Opioids Getting Weaker

So lately I've been seeing A LOT of people saying how they have changed the strength and color and pharmaceutical brand of their 10mg Percocet from the good yellow ones that worked great to now these white ones that are pure garbage! Luckily I don't get those I get oxycodone 30mg IR and oxymorphone 30mg ER witch have yet to be tampered with. Yes I know it's only a matter of time before they get to changing those to. Although I have been hearing about them supposedly changing them 7yrs ago to be tamper proof from my pain doctor and so far thank GOD they haven't touched those yet. The government is putting pressure on the Pharmaceutical companies and or are in bed with them to change the formula to make them weaker and or not work at all even as far as a placebo. They think their gonna ween you off or make you quit taking your pills the ONLY problem that I see with this is that the Pharmaceutical companies will and are gonna lose millions if not billions of dollars if they make a drug nobody wants or uses cause of the ineffectiveness of it. So that is my question to all of you out there, big Pharma i'sent gonna just lay down n die so what is gonna happen? Are people gonna just switch to something that is stronger or something that has yet to be tampered with like the 15mg oxycodone instead of the 10mg Percocet? Will your pain doc even let you switch and what happens if they start to change the formula on those to? Do we all just start going to a methadone clinic where it's regulated and your forced to use that since it's not only the strongest (aside from Fentanyl) but it's done in a safe environment and you don't get to take anything home to abuse but you have to go EVERYDAY and their only open from 5A.M. to 11A.M what if you don't have a car or a bus to get to your inconvenient daily dose? I'm just wondering what's gonna happen in the near future? If anyone has any input or ideas on whats coming next please share and let me know.

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Actually the first medication to be ruined was Oxycontin in 2009, but there were already generic opiates that had been weakened to the point as being worthless to anyone in severe pain long before that! I remember taking Mallinckrodt 5/325 generic percocets in 1996 that were like a placebo because there was a shortage of Roxicet that month. That was 22 years ago... Big pharma is already making and lining up to make a whole new generation of drugs with the research funded by taxpayers and of course all profits going to big pharma and friends (FDA employees and other government employees). These new pills will have new pill price for 10 years and then they'll reformulate (tweak the ingredients) for new pill prices for decades to come! They nor the government care if they actually work or not on people with severe pain! It's all about the fake opiate crisis which is actually heroin laced with fentanyl and bootleg pills laced with fentanyl. Anyone who's overdosing on pharmacy drugs is doing so from the toxins they're putting in pharmacy sold opiates because they're taking a lot of pills because they're not getting high! So basically pharmaceutical companies and the government are killing those people by selling opiates to the public with toxins to stop abuse! The real epidemic is big pharma and government agencies with their outrageous lies playing the American public as stupid!

Victimizing Americans in severe pain is an all-time new low even for the overreaching American government! Until the FDA, DEA, FBI and government are completely rid of outside corporate and political influences! This will only get worse and more people will needlessly suffer! How many people is big pharma going to kill or make needlessly suffer this year with government backing? The last president took $4.5 million from big pharma and that's just the tip of this corrupt iceberg! The FDA is full of big pharma gouls who only care about big pharma and not Americans!

They don't cure anything and only present pills you have to take forever! With today's technology and resources, you'd have to be completely cuckoo not to think most diseases should have already been cured by now! Millions of Americans will die this year because of the relationships big pharma has with the FDA and the government! Wake up American Democrats, Republicans and Independents were letting big pharma control government agencies and politicians while they kill us or make us needlessly suffer while lining their pockets with free taxpayer dollars for research and insane profits via insane drug prices! For those of you who live in fantasy land... We're paying billions for narcotic analgesics that barely work or not at all on severe pain! That's fraud where I come from! Big pharma causing your or your loved one's death is just the price of doing business! They make billions and pay pennies on the dollar for deaths and injuries to purchasers of their products because it's just the price of doing business!

Sorry about the rant, but Rawdog definitely touched a nerve when I had to think about myself and millions of other Americans who are fed up with the sheer BS of big pharma and the over reach of government into the lives of suffering people who have never abused anything and follow their doctor's instructions to the letter! Stop victimizing legitimately suffering patients because of your failed war on drugs!

I or any legitimate severe pain patient could write a book on this subject with ease and it would horrify the average person when they realize through no fault of their own they could be me or anyone of us and find themselves in our shoes...

I joined the severe pain club back in 1989 after getting an epidural abscess from having a back surgery. They also had me on IV steroids for 10 days with this staff infection, made it a super bug! From L4 to S1 is a softball size wad of scar tissue that can't be touch because it would destroy the nerve bundles at 3 levels on bothsides and my dural sac is scarred up pretty bad too... So it's like having a cactus inside me! Brings a whole new meaning to the term severe pain! To all those anti drug imbeciles... I'd like to see you make it 24 hours in my body with no narcotic analgesics or inferior narcotic analgesics! I bet you'd take your own life! Schedule II opiates are what allows me to not be bedridden for the rest of my life! You sick deviant anti drug sadistic lunatic ******s! I wish you nothing but injurys and suffering on inferior narcotic analgesics till you finally take your own pathetic narrow-minded existences because people like you deserve to reap what you sow!!! I'm not sorry for saying that because it's my quality of life you imbeciles are playing with and my wife has to watch this happen to her husband (me) and she's also a victim too because of you losers!??

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Do i have complaints darlin? Oh my YES! I will reply in detail later this eve. I’m at...yet again!...another Dr’s appt to address yet ANOTHER symptom from this poison Percocet we are being given. Thank you for your post. Hopefully this post will help open the door to the truth of what’s being done to us.

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Rawdog,

Yep, they are getting weaker. Setting tolerance issues aside, my meds are not ineffective, but they are much less effective. And at a time I need more, not less. Going through trauma, death of a loved one, seems to increase the pain level. Exhaustion doesn't help at all, as a matter of fact it makes pain level much higher. I don't expect to be catered to during life's ups and downs, but I always look forward to the ordinary relief a med SHOULD give. New formulations make that expectation almost silly. Oh, silly me, expecting relief, and receiving it in a half measure. Silly me, to think...well at least I got my meds. Although, due to staff changes at my clinic, I'd be stupid to expect that my treatment will continue on, as is. The more my care changes hands, the less I can expect. I've used the same clinic for at least 10 years. Doctor left the practice, her PA, who I saw occassionally, is leaving. The newest PA, doesn't know me. Yep pretty sure my care will not be what it has been. Even if I get the meds, who's to say they will even work. And God forgive us for COMPLAINING about ineffective meds.It's all in our stupid little drug addled brains. They...the meds.... are the same as always....don'cha know?

Thanks for this thread, Rawdog. Good place to rant.

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Re: JMJ (# 3)

Yea I'm hearing it from everyone that their meds are either not working or barely have any pain medication inside. People are even willing to send in their bunk meds into a testing facility to see how much is really in the pill. I'd like to know who or if anyone has done that yet.I would do it but don't know where to send it to, to get tested? Plus I don't get the meds everyone is complaining about(mostly the camber Pharmacutal corporation) with the 10mg Percocet being the one most people are having a problem with. I just thank GOD I don't get those prescribed. I feel for all those people out their that are suffering but I'd like to know why they don't either switch to something else or pay a little more for the name brand Percocet. I get that some of you can't afford the name brand but maybe try n talk to your PM doc an find an alternative

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Re: Rawdog (# 4)

There are several things they could have done to the pills to tweak the formula to greatly reduce the amount of oxytocin our pituitary glands will excrete. More than likely the correct amount of opiate will come up when lab-evaluated within the allowable plus or minus range for opiate content. This covers the manufacturer for the correct amount of the opiate. The oxytocin excreted by the pituitary gland is what gives us the euphoric feeling(warm feel good feeling). The opiate pills themselves 25% of pain relief is via the actual opiate. The other 75% of pain relief is from oxytocin excreted by the pituitary gland.

There are other ways to weaken the effect of the pills too. Like messing up the bioavailability so you don't absorb the medication like you're supposed to, to different degrees. I personally believe that they have done something to reduce the oxytocin level excreted by the pituitary gland. Plus these days if you take a lot more medication some pills will make you sick to your stomach. I've never had that happen, but have heard of some people complaining about that. That could very well be naloxone is in the pill. Speaking of naloxone I read a pharmaceutical manufacturer say that up to 10% of the naloxone is getting out into the bloodstream from their opiate medication. If they're admitting 10% it's probably more like 20+%. This happening will basically ruin any analgesic effect the pill is meant to have!

There's absolutely no doubt that something has been done to opiate medications! I'm on 4 times the medication that I was on just over 5 years ago. I was on the same amount for 18 years with no increase and then it was increased about 20% for the next 6 years. Then just over 5 years ago is when it all of a sudden just didn't help at all until the dosing was increased 400%. I've been on that same dose for just over 5 years with no needed increase! A 400% increase isn't tolerance=duh! That's something happening to the medication.

One problem is some people think the narcotic analgesics are the only answer, they're not! I also have spinal cord stimulator implant. Opiates kill testosterone; if you're a guy low testosterone is bad especially if you're fighting severe chronic pain. I take a natural testosterone booster called Prime Male and it's kept my testosterone levels at 420+. It was 98 before I took Prime Male and I had zero energy. I also take triple strength fish oil, 1 every 12 hours. I also take 400iu of Natural vitamin E, 1 every 12 hours. I do not take synthetic E. I also take 1 scoop of Arginine Cardio every 8 hours with 12oz of water. All of this extra stuff I take isn't cheap, but without it my current level of medication would barely put a dent in my ability to tolerate the severe pain that I have to live with from an epidural abscess.

You have to be proactive and research for yourself what may help you to tolerate your pain better. What works for 1 person may not work for another. All the extra stuff I take definitely helps my pain medications to be far more effective! You have to find what will help boost the effect of the medications you take from added supplements. I tried a lot of different things until I found the above combination of supplements that definitely boosted my ability along with narcotic analgesics to better tolerate my severe chronic pain! Good luck finding what supplement combinations that will help you and don't give up!

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Re: Mark (# 5)

May I ask how you know so much about all the info you shared? Are you a doctor or used to be in the medical field? You made some valid and great points. So what do you think is next in store for us? Any ideas on what to do or expect? APPRICIATE all your info n please keep us posted or in the loop of things thanx

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Re: Rawdog (# 6)

Ditto to Mark; we do need to be in the know. Your post was so educational. There is a distinct negative difference in Percocet that is affecting our health. Sadly we now have strength in numbers to seriously address this for our well being & livelihood.

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Re: Rawdog (# 6)

No, I'm not a doctor nor am I a past medical field employee. I have a BSEE and MSEE which are a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering and I have an Associate's degree in chemistry. When they almost killed me in 1989 after a back surgery getting a staff infection, having me on IV steroids for 10 days with this staff infection and then 96 days on IV antibiotics to finally kill the infection. I'm a scar tissue nightmare now... I decided at that point that I would never blindly trust a doctor or hospital ever again. Basically, my days as a medical/sheep patient were over forever!! I was screwed for the rest of my life because of medical mistakes and outright arrogance! I became very educated about medical procedures and pharmacology. I now have 29 years of experience as a highly informed patient. After the internet started (28k dial-up) in 1992 for me. I had access to medical school libraries, the most current pharmacology and everything in development in the field of medicine and pharmacology from around the world. In fact, I know more than a lot of doctors do about different studies from around the world and new groundbreaking natural medications that big pharma is trying to bury, hide or spend millions to try and discredit it because they can't patent it!!!

Actually anyone with the amount of free time you have being disabled can learn what I have over a 29 year period of time with ease. You can become very educated within a few years with the internet these days!

One thing I can say with complete certainty is that if you're not a well-informed patient these days. Then you're putting your life in the hands of people who may not have your best interests at hand and are looking at you more like a cash cow! Big pharma sees every single American as a possible cash cow and all they have to do is grease a few palms, create a disease, push it into the medical community, create a pill you have to take forever because cures don't generate a lifelong customer! The same thing happens with medical procedures/surgeries too. It's all about money and how many can they do! Make no mistake! We're seen as Guinea Pigs, literally!

The one undeniable fact in all of this is only YOU have a 100% vested interest in what's best for you personally! You can't do this unless you educate yourself about your own Healthcare. Get on the internet ask questions, search medical school libraries, search medical procedures, usually there's multiple ways to do a certain procedure, which one is best for you? which type does your doctor do, how many have they done? how many are successful? and the list goes on and on... Common sense is your best friend when finding out what benefits you the best. Medicine is a science, but a lot of it's common sense and there's one thing that I've learned, some doctors have a lot of knowledge, but limited common sense... That's where YOU come in! Any decisions are yours! You'll also find out too that once you become an educated patient some doctors will not like you! They like you being in the dark! Makes them feel superior! Any doctor that doesn't like an educated patient is a doctor you should get up and leave their office immediately! Doctors who won't fully answer your questions then get up and leave! Always check your local states Medical Board website and look up the doctor you're seeing for any violations. You'd be surprised all the doctors out there that aren't on the up and up or follow all the rules! It may save your life or a loved ones! Something as simple as violations for maintaining proper records. Which isn't a simple infraction! Omitting items in a medical chart good get someone killed! I live in Texas so I type in Google TMB which in the search will come back Texas Medical Board. It's basically the same for all states. Just look up your doctor on your states MB (medical board).

Don't let a pharmacy say, we won't order that! If your doctor checks the box, dispense as written. The doctor writes for a specific medically necessary generic or brand name a pharmacy can only fill it by what the doctor has ordered! Now this doesn't mean they have to order it, but the insurance company has to let you get it filled by a pharmacy that carries the drug a doctor is requiring you to take because of medical reasons! It might require authorization to do it, but you have to get the medically necessary written drug it's for! If an insurance company forces you to take a medication that makes you sick from their required use pharmacy and they refuse to let you get a medically necessary medication elsewhere then they are liable for that, don't let them get away with that! They have the power to force a chain pharmacy to carry different generics or stop doing business with them as a preferred pharmacy! Now what do you think a chain pharmacy will do when confronted with this? They only care about money and aren't about to lose any insurance companies business as a preferred pharmacy! Learn your rights under your insurance! A lot of prescription plans have secondary pharmacies that you can use that will only cost a little more and isn't that worth it for getting generics that actually work?

Just remember that pharmacies that cater to cancer and terminally ill patients are the best to use for severe chronic pain patients. These are usually mom and pop type pharmacies and all prescription plans have one or two on the list because their customers get cancer and become terminally ill. No chain pharmacy carries opiates in those quantities, compounds, injectable or all types of pills in said opiate... Knowledge is power and it's no different for those of us who have to spend the rest of our lives suffering. The other part is finding a doctor who understands what's going on today with opiate medications. Unfortunately that's the hardest part for a lot of people. Finding a doctor that will work with you on finding the best opiate to treat you with... Not everyone's opiate receptors are the same! For example: I get basically little to no pain relief from oral Hydromorphone aka Dilaudid, for some reason I don't metabolize it properly. I know with pain management doctors there's a lot of them who have their favorite meds they like to use and that is that! They will only use certain meds period! Other pain management doctors are more open-minded in finding what works best for each patient. Those doctors are in the minority now because of the fake opiate crisis!

Right now I'm tired, suffering a lot, need to take more medication and go lay down till it takes effect. I'm in what they call a breakthrough pain episode which never ever happened before they messed up OC Oxycontin, now I get to buy more pills for breakthrough pain with OP Oxycontin. Sounds like a big pharma sell more pills venture huh? Mess up OC Oxycontin, create breakthrough pain terminology and sell more pills! That's exactly what happened! Gee I just exposed more big pharma BS, excuse me, but my master big pharma is forcing me to suffer from breakthrough pain created by a newer inferior drug and now I must take Roxicodone to fill the hole left by the inferior (2009) OP Oxycontin...Bye for now folks... Have a good Friday evening...

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Everyone, please go read these articles from the CATO Institute website about the fake opioid crisis. It wasn't much of an eye-opener to me because the articles pretty much state what I've known to be true for years! It's government overreach on a socialist communist level, but who does it benefit most of all? Big pharma 100%

cato.org/blog/tags/opioids

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Here's another article about the CDC inflating overdose rates on opiates! The word is getting around about this government-backed fake opioid crisis! It's heroin, heroin laced fentanyl and bootlegged pills laced with fentanyl! That's the factual opioid crisis! And it's all caused by what the government has done to prescription drugs forcing patients to illegal drugs!

Here's the article about the CDC's very inaccurate overdose reporting! Another government agency lying for big pharma's new lineup of ridiculously priced not needed abuse deterrent inferior opioids that no one cares if they help severe pain patients!

Source: "CDC Admits Rx Opioid Deaths ‘Significantly Inflated’", painnewsnetwork.org. Web. March 21st, 2018

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I definitely agree that opioids are indeed weaker than they used to be. They’re practically ineffective. They’re cramming so many fillers and additives into them, that the active ingredient, opioids, are lost, muffled or missing entirely!

I’ve been taking the same dose 5/325 Oxys for over 3 years, and all the sudden they are making me sick and not helping me with the chronic pain I suffer from daily.

The Government/FDA/DEA/pharmaceutical companies and even doctors are all in cahoots to “end the war on opioids drugs.” At the chronic pain sufferers expense.

It’s sad. And will ultimately end up killing even more people. The people who are simply trying to live a somewhat normal, productive life with a chronic/painful illness or affliction will get their drugs illegally and end up killing themselves.

I cannot afford to get illegal drugs off the street. So I will be one of millions who will ultimately end up living in pain for the rest of my life. My illness has no cure. It’s a life sentence.

Very frustrating, depressing, and something we don’t seem to have any control over. The powers that be have collectively decided what’s best for us, and they’re making a huge mistake.

Thanks “Powers That Be.” NOT!!!!!

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