management of pain meds and itching.

[RolloMay]

Hi, my doctor has me on oxycodone but I have noticed for me to get the pain med dose to a therapeutic one, the oxycodone causes unbelievable itching not relieved by meds. How do you on pain meds get the dose up high enough and avoid itching over entire body?

[Iggy08713287 Patient]

Hi, when I was on that for my initial surgery I had a lot of itching on my back and elsewhere. I wiped my back down with a hot or cold facecloth. Plus I used Calamine lotion. It helped calm it down somewhat.

[DancingEyes63 Moderator Caregiver]

I'm sorry I've taken so long to respond to this. When Jimmy was having to take the oxycodone at a high dosage to get relief, the oncologist switched him to a Fentanyl patch and prescribed Dilaudid for breakthrough pain. Don't know where you are on the pain scale but if oxy isn't working except on high dosage you may ask the doctor about other options. Jimmy had good results with the patch. Sharon Dixon