Kadian and fibromyalgia symptoms are getting a lot of coverage lately thanks to some recent studies that have shown that this opioid analgesic can be very effective in relieving pain.
It can be helpful to understand more about the pain of fibromyalgia, and how Kadian and other opioids before deciding whether you want to try this medication for your symptom relief, or just to have as a backup pain reliever.
Fibromyalgia may be many things, but it’s about chronic pain first
There is a large set of symptoms that come with fibromyalgia, but the one of the most striking characteristics of this disorder is the chronic and pervasive pain. The pain is very similar to a bursitis or arthritic pain and can take the form of stiffness, inflammation or sharp stabbing pains.
The experience of living with chronic pain may also be what contributes to the other common cluster of symptoms which is IBS, depression and fatigue.
First, you have to understand the rules of the fibromyalgia flare-up
People who don’t have fibromyalgia don’t understand how it really works. When someone refers to having a fibromyalgia flare-up, it can cover a whole range of symptoms – not just muscle pain.
Sometimes the symptoms may be focused on mood, cognition and digestion; sometimes it will be stiffness and pain – and even then, each flare-up will follow a scale, rather than a predicted pain rate. This is what can make finding an effective medication so difficult.
Then you have to understand why opioids work, and why they sometimes don’t
If you talk to a cross section of those who suffer from fibromyalgia you will find that they have a range of experience with taking different pain relieving drugs, opioid and not.
Some people have a natural resistance to opioid drugs, others respond so greatly to them that they are considered to be sensitive to the drugs.
For most people, the general rule of thumb with opioids is that the first dose will greatly relieve your pain, but each consecutive dose will then not affect you as greatly. This is because you are going to build up tolerance to the drug.
The answer isn’t as easy as just switching to another opioid, like going from Kadian to Percocet, because not all opioids are designed to do the same thing.
Aren’t all opioids going to relieve pain?
No, opioids are powerful drugs that work on the various nerve transmission processes in the body and the brain. They rarely work to relieve pain, but they do work to block pain – and that is a very important difference.
If your pain is more associated with inflammation, this may not be the right medication for you as it will not help to get the cause of your pain under control.
What about the risks of addiction?
There is no secret about the fact that the biggest risk with any opioid medication is the risk of addiction. The problem with that statement is it doesn’t reveal how subtle addiction may be.
Opioids work within the body, but only for so long. If you take too many of them, or too often, your tolerance will increase for them. Once the tolerance rises, it will take more and more to get the effect that you are seeking.
When it comes to using an opioid analgesic to relieve pain, the other problem is that many people are using them for pain management – but to try and eradicate the pain altogether.
That is too much too often. Your goal should be to lower your pain to a tolerable level. Chronic pain isn’t something that will ever go away, but you can find better ways to live with it.
Why is Kadian so effective?
One of the reasons that Kadian is singled out as the opioid analgesic of choice for those with fibromyalgia is that the medicine has a different delivery structure than most.
In its injected form, Kadian is highly effective because the medication is held in micro-spheres that break down uniformly within the body.
This means that wherever the medication was placed is where all of it will evenly hit. With many of the other opioid analgesics you may have an uneven experience with the delivery of pain relief as they break down differently.
None of the studies have looked specifically at where the tablet or capsule form of Kadian is as effective. In the studies, Kadian was applied by injection, and by a license health care professional – which may have greatly influenced the outcome of the pain relief.
What if I don’t want to go the opioid route?
Taking any kind of opioid can be frightening. While it can remove the pain, the side effects can be hard to handle. Many people prefer to keep them as a last resort only.
There are some very effective non-opioid pain relievers, like Vistiril and Indomethecin, that can be surprisingly effective for some. Alternative therapies have also been studied extensively with fibromyalgia and have proven to be very effective.
Homeopathic and alternative remedies for fibromyalgia that work
If you want to avoid taking opioids, or are medication adverse, you may want to explore the different homeopathic treatments for fibromyalgia that have a good history of working and providing relief.
For many people, the question isn’t as simple as whether or not taking Kadian is going to relieve their fibromyalgia symptoms, it’s about finding a range of tools to relieve your pain.
Flare-ups come in a wide variety of intensity and you may not want to always take something that you could build a tolerance to that you need in more severe attacks. This is why looking at everything, and trying it all, may be the best route to take.
Acupuncture, meditation and homeopathic treatments may bring your pain levels down enough so that you don’t have to take a medication every day, and when you have to take it – it will work most effectively.
Further reading:
http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/kadian.html
http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/rxlist_view_comments.asp?drug=kadian&questionid=fdb1509_pem&page=3
http://www.fmcpaware.org/medication/fibromyalgia-and-chronic-opioid-analgesic-therapy
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