Cirrhosis Of Lover And Pain Meds

I've hepatitis C which has turned to Cirrhosis of the Liver. Unfortunately, I've chronic lower back pain and have had 2 prior back surgeries. Doctors say another back surgery will not help. Currently I go to a very legit pain clinic and am given 60 mgs of methadone to take daily. Since it comes in 10 mg tablets I soak the tablets and drink the clear fluid, then discard the remaining dissolved powder which helps eliminate some of the additives. I do lose approx 15-20 mgs of methadone, when 6 tablets are soaked. However, I've found that I don't get as nauseated that way. My question is; (i) if I must take a pain medication to have any quality of life what pain medication is the least harmful to the liver (ii) if one had access to a pure white heroin (pure as in straight from the lab) would it be any less harmful than the legal pain medications now available. Almost all have a great deal of other chemicals that I don't need.

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Hello Robert, I also have hepatitis C (Type 1a) and am always looking at issues regarding liver toxicity. I am not a doctor, but I when I saw your question I felt compelled to try and answer.

I looked up some data from the Mayo Clinic Sourced here:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861975/

What I get out of these recommendations regarding Methadone is that it can be safe but needs to monitored. However it does go on to mention that Fentanyl or Hydromorphone may be a safer/less taxing alternative in people with damaged livers.

One note of caution in this particular literature states that renal health may be compromised in some patients with certain stages of liver disease but that it is not necessarily the case all the time.

I hope this helps.. You also might want to check out the possible benefits of Milk Thistle and Liv-52 for liver health here:
pressingtheissue.com/2011/03/does-milk-thistle-work-for-hepatitis-c/

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I honestly can't answer you on the Heroin, since it hasn't been studied and tested for its effects on various medical conditions, as is done with actual prescription medications.

However, most medications are processed through the liver and are going to have some effect, the main issue is just trying to mitigate that as much as possible.

Learn more Methadone details here.

So, if you're going to a pain clinic, are they aware of this issue and have you talked to them about it?

They may be able to give you a liquid form, or an injectable form that would have even less of an impact on the liver and you should probably discuss it with your doctor there.

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