You know it is this kind of BS that has pain patients such as ourselves suffering. Warning longer post but nevertheless interesting w/ a twist!

My Grandmother (may God rest her soul) had very bad Arthritis in her hip. Over the years the disease had worn away the cartilage away from the bones and had severe pain when she walked, then to the point at all times she was in severe pain, basically her hip bones rubbing against other bare bones

. I can't even imagine the pain she was in except hearing her scream continually. She had a PCP whom she and her husband had been seeing for some time. Basically he should have been well aware of the pain she was in, and the fact that it will only get worse. He prescribed her Darvocet! . Like many people she thought Darvocet was a "strong medication" not sure why people tend to think this....I know I used to as well, and when I took one and it didn't work I got scared thinking "Oh my God if Darvocet doesn't help, then maybe something is really wrong!!" It got to the point where my father had to take har to the Dr. to be sure she was getting proper care, and explained to the Dr. that the pain meds are ot working at all she is taking way too much, she is older and she may not have the best idea of when and how often she was taking her meds. Since this is common of people of this age, especially hen dealing with a medication that didn't work she wouldn't know for sure when she took it. Not good considering 1) The med has such an easy Overdose potential, and 2) The medication has so much APAP in it and she is taking it often; not good for an older womans liver! 3) Of course the medication is not much more effective than Tylenol and Dr's know this!!

After my father persistence he prescribed her from Darvocet to 10mg Percocet! Big difference! And this only ridded the pain in half it seemed but she was happy with that as she didn't want anything stronger and with what it did to her mentally; neither did we...But the Dr. only had her on Percocet 10mg for a couple months and while she did increase her dosage a couple times due tolerance likely, but when the Dr. heard that it didn't totally get rid of the pain, he then prescribed her Oxycontin 40 Mg on to Oxy 80!!.....These medications especially the Oxy 80, controlled the pain, but it made her a walking (uhh...somehwat walking) nut case practically w/ very strange mental effects, and we had to plea to the Dr. to try something else, along the strength of the Perc's or preferbaly a bit stronger but not with the side effects the Oxycontin was giving her as she was nutty on that stuff....I realize that with older folks have these side effects different I just found it strange that when she took 2 Percocet 10mg it was not near as bad mental effects, but the Oxy was like a totally different story because they are both Oxycodone....Don't understand that one???

For some reason the Dr. did not want to take her off the Oxy, when he at first was scared to write anything stronger than Darvocet for somebody with as severe pain as hers, but yet once she was on the Oxy he wanted to up the dosage and said trying a new med wouldn't be a good idea. My Father asked about Morphine or Demerol or the like and others and Doc said no to those and they likely won't be good for her??

I always thought this was strange...Was Purdue giving "kick-backs" of some sort to the Dr. or was he actually being honest? With a sudden change of heart? Just never did understand why he was scared of Narcotics, then went straight to Oxy then high dosage OC80??

FYI: I went to see him for a Migraine and told him that I had taken Fioricet 3 w/ decent success before and thought maybe he will prescribe that because it has shown to be somewhat effective...dependent on severity. Same Doc that was scared of Darvocet here remember for a VERY painful condition and for me he said....To much surprise, so what do you think " If Fioricet helps sometimes, then maybe you need something a bit stronger, something like Darvocet :thumb-down: or Norco which is like Vicodin but a bit more effective and safer"!! Surprised the heck out of me considering his past....But he was right Norco is great for Migraines!

Sorry for rambling like always, but always found this story a bit interesting!!