Question:
i take pain medication for unrelated pain, and dont find it lasts long

i take narcotics, and dont find they last as long as they say they should, does the gastric bypass prevent absorbtion of meds so they last less time...???rsvp, [email protected], i find the twelve hour ones dont last longer than about six and the six hours last less than three....is this just me. rsvp...thanks...    — daweeka (posted on March 11, 2011)


March 11, 2011
Yep I have found out to that what lasts for abnormal person, only lasts for me half the time. If it says it lasts for 6 hours, it only lasts for 3. From what I was told by my surgeon, we only absorb half of everything. Food as well as meds.
   — Vicki S.

March 11, 2011
I have been on pain management for several years and had the same problem, and like the other response said we do not absorb like we used to. This applies to all medications not just pain meds. I switched everything I could to liquid and since there is nothing for your system to break down you absord more. If you need any other info feel free to email me at [email protected].
   — dowens67

March 11, 2011
You are noticing correctly. What I am doing now is breaking mine in half and instead of taking one every 4 hours I take a half every two. I have fibro. Also I was told not extended release..that doesn't work for us and to avoid anything with a "coating" on the tablet. Percoset, lortab, codiene and many others come in liquid form. Dilaudid does not. This was prescribed for me when I had kidney stones and it did absolutely nothing for me. and I am someone who used to get knocked out from pain meds. I have also run into many ignorant Dr's and pharmacists who know nothing of the malabsorption issues of a bypass patient. Here is when it is up to you to educate yourself so you can speak up for yourself. Until I could speak adequately about it, I actually kept a printed article from the Mayo Clinic about RNY and malabsorbtion of medications. My PCP actually put it in my records, I printed one for her!
   — Tangerine4

March 12, 2011
OMGoodness! What a revelation! I was accused of being addicted and I was; I was taking 2 Tablesppons of Loritab instead of 2 teaspooons. WTF is 2 teaspoons gonna do for the pain and fibro? I was made to go COLD TURKEY and I thought I was gonna die, plus I still have the freakin' pain! This is so disturbing to me! They tell us to take double or even triple the amount of vitamins so why wouldn't meds fall under the same catagory? I am so glad you posted this and thanks for the Mayo article...I am printing all of this and taking it to the doctor on Monday! Jules
   — rexysmamma

March 12, 2011
OMG!!! My PCP just told me that my increased pain was just my back "becoming used to my reduction in supporting fat". Could someone post a link to that Mayo article so I can print it too!
   — Larkin O'Donoghue

March 13, 2011
Thank you for posting your query about pain medications! I am going on 7 years post RNY. I agree with all posters that doctors across the board haven't a clue about how to properly treat us. I only recently accidentally found out I need to liquify my medications to get them to work at all. But, I have kept my pouch small through good dietary habits and it is very sensitive to liquid medications. I tried to use the link to the one poster [email protected] -- and it didn't work. How can I get a copy of the Mayo article? For me, this posting is the absolute best! Thank you for posting such a good question! Blessings!
   — Christine Gibson

March 13, 2011
I am currently going through this same issue with my PCP. We keep trying different meds for pain because I was taking up to 4 Vicodin ES a day to manage fibromyalgia pain. He's currently got me taking Ultram, but it makes me have horrible headaches and upsets my stomach. I sure would appreciate it if somebody could post a link to this Mayo Clinic article so i could fax it to my Dr. Interestingly enough, I am waiting for a call from his office right now to see what med he's going to try next! Thanks much in advance for any help you can give. Kristin
   — taylork25




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