Meds & Supplements, News & Research, Treatment

An Opioid Without a “High”

Nubain, an injectable opioid, was effective for managing chronic pain in a recent study — without euphoria, sedation, tolerance or psychological side effects. Injecting Nubain daily, participants’ with previous level 8 to 10 pain had their pain reduced to a level 2 or 30. And the drug is already on the market.

It sounds too good to be true, but my heart still leapt when I read the Reuters article. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

33 thoughts on “An Opioid Without a “High””

  1. Hi to all,
    I am a chronic pain sufferer. I started with migraine pain and joint pain 10 years ago after a SoB of a doctor took me off a medication I was given for 5 years for my anxiety. When the pain starts is usually at bedtime. It is a tingling pain that it won’t let me sleep I have known to be twisting and turning from pain for days and the only thing that takes the pain away an let me sleep is 1/2 of 1cc of Nubain/Nalbuphine with .2 or .3 mg of Benadryl. I sleep great and wake up ready to go to work, is that too much to ask???? I am already f-up by a physician brutality since 10 years ago. Most people describe us as drug seekers, rigth… so easily….. but I bet they sleep very well at night and do not have or ever have to deal with a chronic pain that does not let you sleep. I have known to be 2 days straight without sleeping, and of course not able to go to work and make a living because sleep deprived, and also chronic pain working against me, how could I be of any to society? I am so pissed at the inhumane treatments we get in the ER and the agony we pain sufferers have to go through to find relief. I just hope one day and only for 1 day this stupid people who label us as drug seekers go through a pain similar to ours, so they can understand just for 1 day, what we go through everyday…… Even just for 1 day, so they could grasp a bit of our daily lives!!!!!!

    Good night to all, and by the way I haven’t slept in 4 days because no doctor wants to prescribe me Nubain and I haven’t been able even to go to work. Thank you, I wonder would those same doctors pay my bills and support me financially then? Since I haven’t been able to??? Bunch of pricks, and mediocre doctors! Who only work to pay their luxuries, like their yachts and Ferraris!

  2. Brent, I live in SW Missouri too. I just started having migraines a few months ago and I’m 48. The Nubain/Phenergan combo works wonders for me too. If you can find a doctor who is willing to prescribe this, would you please let me know? If I find one, I’ll do the same. So tired of the “having to find someone to take me to the ER” struggle. I think some people think I”m drug seeking. I’m single and don’t have anyone to depend on. It’s so depressing. Good luck Brent!

  3. Nubain is the only thing that works for me. Recently my doctor retired and now I am looking for one in my area who is not afraid to prescribe this drug. Does anyone know of such a doctor
    in Southwest Missouri?

  4. Was given Nubain tonite in ER for the first time ever for a migraine and I’ve had them almost 15 years! They gave me Nubain, medrol and phenergan and it worked! Now if I could find a doctor who would prescribe it….I give myself imitrex injections so surely I could do those!

  5. Nubain is the best thing ever for a migraine. I have had them since I was around 5 . A lot of dr don’t use the drug anymore . People just don’t understand that one min you can vomiting with pain they give you nubain by Iv and phen 2 mins you wanna hug the dr.

  6. I was just at hospital tonight for a migraine. i started getting them bc of my birth control shots. Now they come very strong and very painfully. Thankfully the dr i saw gave me a nubain, phenagren shot. i just woke up from sleeping it off. i was only asleep 3 hours but my headaches gone, ty jesus, (and the dr). That stuff really does work.

  7. Penelope, there were some errors in the comment that I left for you, and I’m sorry. Where I said “I would be like most doctors and not give you what you want” that was an error, becauseI was using voice on my phone to enter my comment. That’s not at all what I meant– my apologies!

  8. Penelope, my best advice to you since your problem is headaches is to see a neurologist. They are the ones who usually treat headaches, and you can tell them what has worked before in the ER. It is ultimately up to the neurologist as to what meds you are given, but because your problem is migraine headaches that is the type of doctor you need to see. Develop a good relationship and a rapport with this doctor and you stand a better chance of being prescribed a drug that actually works well for you. You could consider going to a pain clinic and your area. But I suggest seeing a neurologist first since your mind problem is headaches. I think that I would probably be like most doctors and not want to give you what you used by name , Maybe seeing you as a drug seeker again. But you have to try. Just be humble in your attitude, , appear honest, and open to discussion. By the way, Toradol is a good drug for doctors to give because it is not a narcotic. They love to give non-narcotics, as you know. You have to just by the way, Toradol is a good drug for doctors to give because it is not a narcotic. They love to give non-narcotics, as you know. You have to just play their game. That’s the best advice I can give you.

    1. Hi Patricia,

      First I would like to thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I actually had considered finding a Neurologist when I was living up north and was sadly disappointed with the choices I had near my home. I’ve recently moved back to Texas and have high hopes of finding someone here that has compassion for those of us who suffer from migraines. I have been given Toradol a few times in combination with the Nubain and Phenargan and yes it worked pretty well. I’ve also had it along with Reglan and Benadryl. While there was some relief it did not take the Migraine away. I’m not sure about other folks but when I finally give in and admit that I need to go to the Emergency Room I’m in serious need of complete and total relief from the pain and nausea. Not just take the edge off. I would rather ( and have) do anything possible to not go to the hospital sometimes waiting in agony for days.
      I believe that if the doctors and nurses in the ER had ever personally suffered from a Migraine or even watched a loved one going through the pain and misery, the throwing up, the crying, the curling up in a ball, feeling like banging your head against the wall, the begging of God to just make it go away. Not just every great now and then but over and over sometimes as many as four or five times a month and not just for a couple of hours but days at a time !!!! Maybe then they wouldn’t be so quick to label us as “Drug Seekers”.
      Im so grateful to my husband/best friend who was good enough and honestly concerned about my well being to pay attention to what was given to me and what did and didn’t work. He was generally the one doing the speaking for me since I was by this time so incapacitated by the pain I could no longer think much less try to explain what worked and why I needed the help of drugs. He always tried to take me to the same ER and since there was a hospital record of the migraines and the delivery of Nubain and its effectiveness in STOPPING THE PAIN I usually got what vwzasd needed. Unless of course I got those Drs that just would not accept the advice of another doctor might work better than theirs. The Emergency Room is not the place for Egos and yet it does rear its ugly head all too often and at the expense of the one suffering.
      Anyway enough of my personal rant !!! Thanks again for your time and your concern. And though I was taken aback momentarily by your typo mistake I do fully understand! My tablet has done the same thing and sometimes much worse. I have posted on another Social Website things that that left me saying ” WHATTT WASSSS THATTTT!!! LOL So apology accepted !!!

  9. I live in Mabank Texas and suffer from severe migraines. Nubain, Phenegan and Toradol have worked miracles in my life. I can’t get them in the local ER’s though. They say they don’t carry them in the ER pharmacy. I don’t use any other pain medications. When I ask for what works I’m treated so badly that I refuse to go to the hospital for dand at a time.I have become severely dehydrated and even considered suicide once I hurt so bad. I don’t understand why we even have these medications if we aren’t allowed to have them when needed. Please help me find a doctor that will help.

  10. I have also used Nubain in the past for migraines and I was appalled at the young student nurse who said the doctor argued with her about it and advised her to find another field. That is almost verbal abuse in my opinion! I am also a nurse, close to retirement, However there are a lot of good qualities to using Nubain rather then Demerol or even morphine because Nubain has a component in it that does not cause you to become addicted as quickly. I don’t see my patients and their opinions are not regarded anymore than they are. I go to a pain clinic and they will only give me Lortabs or morphine or Percocet. I have questioned them about Nubain, telling them that I am very comfortable self injecting it at home since I’m a nurse, but they don’t want to give it. I don’t know how to speak to them about it without sounding like a drug seeker, even though they know I’m a nurse. I guess I’m just trying to offer my support to those of you who don’t want to be labeled as drug seekers, yet you know what works for your body! Any comments are welcome.

    1. Patricia, it’s such a difficult conundrum. If you ask for a drug by name, you’re a drug-seeker, but if you don’t, you won’t get the medication that works best for you. I wish I could give you advice, but I really don’t know how to work with this.

      Take care,
      Kerrie

  11. I have been taking Nalbuphine injections with promethazine injections at home daily for nearly 2yrs on. Now all of a sudden there is another shortage going & Ive been without for nearly 3 wks. I take the meds for Migraines & other MS symptoms. The same doctor that originally helped me now is forsaking & ignoring me. I know all to well whats its like to be treated as a addict when you know you are not. Its a very dark & sad place to be. I plan to start by getting a good laywer because my question is simple. If its so darn addicting why did they prescribe it so much to begin with. There are many addicting things in life. The only addiction I & many others are guilty for is seeking a pain free life. That is part of being human I thought. Doctors are not God & they are far from knowing everything.

  12. Im reading all the messeges and its true im the same way. nubain its the only medecine with benadryl that relief my migraine, can someone help me please and tell me any doctor that can prescribed for me in New Jersey?

  13. can anyone tell me where I can find a doctor that will prescribe the nubain and phenagan shots that I can do my self at home. I also get norflex, with these two other shots. I have had severe migraines now for 21 years. going to er is a chore, and they always think your there for the drugs. I would love not to have another migraine the rest of my life. but for now if I could do the shots at home would save alot of headaches, like trying to find a driver and then the stress of not knowing if the doctor will even give you the shots. If anyone knows of a doctor in Missouri please let me know.

  14. I have been suffering from migraines since I was a teen. Over the past four years they have gotten worse. I have had a hard time finding a Doctor who won’t prescribe me Vicodin or Percocet. I do not want those scripts as they give merebound headachs. Munaine works and it works fast. I have a Doctor now who will give me four shots a month but the past five months I have had a lot more then that. I hate going to the ER cause u are treated like a junky. Does anyone know of a doctor Missouri who prescribes it. I am a medical assistant and can give myself an injection.

  15. I totally agree with almost every comment I read. I have been suffering from migraines for about 3 years now I have been threw doctor after doctor and the only thing that really helps is the nubain and I don’t understand why the doctor wont perscribe it I know I can give myself a shot if I need it. One more thing I’m not a addict I’m just a person looking for headache relief… Can anyone help me???

  16. I just had my first injection of nubain/phenargan. I have been suffering with this migraine for 11 days and my Dr had to give me two shots(not sure how much)before it worked.I was waiting for a day when I had a ride home from the office, my Dr wouldn’t do it if I had to drive myself home. Had I known it would work so well I would have tried a lot harder to get a ride home.I also needed someone to watch my 18 month old. My husband jokes that I just want drugs, but he doesn’t get migraines. People who don’t get them don’t understand!

  17. for melessa…

    dr. timothy hickey is my neuro and he gives me a small amount of nubain injections to take home for those monster migraines.

    he just moved offices and so his new phone # isn’t on the internet: 419.690.8273. he’s technically in oregon, ohio, but, if you’re in the area, you know that’s basically a suburb on toledo.

    good luck!

  18. Does anyone know any doctors in Toledo ohio that can (will)percribe nubain? i am going through the same nightmare in the E.R. Why can’t we geT THAT PERscribed? People get MUCH stronger meds than that. i feel so bad making family take me to the er so often. I am so embarrassed, like I just want the drug. I truely suffer migrains sometimes 4-5 times a week. I dont want to look like an addict but I will go insane from the pain if I dont do something after 2 or 3 days straight. It just makes me sleepy and it goes away. What is so wrong with having this at home? I am a single mom working full time and going to nursing school…I am so stressed.

    1. I have suffered migraines for 18 yrs I get sometimes more than 5a week. No one understands how awful this pain is. The only thing that helps is the Nubain Totadol phenergan combo. My Dr. Is aweaome about trrating me for themwith no hassell but hestalkong of retirement soon and o haveno clue who On earth im gonna go to for this. The ER us rediculous like most of u have stated they treat u like a jinkie.

    2. Just curious if you found anyone in Toledo that is willing to perscribe nubain, it’s amazing drunk and in not some hard narcotic.

  19. Nubain is very effective under one condition- the patient is not already taking mu-agonist opioids in which case it’s likely to precipate withdrawal due to it’s antagonistic properties.

    But I’ve had migraines for ten years and nothing works better than Nubain. Unfortunately, it’s only available in injectable form so you have to go to the doctor or even worse, the ER- where they don’t take too kindly to patients presenting with migraines. You will get knocked to the bottom of triage priority, treated like an addict or drug seeker, and often times the doctor will refuse to order it if you request it.

    I agree totally with Lisa and her response to the doc who said it didn’t work: I am the one who gets these and I KNOW that it works!! But request a certain med in the ER and you are automatically a drug seeker. It’s an atrocity.

    As for the sedation and euphoria, I imagine it varies with person but for me, there is little of both- it doesn’t make me “high.” It simply makes the migraine GO AWAY!

    My advice to anyone who gets chronic migraines is to find a GOOD doctor who understands your pain is real and you are not an addict and stick with them. Don’t go to anyone else if possible. If you are forced to go to the ER, be prepared to fight an agonizing battle to get relief. You have the right to have your pain treated adequately (legally). Otherwise it is negligence.

    My last thought is this: do the doctors who do so much stereotyping not realize that a request for Nubain is like asking for gingerale in a liquor store? In many cases it WOULD be easier (not to mention cheaper) to find a stronger narcotic off the street. The fact that you feel horribly enough to go to the emergency room, do the RIGHT thing to seek pain relief (not a “high”) because a high is one thing Nubain doesn’t offer… Relief, it does offer. Also, drug addicts turn their noses up at Nubain because it will send them into withdrawal if they have been using other painkillers regularly so it is safe to say the VAST majority of people claiming Nubain works for their migraines are telling the complete truth.

    I know this is long, but I feel particularly passionate about migraineurs right to being treated adequately ever since I was personally attacked by an ER physician for requesting the injection. I expressed my awareness of their concern in dealing with drug seekers, that I was in nursing school…. to which he replied I “better find another field because I will never make it as a nurse.” (Glad to say that I am now an RN and doing great! – In a position where I can advocate for patients rather than what that particular ER doctor did.)

  20. I also have migraines, but have to go to the ER when nothing else works, because no doctor in town will prescribe anything stronger than Toradol for my pain.

  21. I also have had headaches since I was 15 and I’m now 42, I have been to mutiple specialists who after charting everything from what I ate to the weather, all agreed. My headaches originated as tension and when the barometer changes become unbearable. The only thing that has worked (after feeling like a guinea pig with hormones, beta blockers, various steroids, high blood pressure meds, etc) that has ever helped is 20 mg Nubain and 50 mg Visteril. Now my dr has retired and the one who took his place, was so rude about the meds, I was in tears. The man even told me the Nubain/Visteril doesn’t work. HELLO! Does the fact that I am the one who gets the relief mean anything? I’m afraid to try the on line pharmacies because I can’t afford to be ripped off. But cannot find another dr locally who will prescribe the Nubain. I have plenty Visteril, but it alone doesn’t work. Can anyone help????

  22. hello, my name is brenda i have been reading up on some of the stories about migraine headaches i have had migraines since i was 14 years old i’m now 36 and still have them very bad and also most everyday i have tried everything on the market nothing seemed to work finally my doctor prescribed 10ml nubain and 50ml of phenergan it seems to help but some days i have to take two to three shots a day the question i’m wanting to ask is there anyway possible for this to hurt me in any kind of way some times it gets pretty scary taking all this medication can some one please answer my questions if so thank you so very much also i might add that i give theses to my self at home

    ********
    I’m sorry you’re suffering so much. I don’t know enough about them to give you any advice about your medications. What does your doctor say?

    K

  23. I have been using nubain and phenergan 3-5 times per week for chronic migraine pain. I was reluctant at first to try the Nubain, but it works fabulously. It dulls the pain with little or no side effects. The biggest draw back is having to go into the DR. office for the treatment and not being able to do it myself at home.

    1. Where do you live? Or should I say where is your doctor located. I had a Dr. In the Valley in VA that use to give me nubain shots. Talk about a miracle! Now I live on the Eastern Shore of VA, where doctors don’t often prescribe pain pills, which is OK w/me. I would love to find a doctor who would give me a shot of nubain at least once a week. Where I’d feel human for a couple days. If I go to the Er, they’ll give me extremely strong narcotic shot and I don’t want them. I’m willing to suffer four out seven days a week. To feel normal just two to three days a week.

        1. I was in Harrisonburg, VA. However doctors are allowed to prescribe for you to take nubain at home. It is the only unscheduled narcotic by the DEA, in the USA.

  24. I’ve been off work with migraines for several years now, and just about a year ago my neurologist started me on long-acting opioids because all the preventatives I had tried did not work, including Botox. I’ve been on both long-acting morphine (M-Eslon) and then switched to what I’m taking now which is OxyContin, and neither of these gave me any sort of high whatsoever. The morphine caused some fatigue but the OxyContin has not. I used to take percocet for pain and thought that long-acting opioids would feel 10 times stronger than that ‘high’ I’d feel–but I felt *nothing* from it at all.

    My point is that long-acting opioids do not cause a high nor do they make you feel altered. These drugs have existed for so long now, and it’s seems it’s mainly politics that prevents most of us with severe chronic migraines/pain from getting the pain relief we need. It’s unfortunate.

    **********
    I’m glad they don’t make you fuzzy headed. Some people get a high from opioids and others don’t. It would be so much easier if everyone had the same response as you do!

    K

  25. Well…..I was given Nubain in the hospital after having my daughter, and I felt pretty “happy”. But I’m sure it’s dose dependant (and not everyone responds the same way).

    Good luck–I hope this is a solution for you!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *