not really a question...but about a medicine...

I take demerol for chronic pain. As many of you know (who have been here) my MD cut my dose twice in 2 years and then, when it wasn't enough claimed that I'm an addict and that she can't keep increasing my dose. I set her straight (not increased by decreased for 2 years) and she put it up... a few pills a month more.

I was just researching pain meds for my dog. A wealth of information on the vet site... how vets usually use MORPHINE for dogs, or maybe FENTNYL... and they gave how strong doses and comparison doses.... and then, if nothing else, give dogs DEMEROL... though it is not nearly as strong as the other two.

The dosage for dogs? 4 mg per pound per 4 hours. And my doctor won't give ME and HUMAN... for my dog that's 260 mgs every 4 hours.... my MD let's me have 50 mg every 6 hours. So I'm worth less than a dog.

Plus, what on earth is she worrying about, I'm not even at full dose for this med...and there's others more powerful for future when/if I deteriorate?

grrrr or should I say woof woof.

I am not a VET, but I have worked in the medical field and I know that the doses for animal medicines verses the doses for human medicines are at different strength (value) - even if the medicine is called the same name and given for the same reason..... example: pain.

But just in case................. here is a WOOF WOOF for you - good luck.

LoVe,
Rhapsody -

this isn't helpful at all but my best mates are vets and in the uk it's legal for a vet to treat a human but not a doctor to treat an animal. vets get more training. bizarre, but true. and sorry, that was possibly the most pointless response ever

but I enjoyed both responses! lol.

That one was a question, about whether dogs metabolize medications differently...but that is still a huge difference for the same medication...imo. (Maybe you can ask your friends about that for me dog?)

I think the animal meds might be poorer quality if not the same brand name. I know this is true with anesthesia.. as my favorite vet uses human anethesia as it's safer and purer.

It's harder to get into vet school than med school, you know. And a lot of veterinatry medicines are the same as human medicines. One of my vets noticed, as he was mixing Amoxidrops for me cat, that it was the same stuff that he had been giving his daughter! Plus, a few of my vets have just written prescriptions for my animals that I fill at Walgreens. My cat has his own account there.

As for why dogs get higher doses than humans, it's a two part answer: other animals do metabolise drugs differently than humans. There is a drug that is no longer available, because it causes cardiac problems in humans, but it would help my cat without that risk. The replacement drug would not work for him, though, although it does work for humans. {sigh}

Anyway, the other thing is that there is a crazy sort of thing in medicine about "gotta avoid the potential for addiction..." That means that, in extreme cases, terminal cancer patients still don't get adequate pain relief. Now, there are a lot of reasons for that, including a long standing belief that adequate pain relief through medication will cause dependency and increased pain. That's now being disproved, which should improve things. Now there is much more influence and research being done, most all of which is showing that the best way to avoid chronic pain situations, and complications with things like neuropathy, is to provide strong enough pain relief from the start.

Good luck. I"m sorry you're having trouble like this.

Sky,

I can't add much except this...my ex-wife works with patients that are either dying or in chronic, severe pain, and one of the worst problems she has is to get some doctors to prescribe enough pain medication to ease a patient's symptoms. Many doctors are afraid to the point of being irrational about it of patients becoming addicted, etc. This even applies to end-stage cancer with some docs...it can be pretty weird, but that's how it is with a lot of 'em.

You're in my thoughts...no one should have to live with pain in these days.

DJ

pain meds are tracked by the FDA. So doctors are afraid to give out too many. And they save their pereceived "allowances" for friends or people with big bucks. My husband died of cancer. I learned this the hard way.

Yes to all of that. There is a difference between addiction and dependancy. And no, there is no logic for the patient who is chronic pain... that is the reason it's called CHRONIC? It's all about doctor covering their collective assets.

With morphine and fentynyl out there yet for me, and I'm at such a low dose of demerol, it just doesn't make sense to me. Here I am sharing my demerol dust (the dust from my pill splitting) with my dog.. when he could be giving me HIS. (if I got him some. )