Embeda?! What is this!?

My neuro just prescribed my Embeda. I went to so many
pharmacies and a lot of them wouldn't even order it for me!
Plus, even with insurance its $70 for 30 pills!

Is this even worth it? Its supposted to be a substitute for hydrocodone,
I told him that I don't like feeling out of it, and I feel like when i'm in pain I
take too many vicodins and its not a good enough pain relief, it just makes me feel
dopey.

I mean, I'm starting to love my neuro. He really wants to work with me, I can tell.
At first I thought he was just throwing me on stuff but I realize now that he
cares about my situation and he will give me as many options and be patient
with what works for me and what might not work.
He too suffers from migraines, so I think he is as understanding as
a neuro can get, but I've never heard anyone mention being on this stuff,
and its a huge red flag that big pharmacies don't even stock it,
and their suppliers don't either!

I'll give it a try, but at $70 a bottle, i'm positive I can't afford it anyway.
He also gave me an abortive (forgot the name already lol) that melts under
your tongue. He said try it, and he'll go through more abortives as I get used
to the topamax.

Geez, my brain is fried from this appointment.

wow okay.
i've done as much research as I can on this.
It's very new. Its MORPHINE! WTH!?! Time released morphine you can't crush up and snort.
Geez.
Why wouldn't he give me the other type of morphine that isn't new, costs less, and doesn't
have the crap in it to deter drug abusers?
Thats kind of insulting.

It's also supposted to be used every day for chronic pain sufferers and people who have used
opiates before. I have no experience with opiates besides morphine for kidney stones and dry socket and
the stuff that starts with a D during labor.
He also said take it as needed, which on the website it says very clearly this medication is not for that.

Geez, what do I do?

Isn't vicoden an opioid? My computer is running REALLY slow and is taking forever to pull that up.

This is what I came across:

EMBEDA is NOT intended for use as a prn analgesic.

EMBEDA 100 mg/4 mg IS FOR USE IN OPIOID-TOLERANT PATIENTS ONLY. Ingestion of these capsules or the pellets within the capsules may cause fatal respiratory depression when administered to patients not already tolerant to high doses of opioids.


The abortive you were given was probably Maxalt. That dissolves under the tongue.

Charlotte

Charlotte,
I've only taken vicodin a couple times in my life.
A few for tooth issues, a couple weeks at a time, and within the last month i've used 20 5/500.
Also, for the new stuff I'm on a much lower dosage than that. I'm starting off with the 20/.8 ones I think.

I don't know how much I should trust this.
This is only my second appointment and i'm 22 with migraines and he is giving me time released morphine.
Its fishy.

Everyone is saying how hard a time they have getting narcotics and opiates and stuff.
Man, this guy is throwing them at me like he's known me his entire life!
Plus, since I haven't picked the stuff up yet $70 is a whole lot for little ol' broke me.

I'd be really interested to see what others have to say. I'm not familiar with using morphine. I'm kind of like you though...Isn't he skipping a few steps?

Charlotte

Well I don't know the severity of your M, but I would be overjoyed if I got something like that IF it would work for me.
I don't know if morphine would work well for me, for starters. Not every painkiller works for me - Tramal doesn't.

Here is some info about Embeda I found :
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/160756.php

EMBEDA(TM) (morphine sulfate and naltrexone hydrochloride) Extended Release Capsules is a prescription medicine used to treat moderate to severe pain that continues around the clock and is expected to last for a long period of time. EMBEDA(TM) is not for use to treat pain as needed.

It may simply mean that you are not supposed to take it every few hrs, or every time the pain flares up.
Once in a 24 hrs and that's it. you probably could take something else for breakthrough pain, though.

http://www.drugwatch.com/embeda/
Initial Dosage: The initial adult dose is one capsule per day.


It may mean that when you get M, instead of taking up to 8 pills of something in a day
you may take one single pill of Embeda, is all.
Plus, Maxalt or Zomig -whatever it is you got in melt form.
Ask your dr to be sure if you can mix those two (Embeda and melt) together.

Risa

Lovegia, are you able to call the neuro office in the morning and ask for him to clarify?

My professional "redflags" are waving on this one big time, and I highly recommend you get some clarification before shelling out the cash for it.

Risa,

Yep thats what Doc said. He told me to take just one a day it will last all day.
I won't have to keep on taking pills anymore.

I am deathly afraid of morphine. The word morphine scares the living daylights out of me.
I get bad migraines. Horrible ones, yes. But I have days where they are between 5-6 and they make it
very difficult to do anything. Everything bothers me, light, sound and smell. Those days occur about 4 or 5
times a week. Do I need to take morphine 5 times a week? I hope not. Especially if its going to cost me
$70 a month. If I had a 8-10 migraine, sure thing I'd take that morphine. But i'd need that only one
or two times a month.

I really don't want to be addicted to my medication. I don't want to be high while my daughter
grows up, either. That would really break my heart. I feel like Charlotte said,
we're skipping a few steps. I think I realize that triptans don't work well and aren't great for me now
because I would use them too frequently. But this seems way too fast.

Isn't there something else or do I just have a really warped conception of morphine?

Milo,

What do I say to him? I'm at a loss about that kind of stuff. I think thats how I got
myself in this predicament in the first place

If I had a 8-10 migraine, sure thing I'd take that morphine. But i'd need that only one
or two times a month

I am far from persuading you to start taking any narcotics, but... consider this first.
If you have 8-10 M, you are unable to function anyway and therefore take care of your baby, right? not to mention the pain, the agony.

Nobody says you are required to take Embeda for every time you are in pain. Reserve it for your worst time, when nothing else works.
Talk to your doctor (although I would do that AFTER filling the RX up) about your concerns of taking a strong painkiller for weaker episodes unneccessarily. Ask him if you could reserve E for the truly bad ones and have something of a less caliber for 5-6 M.

As for getting addicted. Well we all are different, that's true, and I have no way of knowing how your body would react , but know this- it's not easy to get hooked if you are in legitimate pain, and you take your narcotic pain relivers for PAIN, as rx-ed. Not for "Ahh I am all jittery today, so... just this once". NO. don't do that.

Also, if you are educated on the subject, you know what to look for - you know the warning signs, you know when to stop taking it and switch to another medication to be safe- in other words, take a drug holiday.
even if to make it work as good as it did in the beginning, because most often than not our bodies do grow tolerant to the dose and require more, but that is not a sign of addiction. is not.
Any hoo, what matters - if you are educated you are in control. that's a world of difference.


Also again I have no way of predicting how you will feel on E but I don't feel drugged or high on Percocet.
I may be more more talkative but not crazy and certainly not high. I doubt someone in the throes on 8-10 M will have enough strenght to be high, though...

You can always discard or return unused Rx if you decide it's not for you after you try it, and don't like.
But unless you try you won't know whether or not it will be your miracle or evil drug.

Now please remember we are all different, as I've said I have no way to know how narcotic medication would turn out for you. It have to be yours and only yours decision to take it or not.
I just wanted to let you know that the devil is not always as scary as they paint him to be.

From old Ronda's I recall quite a few people being very satisfied with MS Contin which is also a morhpine and some very dissatisfied with anything morphine or opioids.
Some people just seem to respond better to this type of painkillers, other to NSAID's kind like, etc.
I even recall one or two cases where the morphine pump was used for M.

But not single case of big addiction problem stemming form use of narcotic pain relief I can recall.

So, think it over, mull it over, chomp on it from this side and that, don't panic, just calmly approach this subject for a few days and hopefully you will come to a conclusion.

If you decide to try it once, you can always arrange so your daughter will be away so you can test Emb in peace knowing she won't witness nothing, just in case. it's well worth to have a peace of mind, beside you'll have raging M anyway which is no fun in itself .

But word from the wise - don't explain in detail to nobody, but nobody, even to your hubby the whys- just say your M is so severe you just need one "day off" - and test the med in peace.


btw I was Rx once ZyrtramXL which is Tramal extended and for breaktrough pain I could take Percocet. even on both of those I wasn't high..

Risa

Where do you live and who is your doctor? Can I get there from Philadelphia? Just kidding.

Be careful. Hope it works for you and please keep us updated. This is where I get a lot of good questions for my next visit.

Rachel

Hahaha Rachel!

I gave the script back to the doctor on Monday, he gave me Nucynta instead. Its weaker. I'm going
to be trying it very soon. Like, tonight soon. I feel a M coming on now. I'm happy though, today
was pain free the whole day.

Topamax is definitely doing something

I don't take pain pills until I'm at least at a 5 or 6, i'm at a 3-4 right now. Uncomfortable, but okay. I might
even hold off taking the new stuff until I hit 7 to test it. We'll see how well I can handle my pain today.

I also bought these WellPatches at the pharmacy. They are lightly scented with menthol and lavender
and they are cooling for up to 8 hours. 4 for $3. I figured I'd give em a try. I'll report back

I'm glad you went with your gut and trusted yourself enough to go the other route. I, too, wait until I'm at a 3-4 or 5-6 to start taking medicine. But I once had a doc sit me down and explain that if I feel it coming on and take meds it won't get so bad. Or, if I take it at 2 or 3 it won't explode. Our own pain management (after getting the pills) is quite a quandry.

How did the meds you took work out?

Rachel

the patch was quite annoying to use. it worked well though for low levels of pain. my headaches occur right
behind my eye so I suspect anything that sticks on wont work so well, since I cant stick it to my eye
but i'd recommend it. It smelled great, and was definitely cooling and it lasted. I stuck it to my temple
and it provided relief right up until the migraine was about a 5 and then I took it off because it was
not worth the annoyance at that point. Still, it helped immensely up till then.

The nucynta is cow poo for me. I hate it and want to give it back. I'm actually really mad I spent the
money on it. I had a M on my right side which is always the way it goes. I rarely get ones on the
left, and if I do I always have auras and they are ALWAYS 10's. When I took nucynta,
it actually gave me a headache on my left. I say headache because it was just a headache,
not a M. It dulled my M on the right side to a 4 from a 6.

So needless to say, unless you have really amazing insurance and your copay is only $10 or $20,
or your rich or something, I wouldn't go for this. It was way too much money to spend to give me a
headache and leave me with a 4 M.

So sorry for the cow poo.

thanks Rachel.

If you'd like a laugh,
I'm sitting here after a hectic morning trying very hard to think of my medicine routine.
I'm trying to remember if i took twice the amount of topamax im supposted to.
Im tingling everywhere. I'm loving my backspace button a lot more than usual.
I'm seriously wondering if i took it twice LOL!

It wont kill me, i just have to figure it out so i dont take my night dose. Basically I just combined
my night and day into one. BUT MAN! holidays mess me up!

Now I have to march my tingly butt to the walgreens to get some wrapping paper.

You said you wait until you are at least at a 5 or 6 to take pain meds. They work best if you take them right from the beginning. I take them at a 1 or less before the migraine can develop. No more guessing anymore. When I wait too long the medication either doesn't work at all or takes a lot longer to work. I have about a 95% success rate in preventing a migraine from progressing.

Estre,
I would be medicated all the time then, and not only would my doctor think i was a drug seeker,
my tolerance would go up, I would be addicted to narcotics and I would be highly uncomfortable with
taking that many pills. I don't even have that many pills a month to use. I stick to taking them when
I feel I need to. Sometimes my M progress to extreme pain, sometimes they don't thankfully.
I wait it out and see. It's what works best for me, and more importantly, my family.

Embeda is very much the same, or similar, to Kadian, which is a very good, long-acting morphine..Embeda adds the naloxone, which of course counteracts the morphine if crushed...I am continuing to use Kadian with my patients, as I know it well and trust this medicine...Larry Robbins,M.D. http://www.headachedrugs.com

Considering your young age, Gia, I understand your not wanting to get involved in long acting pain meds already. Yet, I think you are mistaken about a few things.

First, you are reacting to the morphine name. We've all heard it on TV and movies as being this very big pain medication (and it is) but vicodin and codeine and those meds are morphine, too, albeit synthetic versions. So, you need to take the emotion out of the word.

Long acting narcotics, like the one you were prescribed (long acting, non-tampering morphine), Kadian (long acting morphine) or Oxycontin (long acting Oxycodone) do not make you feel doped up. In fact, it's the short acting things like hydrocodone or vicodin which do that. They work much more quickly and dump a larger amount of medication into your system all at once.

The long acting meds are dispersed into your system slowly, over the day (24 hours for Embeda, correct?). You won't feel drugged or unable to take care of your daughter. You wouldn't even feel them. What you might get, though, is pain prevention.

I don't mean to sound like I am lecturing you but for the lack of a verbal discussion, my words are coming out more curt than I'd like. In the nicest possible way, I would like to encourage you to learn about how these medications work before you reject them out of hand.

We Lawn Guylanders have to stick together, right? ;-)

£eslie

Hey Leslie,

No offense taken, thanks for the info. Yeah, i'm new to the world of pain medication
so I have preconcieved notions about things. I try new things though all the time. (Last night
at dinner I had liver patte, brussle sprouts and caviar lol) and was ready and willing to try
Embeda but upon trying to fill it, I couldn't! I tried every pharmacy from Ronkonkoma to Yaphank, Smithtown
to Sayville! Nobody could get it!

I don't know much about medicine. I'm no doctor. So, I fill what my doctor gives me and I give it a try
but I do think its good to have a healthy amount of doubt in a new physician. Especially one
thats handing out narcotics like candy and just approved ones as if he's getting perks from reps for it.
I'm no guinea pig, and i'm not rich. I'm actually kind of poor. Stretching my limits at my $50 copay just to
see the guy.

Thanks for the info everyone, I'm going to try and be more open to heavier sounding narcotics
from now on, but i'll still be asking.