I spoke to a client today who's a pain management doc. He says that yes, in theory it MAY be possible to do this, but he's not seen it studied. He believes that it's more likely to be successful with the synthetic and non-opiate meds like tramadol, ultracet, etc... Opiates 'rev-up' the neuroceptors so switching between opiates will not have the desired effect... but Jim's original question seemed to be targeted at alternating opiate and non-opiate meds.
While being typically non-committal (as they should be when the conversation gets out into the fringe), the take home message that I got was yes it's possible.
People react so differently to meds, so be careful and run your ideas by your treating physician first... don't make decisions on info you get here. Also, there can be much lost in translation, so take all of this with a grain of salt.
All the best,
Mark
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