Hydrocodone

hislove40
hislove40 Member Posts: 51
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
So today was my doc appt after rads with my rad onc. It was also a day I missed work due to a very painful swollen throat and ear and subsequent stomach ache from too much ibuprofen trying to bring the swelling down. Two weeks ago she prescribed the hydrocodone and I carried around the script for a while then finally took it to the pharmacy to be filled just to have on hand if ever needed. So she asked tonight how that was working for me and I told her I hadn't tried it yet. So I picked it up tonight as she said this was only going to get worse now. I got home and took it more as an experiment than anything. Oh my gosh, I have no pain tonight - don't feel even a little loopy and feel energized. This is the first time I've felt good in weeks so love that stuff! I really don't want to miss any more work. Have any of you taken it at work? I may actually get a good night of sleep tonight :))))

Comments

  • Tonsil Dad
    Tonsil Dad Member Posts: 488
    #2
    Pain.
    I was prescribed liquid hydrocodone a few weeks back and only use it before I eat
    Something or take my supplements. I have only 8 rad sessions left and up to now
    I've not had any pain other than a really bad sore throat and an ulcer on the side
    Of my tongue which is really making it hard to eat and swallow, that's why I take
    The hydrocodone. My Onc said today that my mouth is fried but on a 0-10 pain scale
    Touch wood I'm a 0. She also said today after visually looking in the mouth that the tumor
    Had gone, or at least she couldn't see it anymore...YEAH!!!
    Since being dx in Nov I've lost 30lbs (was 260) ,I feel good, still working not as much but
    Still doing half a day to keep active.
    The only thing through this whole thing is I'm really depressed that I have no taste and
    No saliva, its really p#$$@%g me off.
    So fingers crossed that it don't get much worse and my taste & saliva return asap
    PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come back sooooooon.

    God bless
    Tonsil Dad,

    Dan.
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    #3
    Tonsil Dad said:

    Pain.
    I was prescribed liquid hydrocodone a few weeks back and only use it before I eat
    Something or take my supplements. I have only 8 rad sessions left and up to now
    I've not had any pain other than a really bad sore throat and an ulcer on the side
    Of my tongue which is really making it hard to eat and swallow, that's why I take
    The hydrocodone. My Onc said today that my mouth is fried but on a 0-10 pain scale
    Touch wood I'm a 0. She also said today after visually looking in the mouth that the tumor
    Had gone, or at least she couldn't see it anymore...YEAH!!!
    Since being dx in Nov I've lost 30lbs (was 260) ,I feel good, still working not as much but
    Still doing half a day to keep active.
    The only thing through this whole thing is I'm really depressed that I have no taste and
    No saliva, its really p#$$@%g me off.
    So fingers crossed that it don't get much worse and my taste & saliva return asap
    PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come back sooooooon.

    God bless
    Tonsil Dad,

    Dan.

    You are about at the point
    You are about at the point where I started getting a really sore throat, I was breezing through the first 5 or 6 weeks with not many issues. When it hit it kept getting worse and lasted for over a month post rads. The good news is that at some point you cross the line and pain goes away quickly. I never had much of a saliva issue, in fact I didn't even use all of the Biotene mouthwash and Stoppers 4 that I had purchased. Taste is still diminished at 5 months post treatment. I can taste but it is not intense and sometimes goes away intirely after a bite or two, ice cream is one of those foods.
    John
  • hislove40
    hislove40 Member Posts: 51
    #4
    Tonsil Dad said:

    Pain.
    I was prescribed liquid hydrocodone a few weeks back and only use it before I eat
    Something or take my supplements. I have only 8 rad sessions left and up to now
    I've not had any pain other than a really bad sore throat and an ulcer on the side
    Of my tongue which is really making it hard to eat and swallow, that's why I take
    The hydrocodone. My Onc said today that my mouth is fried but on a 0-10 pain scale
    Touch wood I'm a 0. She also said today after visually looking in the mouth that the tumor
    Had gone, or at least she couldn't see it anymore...YEAH!!!
    Since being dx in Nov I've lost 30lbs (was 260) ,I feel good, still working not as much but
    Still doing half a day to keep active.
    The only thing through this whole thing is I'm really depressed that I have no taste and
    No saliva, its really p#$$@%g me off.
    So fingers crossed that it don't get much worse and my taste & saliva return asap
    PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come back sooooooon.

    God bless
    Tonsil Dad,

    Dan.

    I want those taste buds back too
    I got the liquid hydrocodone too. My cancer is in front of my ear in the lymph node so the pain in there and also in my throat left lymph node and I have 17 left to go I think. The last 5 will be high intensity. She said I'll have good days and bad and then all bad at the end with about a month for the healing after. She did say the taste buds can take longer. I hate that even water tastes horrible!
  • hislove40
    hislove40 Member Posts: 51
    #5
    jtl said:

    You are about at the point
    You are about at the point where I started getting a really sore throat, I was breezing through the first 5 or 6 weeks with not many issues. When it hit it kept getting worse and lasted for over a month post rads. The good news is that at some point you cross the line and pain goes away quickly. I never had much of a saliva issue, in fact I didn't even use all of the Biotene mouthwash and Stoppers 4 that I had purchased. Taste is still diminished at 5 months post treatment. I can taste but it is not intense and sometimes goes away intirely after a bite or two, ice cream is one of those foods.
    John

    Tell me about Biotene and Stoppers 4
    Jtl -
    I'm still having saliva as I'm being shot only on one side but it's less. Tell me about the Biotene and Stoppers 4. Are they prescription and what does each do for you?
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #6
    hislove40 said:

    I want those taste buds back too
    I got the liquid hydrocodone too. My cancer is in front of my ear in the lymph node so the pain in there and also in my throat left lymph node and I have 17 left to go I think. The last 5 will be high intensity. She said I'll have good days and bad and then all bad at the end with about a month for the healing after. She did say the taste buds can take longer. I hate that even water tastes horrible!

    Stoppers 4
    You have to buy the stoppers online as far as I've ever seen...like drugstore.com. Biotene you can get at any supermarket of drugstore.

    The biotene never did a lot for me personally, an I never tried the stoppers.

    I have regained all of my taste and nearly all saliva, but It took well over two years for that to happen.

    But I did start seeing improvement within a month or so post rads on the taste, a bit longer for saliva.

    JG
  • tommyodavey
    tommyodavey Member Posts: 726 Member
    #7
    Skiffin16 said:

    Stoppers 4
    You have to buy the stoppers online as far as I've ever seen...like drugstore.com. Biotene you can get at any supermarket of drugstore.

    The biotene never did a lot for me personally, an I never tried the stoppers.

    I have regained all of my taste and nearly all saliva, but It took well over two years for that to happen.

    But I did start seeing improvement within a month or so post rads on the taste, a bit longer for saliva.

    JG

    Hydro
    Hydrocodone is quite a good pain reliever if taken properly. My Dr. said to take it regularly so to help with the pain before it starts. The problem with that is if you're on it for several weeks you'll need to wean down slowly or suffer some mild withdrawals. Not bad, just not too fun. It seems if I take it for only a week I'm okay. Two and I start to feel icky if I don't have any.

    This previous Tuesday was my last day of RT and am I ever glad to be done with that. We'll see if it does peak for the next two weeks or not. My taste buds never went completely but operate at about 40% so my water too tastes yucky. Dry mouth at night but still have one major salivary gland left to do the work of two.

    My worst side effects didn't hit until my last week. Now, even soup hurts to eat. And I went from 184 lbs to 160. And yes, I'm glad to lose that extra weight. My Onc said I might lose another 5-10 after the rads. I can afford another 5 and that's it.

    Tommy
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #8
    tommyodavey said:

    Hydro
    Hydrocodone is quite a good pain reliever if taken properly. My Dr. said to take it regularly so to help with the pain before it starts. The problem with that is if you're on it for several weeks you'll need to wean down slowly or suffer some mild withdrawals. Not bad, just not too fun. It seems if I take it for only a week I'm okay. Two and I start to feel icky if I don't have any.

    This previous Tuesday was my last day of RT and am I ever glad to be done with that. We'll see if it does peak for the next two weeks or not. My taste buds never went completely but operate at about 40% so my water too tastes yucky. Dry mouth at night but still have one major salivary gland left to do the work of two.

    My worst side effects didn't hit until my last week. Now, even soup hurts to eat. And I went from 184 lbs to 160. And yes, I'm glad to lose that extra weight. My Onc said I might lose another 5-10 after the rads. I can afford another 5 and that's it.

    Tommy

    Tommy
    Sounds like you are doing pretty well. I'm just a little ahead of you. Six weeks out from rads now. The water has tasted good again for the last week, not like the warm sea water it has been. Worst symptoms were about 10-14 days out from rads, when it hurt so bad to get things past my mouth and tongue ulcers it literally brought tears to my eyes. I had to chug down four liquid meals a day, over the kitchen sink so I could rinse with saline/soda water immediately to get the pain under control.

    Wish I could say it was all normal now, but it isn't yet. The improvement is very gradual. My ulcers are still there, just don't hurt as much. I have tried solid food, but it isn't yet worth the discomfort of persisting. So I'll wait another week or two and try again.

    I had to pump the calories way up to keep from losing weight. At the end of rads, your body is quite catabolic, and the calorie burn is pretty impressive. In my case, it took about 3500 cal/day to maintain. Now I notice my caloric requirements have dropped back down again to about 2100.

    It will be a cause to celebrate when I can finally eat again!

    Pat
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #9
    Hi hislove
    Yes I too had to take the hydrocodone for a while till I could get some what normal again, and I worked every day while taking it. I had to let my Boss know that I was on it just in care of a drug screening because I work in an industrial place where drugs of any kind are not allowed. He had no problem with it, after 6 months I got off of them. When you are ready to get off of them just make sure you let your doctor know. I did it cold turkey and regretted doing it that way.

    Glad you are feeling good, God bless and keep you in His care
    Hondo

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