Opioid Pain Medications
Dr. Bruno’s Original Post: I recently noted the study showing how taking the recommended doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen together were equal to 5mg of oxycodone. (The “-cet” drugs have been off the market or not prescribed because you can't control the dose of narcotic separate from the dose of acetaminophen, causing people take too much acetaminophen (making livers very unhappy) to get more narcotic. Percocet (or any -cet drug) is a narcotic plus Tylenol. Percocet is oxycodone + acetaminophen. (Ultracet is tramadol + acetaminophen.)
Note: This Study is NOT specifically about the late effects of polio or PPS.
Here's a summary of a follow-up to that study. Assuming your kidneys and liver are doing what they should and your stomach can tolerate the irritation from the ibuprofen, this study suggest you can take the combination daily as described on the bottles.
For Arthritis Pain, Nonopoid Drugs Work as Well as Opioids
Opioids are no better than nonopioid pain relievers for treating the chronic pain of osteoarthritis, a clinical trial has found.
Researchers randomized 240 patients with moderate to severe chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis to either an opioid (morphine, oxycodone or hydrocodone) or to nonopioid pain relievers (such as Tylenol, topical lidocaine or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). The study, in JAMA, used 11-point pain and function scales to measure the effect of treatment, with higher scores indicating poorer results. This is, the authors write, the first randomized trial of opioid therapy to report long-term pain and function outcomes.
At the end of 12 months, the opioid group scored an average 3.4 on the function scale, and the nonopioid group 3.3, an insignificant difference. On the pain scale, the nonopioid group did slightly better — 3.5, compared with 4.0 for the opioid group. Unsurprisingly, there were significantly more medication side effects in the opioid group than in those who took nonopioids.
“Should we use opioids if nonopioids don’t work?” asked the lead author, Dr. Erin E. Krebs of the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. She answered her own question: “No. We tried four different nonopioids — don’t give up on them too soon — and we should also be using exercise and rehab for most osteoarthritic pain.”