Zohydro will become the new "Oxycontin"

I have a close friend with degenerative disc disease. His bottom two discs are literally gone. His pain is severe and constant. His pain management doc has him on 80mgs of Opana a day. Opana is time release oxymorphone. Strong stuff. He also takes 3 Soma a day. He knows he is an addict and wants to get off the pills but his pain is legit and severe. It's a catch 22.

He usually takes more than prescribed and runs out early every month. 20 days on meds and 10 days detoxing every month. It is a vicious cycle. I talked with his wife and they agreed that she needs to monitor his pills to make sure he takes only what is prescribed. Thousands of dollars every year on pain block shots, strong meds and a monthly detox. I wish I could do more to help him but what else can I do. He also lost 80lbs trying to take pressure off the back but it's so bad that it really did t help.

reply to post by Phreejay


I've known people that said inversion tables were like miracles. Hanging upside down for 30 minutes a night to take the pressure off the back and allow fluid to refill the sacs was immediately helpful. Also, spinal fusion surgeries help some people, although some people claim it only gets worse.

There is also the quality of life issue. If the pain meds make him a functional person able to live productively, then by all means take them, but if they just trade pain for zombiism, then they aren't improving his condition, so he might be better off to have the pain and his wits, than to live in a stupor. I've see people do it both ways. I've seen people that could do hard physical work, as long as they had their meds, and they still had a good family life, so it was a solution. I've seen other people veg in a chair in front of a TV for years, and they might as well have been dead. One of those people recently kicked their painkiller habit, and he is getting back involved in life again, and it is a really exciting time for his family and him.

Nobody can make the decision for anyone else, but for me, I'd rather be dead, or in pain than to live in a stupor.

This really hits home with me. My family has struggled with alchohol and prescription drugs on both sides. So I know I have the gene of addiction and I have to be very careful. I had my bought with pain killers of and on due to kidney stones.

Once I get on pain killers I want to do something bigger & better. I'm clean now and I hope to God I stay this way. Only thing I'm on is for my bi-polar and depression. I WISH I could get off those as well and find a natural solution.

This will only produce a new generation of addicts in my opinion.

reply to post by chrismicha77


I too am also clean off opiates after a long battle. Someone commented in the article about "Opana" and yes, apparently after doing a little more research for this article people were saying it puts Oxycodone to shame. It's Hydromorphone - or is it Oxymorphone? Can't remember, either way, it has the strength to 'break through' Suboxone or methadone its so powerful.

Hopefully this product, Zohydro, will become a Sch. II regulated product to lessen the attributed deaths that are sure to come.

reply to post by Diluted


Oxycodone is stronger than hydrocodone.. it's just a fact.

Gee, what better way to advertise your brand new big pharma product than gin up some controversy by comparing it as more potent than the most abused and over-prescribed product out there?

Marketing, people, marketing.

reply to post by Diluted


I've been on Opana and for me it wasn't any more effective than morphine sulfate and much less expensive. That guy with the degenerative discs is running out because 80 mgs a day isn't enough. Most people will get the slow release Opana and something like Oxycodone for break through pain episodes. They're trying to get them by on far less than they actually need.
What people fail to remember is that the body builds up a tolerance to all of these drugs over just a few months or a year and then you have to take more or stronger meds just to get the same level of pain relief.
I can't imagine running out every month and going through a 10 day detox, It would kill me. I feel horrible for that person because I have a good idea of what they're going through.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I agree with you. However in Florida there are so many 'pill mills' that people in their 20s and 30s line up around the block with fake MRI's and my fear is that this new drug will be able to flood the streets since there will be less regulation - and as you said - what could would this be for people in severe pain? I believe this drug is just for the under-ground economy.

This new “time release” will once again contain an easy loophole (just crush the beads, use finger nail to tear off the coating) combined with no Tylenol – and tahdah you’ve got the new baby of the pharmaceutical world that can be insufflated or injected.

The new "time release" does not always contain an easy loophole that allows abusers to use the medicine it was not intended for. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is a doctor and he told me of a few new Schedule II, extended release morphine sulphate capsule that has been cleared by the FDA. They are long-acting opioids that are designed to reduce drug liking and euphoria when tampered with by crushing or chewing. When crushed or chewed, the drug has a chemical that neutralizes all effects of the drug. In a way it kind of self-destructs.

It is possible that one of the drug manufacturers will utilize the same anti-drug crushing technology in the new oxycodone and hydrocodone. I know that taking pain medicine can be a very slippery slope for some, but I for one, am glad to hear that this medicine will be offered without the acetaminophen.

reply to post by getreadyalready

The other thing that really bugs me is........ why are so many people in so much pain? Are we becoming that unhealthy, or just that intolerant of pain, or is there a genetic problem messing up people's spines and knees and hips? Why are so many people hurting all the time? Is it different than in decades past, or is it just a result of marketing the pain meds?

Dr. John Sarno has a diagnoses and therapy that has allowed me to live with no back pain for over a decade now.

I have gone from constant, nonstop back/neck pain to being pain free.

I have also, at the same time, gone from 10 reps a day on my rowing machine to 1,440 reps a day.

Look him up on amazon. He has helped lots of people.

I think some of you need to get off your high horse. Yes, prescriptions are often over prescribed for anti depressants, anti anxiety, pain, ect. but they are given and taken as well by those that really need them. To say someone should live daily with 8/10 pain without meds because it might "dull" them is a bit asinine. You don't know other peoples experiences with pain, not even doctors know their patients pain, but you want to talk like you got it all figured out. A few anecdotes doesn't justify such broad strokes.

If you "enjoy" pain, then it really isn't pain, and you wouldn't need pain meds anyway. If you want to sound macho for having a high pain threshold that's cool and all, but if you ever subjectively rate your pain 9/10, at that point it won't really matter.

You're beating a dead horse if you're talking about those that take pain meds when they aren't needed.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


He's talking about hydromorphone, which is stronger than oxycodone. According to this source hydromorphone is about 2.5x stronger than oxycodone.
www.drugs.com...

Afghanistan get ready because we are about to start plowing your fields of Opium Poppy for a very very very long time. This should make it clear that we aren't at war because of terrorist, but because of the drugs. I believe this is the primary motive, get the people to become junkies, and they will end up killing themselves or others just to get a fix of high grade opium. Sad sad day.

reply to post by chasingbrahman


not illegal if rx'd and pain patients dont all get relief from vicodin....it is a drug that(oxy) is abused but will be addictive no matter...the body is dependant on it, the person is addicted....if not taking as rx'd.

im a cpp and a ex junkie it is a good thing to have meds that work...oxy was re-made tamper proof and sucks as a treatment now. it isnt the same as before due to the matrix gel and it s absorption...there are more potent meds than oxy ...it is a decision between dr and patient not a society or gov't and patient...

it is a very slippery path one walks to treat severe pain and risk addiction....dependence is a known entity

reply to post by Turq1


Ah.. ok well in that case he is comparing apples and oranges. Hydromorphone would be compared to Oxymorphone which already exists on the market as Opana and is way stronger than Oxycodone (Oxycontin), Hydrocodone (Vicodin), and Hydromorphone (Zohydro). Oxymorphone is one of the strongest drugs on the market (topped by Fentynal which of course in it's original form was killing people that were actually using it correctly!)

Anything with the oxy prefix is going to be stronger than it's hydro counterpart. Also, I don't know why this is news as Hydromorphone has already been on the market, in a form that people abuse, for years as Dilauded so I don't know why they are acting like it's a new concern. The poster earlier was right, just sounds like advertising, lots of addicted pain managers going to be asking for Zohydro by name.

reply to post by KonquestAbySS


I have wondered about that for a while. The war to content the American people it seems as the invasion of Afghanistan was followed by an epidemic of pain pill addiction in the US advertised heavily on TV. Remember Jack Osbourne was supposedly an Oxy junkie and there were MTV shows like True Life: I am an OC addict? Basically those shows taught very young kids (MTV is now geared towards pre-teens to mid teens though with adult themes) that there was a way to get high in your parents medicine cabinet.

There was an explosion of crooked doctors pushing these pills and flooded the streets of small towns with the RX equivalent of heroin. If I was more conspiracy minded I would think it was an attempt to medicate and ensnare the people to make them content with their forthcoming poverty. Dope them up to avoid revolution. Is that being crazy or what?

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow

Is that being crazy or what?

Not at all, that's just being aware of all the trends.

reply to post by polarwarrior


Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars, around the world
Drugs are now the global policy, now we police the globe

reply to post by Diluted


As a former drug abuser I have to say that these drugs are needed for specific applications. You can't simply calm a trauma victim without strong narcotics. I don't advocate the abuse of drugs but any new pain drug will likely help thousands. Of course the high rate of abuse will continue.

Prohibition of any product increases use. That is history repeating. I don't advocate being a junky but there is a time and place for everything.

I do think the FDA should audit clinics and doctors who heavily prescribe certain medications. It's a sad state of affairs. Drug addiction is a disgusting habit. But some people have such severe damage from injuries that the only way to sustain life is with dope...Don't judge...simply accept that some people are not so lucky.