Most Americans deal with pain due to various reasons that are unpleasant and emotional experiences. Even if the reasons for the pain same, two people don’t feel the pain in the same way. People can feel mild or severe pain. fortunately, to treat mild or severe pain, there are available two best medicines namely Dilaudid and Opana. Though both are used to treat severe pain, there may be certain differences that should be noted. So, today this blog will provide you with a comparison of Opana Vs Dilaudid that will help you to know the mechanism, the available dosage strength, and more.
So, let’s start the blog
Comparison: Opana vs Dilaudid
In this section, we will learn what Dilaudid and Opana are:
What is Opana?
It is a narcotic medication, used for reducing pain in patients. This opioid drug is used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is also available in an extended-release form, called ‘Opana ER’. Oxymorphone Hydrochloride is the active ingredient of this medicine. This medication is not prescribed to people who have an allergy from oxymorphone.
Before administering this medication drug, the doctor will check if the patient has difficulty breathing, history of drug or alcohol abuse, injury on the head, seizures, or urinary problems. Problems with kidney, liver, pancreas, thyroid or gallbladder will also be monitored.
What is Dilaudid?
Hydromorphone is sold under the brand name Dilaudid. Dilaudid is an opioid pain medication, used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is a prescription-only medicine. The active ingredient of this medicine is Hydromorphine Hydrochloride. Other brand names for hydromorphone are Exalgo and Hydrostat IR.
Dilaudid is not administered to individuals who have experienced an allergic reaction from hydromorphone or other narcotic drugs in the past.
The doctor should be informed of any head injuries, urination problems, prior addictions and mental health problems, before they may prescribe Dilaudid. This drug should not be taken if the patient has consumed an MAO inhibitor (such as linezoild, resagiline, methylene blue injection etc.) in the last 14 days.
Forms of Opana and Dilaudid
Forms of Opana and Dilauded are as follows:
Opana
It is available in tablet forms of immediate-release and extended-release categories.
Opana ER (Extended Release) tablet is available in strengths:
- Opana ER 5 mg
- Opana ER 7.5 mg
- Opana ER 10 mg
- Opana ER 15 mg
- Opana ER 20 mg
- Opana ER 30 mg, and 40 mg.
Opana IR (Immediate-release) tablets are available in two strengths :
- Opana IR 5 mg
- Opana IR 10 mg.
Dilaudid
Forms of Dilaudid are as follows:
(i) Tablet:
Tablets of strength Dilaudid 2 mg, Dilaudid 4 mg, and Dilaudid 8 mg can be purchased. Extended-release (ER) tablets of strengths 8 mg, 12 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg are also available.
(ii) Injection Solution:
1 mg/ml, 2 mg/ml, and 4 mg/ml injections are available.
(iii) Oral Liquid:
The oral liquid is of the strength 5 mg/ml.
Doses:
The doses mentioned below to be used in the initial stages of the treatment.
Opana
An initial dose of 10 to 20 mg will be administered to the patients. The doctor may change the dose, depending on the need of the patient. Any changes in the dosage strength are done after carefully monitoring the side effects.
Dilaudid
Oral Tablets: For adults, at the beginning of the treatment, tablets of 2 to 4 mg are administered. The tablets are to be taken every 4 to 6 hours. In case the dose is not ideal, the doctor will regulate it.
Oral Solution: Initially, adults are recommended to take 2.5 ml to 10 ml of oral solution. It should be taken every 4 to 6 hours.
Interactions:
The interaction with drugs of both medicines is slightly common and may increase the risk of serious side effects. This blog may not have all the drug interactions but an individual gets an idea about those interacted drugs and can decrease the level of side effects. Certain pain medicines such as butorphanol, samidorphan, naltrexone, etc. If Opana or Dilaudid is taken with those medicines that cause drowsiness, breathing problems, etc, these pain relief medicines increase those problems.
These drugs interact with other opioid-like cough relief medicines such as hydrocodone, codeine, etc, and alcohol, the drugs used to treat anxiety or sleep disorders such as alprazolam, zolpidem, lorazepam, etc, and with medicines used for managing muscle pain such as carisoprodol.
Both Opana and Dilaudid may interfere with lab tests such as lipase/ amylase levels leading to false results. So, it will be helpful for you to follow the instructions of the healthcare professionals.
Side effects: Opana vs Dilaudid
Both medicines show the same side effects as follows
Opana:
Common side effects of Opana include-
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Tiredness
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting, constipation
Serious side effects of Opana include-
- Serotonin levels high in the body cause hallucinations, fever, fast heart rate, agitation, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
- Weak breathing
- Seizures
- low cortisol levels – nausea, loss of appetite, tiredness, etc.
Dilaudid:
Common side effects of Dilaudid:
- Dry mouth
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Constipation
Serious side effects of Dilaudid:
- Allergic reactions like itching, skin rash, swelling of lips, face tongue, etc.
- CNS depression causes slow breathing, sleeping problems, confusion, dizziness, etc.
- The low function of the adrenal gland for which a person may have vomiting, nausea, weakness, dizziness, etc.
- Low blood pressure.
Precautions:
- These medicines should not be administered to individuals who have asthma or breathing problems.
- Both Opana and Dilauded should not be prescribed to pregnant ladies, as doing so can result in addiction and withdrawal symptoms in the newborn child.
- Alcohol and cigarettes should be avoided during the medication course of these medicine drugs.
- Abusing these medications can lead to addiction and withdrawal symptoms, so they should only be used as per the doctor’s advice.
- These medication drugs should not be prescribed to individuals who are suffering from bowel obstruction.
- The tablets of these drugs should be swallowed whole, do not crush or chew them.
- People with a blockage in the stomach or intestine should refrain from using these medicines.
- Individuals who have moderate to severe liver disease should not use these narcotic drugs.
Conclusion:
At the end of this blog, we understand that both medicines are used to treat severe pain. But Dilaudid is stronger and better than Opana. People may face both advantages and disadvantages after taking these medicines. Hope this blog Opana vs Dilaudid will be informative for you.
