I tried to tell them in the beginning but I've taken morphine for so many years that I have a high tolerance and that I was also on a fentanyl patch 200 micrograms a day so there's a tolerance to the fentanyl but I've never been on the hydromorphone and even the small amount that they adjusted to I do feel something working but unfortunately some days it gets so bad that you just don't feel like doing anything, but at least I'm on a medication that I really do feel is going to work I mean if they could just get my pain down to 50% I would be wonderful but they micro dose you and so it takes forever to get you a targeted rate, I checked with all the clinical trials from the the institutes of Health and peer-reviewed articles from pain management doctors and everyone of them were starting their chronic pain patients at 0,25 to 0.50 mgs

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arbez | @arbez | May 22 9:17am

I haven't seen any mention of why you have pain. Is there a solution to correcting whatever is causing the pain? I had to see more than 20 doctors before I found a solution to correcting the problem that was causing my pain. I pray you find an answer.

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heisenberg34 | @heisenberg34 | May 22 10:22am
In reply to @sox6281 "I wanted to give an update, my doctor finally has me on hydromorphone in my pain..." + (show)
Profile picture for sox6281 @sox6281

I wanted to give an update, my doctor finally has me on hydromorphone in my pain pump, and the concentration is 12:1 ( that's 12 X stronger than morphine) I've had 3 adjustments but I'm still at 0.01953, & they increase the dosage by 25%, I feel they started me off too low because they knew how much pain I was in I mean I was ready to call 911 everyday and they have me on such a small dose of oral pain medications and it's like taking candy that do nothing, 10 mg oxycodone four times a day but unfortunately I feel withdrawal between my doses and I've tried to get them to just increase my oral doses too 15 mg to 20 mg a day and then I will be able to function because at the rate that I'm on it's going to take 15 weeks before I get to 0.232 not quite a quarter of a milligram, now before they did Max me out on the morphine at 14.8 mgs of the morphine which did absolutely nothing I tried to tell them in the beginning but I've taken morphine for so many years that I have a high tolerance and that I was also on a fentanyl patch 200 micrograms a day so there's a tolerance to the fentanyl but I've never been on the hydromorphone and even the small amount that they adjusted to I do feel something working but unfortunately some days it gets so bad that you just don't feel like doing anything, but at least I'm on a medication that I really do feel is going to work I mean if they could just get my pain down to 50% I would be wonderful but they micro dose you and so it takes forever to get you a targeted rate, I checked with all the clinical trials from the the institutes of Health and peer-reviewed articles from pain management doctors and everyone of them were starting their chronic pain patients at 0,25 to 0.50 mgs

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@sox6281 You are really on a low dose! My trial with hydromorphone was an injection of 4.0 mg. It dropped my pain from a 7 down to about a 2. I was excited to get the permanent implant on April of 2023. Three years and only ONE DAY of pain relief. I was up to almost 4 mg/24 hrs. Unfortunately, this dosage caused me to become very nauseous, followed by fits of vomiting. So, I had to have it turned down. I think that I am back down to about 2.75 mg/24 hrs. Still no relief. I have taken 90% THC extract. This works well to drop my pain, but it leaves me feeling as if I am in an alternate universe. I will try getting an edible with a lower percentage of THC. maybe some CBD added in. Decisions, decisions. Hope you can find your sweet spot with your pain pump.

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ardeecor | @ardeecor | May 22 10:45am
In reply to @sox6281 "I wanted to give an update, my doctor finally has me on hydromorphone in my pain..." + (show)
Profile picture for sox6281 @sox6281

I wanted to give an update, my doctor finally has me on hydromorphone in my pain pump, and the concentration is 12:1 ( that's 12 X stronger than morphine) I've had 3 adjustments but I'm still at 0.01953, & they increase the dosage by 25%, I feel they started me off too low because they knew how much pain I was in I mean I was ready to call 911 everyday and they have me on such a small dose of oral pain medications and it's like taking candy that do nothing, 10 mg oxycodone four times a day but unfortunately I feel withdrawal between my doses and I've tried to get them to just increase my oral doses too 15 mg to 20 mg a day and then I will be able to function because at the rate that I'm on it's going to take 15 weeks before I get to 0.232 not quite a quarter of a milligram, now before they did Max me out on the morphine at 14.8 mgs of the morphine which did absolutely nothing I tried to tell them in the beginning but I've taken morphine for so many years that I have a high tolerance and that I was also on a fentanyl patch 200 micrograms a day so there's a tolerance to the fentanyl but I've never been on the hydromorphone and even the small amount that they adjusted to I do feel something working but unfortunately some days it gets so bad that you just don't feel like doing anything, but at least I'm on a medication that I really do feel is going to work I mean if they could just get my pain down to 50% I would be wonderful but they micro dose you and so it takes forever to get you a targeted rate, I checked with all the clinical trials from the the institutes of Health and peer-reviewed articles from pain management doctors and everyone of them were starting their chronic pain patients at 0,25 to 0.50 mgs

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@sox6281 Hi, I have been on a lot of pain meds over time. What I experienced is morphine does not cut the pain (at all) because I have a high tolerance.

Not being a doctor, I googled ‘strongest pain meds’ and got this:
Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine. ...

If I read your post correctly, they are Microdosing you with Dilaudid.

The ‘0.21…’ numbers are confusing. Do they indicate blood levels?
They should be going by your feedback telling then things like ‘the pain is so bad that I stay in my room all day, barely eating or drinking, etc.’

Apparently they either do not ask you how things are or they do ask you and ignore whatever you say and go by numbers.

The real reason for this is (especially in CA where I live) the laws concerning opioids are so draconian that doctors everywhere are afraid to prescribe anything at all, even Tylenol with codeine.

All opioids have been lumped into Schedule II (morphine, hydro- and oxy-morphone, and Fentanyl).

In any case, I believe that microdosing is the doctor’s way of ‘trying to get the right dose to relieve your pain.’ while avoiding attention from the DEA.

In California, the DEA has been busy, terrifying doctors and pharmacists into compliance with ‘the rules’ written by probably three ‘overseers’. I actually got to talk to one of these guys by phone.

In less than three minutes I learned that these guys don’t give a damn. They just write more and more useless rules to lock opiate prescribing to the bare minimum.

Then there is the CURES report which has been around for decades.
It was implemented to stop patients from doctor shopping or using multiple pharmacies.
Pharmacists are ‘bullied’ by the DEA to check the CURES report each and every time they receive a new prescription.

Doctors are warned about overprescribing.

In any case, these are the real reasons for so-called ‘microdosing’.

Someone else on this thread asked what specific condition is causing you pain.

Did you feel like sharing that?

In any case, you may want to ask around to find a more compassionate doctor.

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