What Pain Killer works best for everyone? When taken as prescribed. You can elaborate on why you believe it works for you, what makes it better than the rest, etc.

Fentanyl wasn't an option so I chose Oxycodone.

I chose Dilaudid because it is the only thing that touches my pain when my Trigeminal Neuralgia is flaring. Of course, I have to go to the ER (sent by my neurologist) and get 2 mg. injections IV one after the other until we find the fine line between stopping me breathing and stopping the pain.

Also, there is nothing in the world like that first IV full of Dilaudid when you are in legitimate, severe pain. I swear to god I can feel it lovingly envelope every single cell down to my pinkie toes; it's a strange feeling, especially when they push the syringe fast, but if you have been warned about it and if you are consistently reassured during that initial rush that you are indeed still breathing (my wonderful neurologist, who meets me at the ER, stands holding my hand and says "You are still breathing, HB. I know it feels like you aren't, but I promise you that you are"), then you can sort of lay back and enjoy the ride. At first I hated that "every cell" feeling, but now I kind of look forward to it because it means that my all-encompassing pain is going to go away soon, or at least be reduced to a dull roar.

EDIT: Oxy gives me horrible itching, so while I *can* take it, the itching sort of takes away from the pain relief. And I've never had Fentanyl. I put Fentanyl, whether rightly or wrongly, in the "if I don't have to ever take this, I am still sort of OK" category, with Methadone. Just having read the warnings on my friend's Actiq packet (she has end-stage colon cancer) was enough to scare the pants off me about Fentanyl.

Ah..I don't know much about fentanyl. Is it generally much stronger than oxy?

Yes, it's stronger. In fact, I believe it's the strongest pain reliever available.

Nice. I might have to inquire about it with my doc if my tolerance keeps building up.

My doc offered me Fent(abbreviation due to that I can't spell it correctly). I didn't want it, even tho the Avinza & Oxycodone doesn't always solve the pain issues. But, as I have said, if - on average - the meds do the 70% rule, then I don't want more.

Believe me, I will not suffer. Suffering is NOT good for your health. It creates stress and stress beats up your immune system. Alot of people think you just grit your teeth and hang on. For a 2 - 3 day issue, OK, but not for chronic pain. The effects on our bodies is not inconsequential. Y'all most likely know this. But in the medical community it is not acknowledged (hey, do you think it could because they don't want to treat CPers - ya think?)

Anyway, sometimes I think I should not spend so much time on the site - I can, because I am on disability. It kinda, sorta depresses me that so many suffer without help. Not "depressed" so much as sad. I can't DO anything to help. I have always had a "servant's heart" and I want to DO something.

Ah, Vivaldi. Does a heart good. Music is such a gift and I am thankful for it. I am thankful for all of you too.

Now it is Handel. Violin concerto. OK, enough of the music lesson. But, I'm telling you, it can take your mind off of the pain- at least for a time.

I would have to go with methadone. I used to be prescribed it for pain. Its fairly fast acting the first time you take it and after that the doctor will titrate the dose up slowly until your pain is gone but you are not feeling side effects at the same time. The effect of methadone is very very consistent around the clock pain relief. The half life is incredibly long so you don't feel ups and downs. It is a shame that many doctors are afraid to prescribe it for chronic pain mostly due to the stigma that comes along with it. It also has less abuse potential then oxy or some of the others. Tramadol works well for me but for me there is a strong anti depressant effect that causes me to act a little too happy :-). When I discontinue Tramadol I get terrible anti depressant withdraws.

Yes Fentanyl is great

I said oxy, it really does great with pain. I am sure in general, one could say fentanyl. But I don't think I would go down that road. Fentanyl is not only the strongest pain med available, it is one of the strongest known to exist. I say besides those that don't mind taking and it works for them, I would not reccomend it unles you are terminal. Not because of addiction and withdrawal which is another matter, but because it is so damn dangerous.

what exactly is Tramadol? is it used for headaches? is it a schedule iv? i thought it caused seizures

Tramadol is a synthetic opiate. Pretty weak, it has been known to lower the seizure threshold in some individuals at high doses. It is used for arthritis and some chronic pain. The good thing about it is that it last much longer than a Hydro or an Oxy. As for antidepressant effects Tramadol is a weak but rapidly acting SSRI. Other SSRI's Prozac, Paxil and most antidepressants are slower acting. Depressed people have been known to abuse Tramadol because of this

could you use Tramadol for back pain instead of percocet would it help

Yes Tramadol will help. Not as strong though. I've had pretty bad back problems for awhile and Tramadol has helped. I sometimes mix it with Soma and that helps a lot. Thats just me though, I'm not saying its necessarily a safe/healthy thing to do though. It happened to work for me when I stopped taking Oxies (I was prescribed them daily for over a year and it was just getting hard to do anything productive). Recently I've been taking Tramadol and only OC's about once a week when I cant bear it.

I think your body reacts the best to whatever it gets used to. If you are using hydro and get hurt if you use oxy instead then it makes me a little sick. This may not happen to others.

in my experience, Tramadol doesn't work as well as percocet, though it does last longer, so it depends on how bad your back pain is. i chose oxycontin because of the long lasting pain relief factor, but since my back pain is USUALLY not debilitating, hydrocodone works alright for the breakthrough stuff.

I think your body really gets used to whatever pain killer you take and if you take something different it doesn't seem to work as well.

I used to take percocet and now I take hydro and the hydro works better for me.

Hydro-Codone work well for my back.

I think that trying to answer this question is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. I mean that everyone responds differently to medication and it would also depend on what type of pain you are trying to treat. Nerve pain, bone pain, surgical pain, etc. all respond better to different classes of pain medications. Unfortunetly we often are not given the opportunity to try various analgesic medications to see which works best for us. That might also change over time as one becomes tolerant to a medication if taking it routinely. Personally oxycodone works about the best for me right now.

I picked oxy...but if I have to go with breakthru pain the hydro works very well....I just hafta take two...but I only take those far and few between...being it the oxy or the hydro....getting a script for either or has been a pain lately....so I tend to spread em' out as far as I can.....like playing mind games with myself...like wait two more hours....and such...it works somedays...and others..my body screams at me like....it wants relief and it wants it now!....ah the life before pain...it was nice ....

I'm prescribed hydros (10's) and they work great. But I was given dilaudid in the ER once and it was amazing. No pain at all.

Norco. Like perc/oxy but tolerance builds too fast. Then the docs don't want to increase, so I always go back to norco-the old tried and true.that's just me. Everyones different.

I just thought I would actually give my opinion for once for my pain Methadone 10 mg 4 tms a day with diazepam Dr's are starting not to prescribe it again because of a study of a high death rate. That seems strange to me as it doesn't really give a buzz. but it works for me.

I pick hydros, around 15mgs in morning to start then throughout the day I dose every 4/6 hrs with another 15 to 20 mgs. I add a Tramadol with each dose to make the meds last longer. I have taken 30mgs at once but that amount makes me a little uncomfortable.

I picked hydros too, although the only other med I tried was Percocet/oxycodone which was too strong for me. Probably not now, but not in any hurry to make changes.

47, I think if one kicks the day off w/a good dose of pain meds, it does make the day go better, pain-wise.

Aren't you worried about all the apap though?

Not really, I have 10/325, i go through about 8 pills in a day so I'm at around 3,000mgs of apap a day. I'm at the high end of the recomended daily amount but I try to drink lots of water. Besides what other choice do I have? I don't want to move to the next level of pain meds, it's not needed yet.
Also I never take cold medicine or any other type of meds with apap in it.

10/325's. I am glad you get those. Not that it matters, but I completely understand your choices about this. Might want to take Milk Thistle just to help. It's an herb recommended for all folks to take by Dr. Oz, to help our livers process stuff.

I think I used to take milk thistle when i breastfed it increases milk production. Thanks for the info I'll get some, anything to help our liver.
I love Dr.Oz!

Another breast feeder, cool! I nurse and I'm a lactation consultant. I like Norco for pain when it helps, but sometimes it doesn't. Methadone lasts longer, and it's approved by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) for nursing mums.

Really methadone and breastfeeding. My doc did say that very little less then 1% of what I take gets in the actual breastmilk. What do you think? We've never had any problems, I do try and space the nursing and meds so that the possibility is less of any being in the milk.
I nursed 3 babies, still doing it, I'm on my last babe she is almost 3. We'll be done in the next month or so. She likesit mostly for comfort and only goes for less then 10 min. Two times a day. My body is making very little anyways.