Talk Cancer

Question:

Say a person is having problems with nausea and vomiting or maybe dental problems.  Could Actiq be absorbed into the body via other means instead of orally, like vaginally or rectally? Karena

Response:

Not recommended!  And you won’t lose much effectiveness if  you are nauseated since a bulk of the med is absorbed through the lining of the mouth, not the stomach. Mouse

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Say a person is having problems with nausea and vomiting or maybe dental problems.  Could Actiq be absorbed into the body via other means instead of orally, like vaginally or rectally? Karena

Response:

Why not recommeded? And if you are nauseous you probably couldn’t bear to put a flavored lolli in your mouth for any period of time. Mouse says in message-id Not recommended!  And you won’t lose much effectiveness if  you are nauseated since a bulk of the med is absorbed through the lining of the mouth, not the stomach. Mouse Say a person is having problems with nausea and vomiting or maybe dental problems.  Could Actiq be absorbed into the body via other means instead of orally, like vaginally or rectally?

Karena

Response:

Why not recommeded? And if you are nauseous you probably couldn’t bear to put a flavored lolli in your mouth for any period of time.

It’s not recommended because they weren’t made or formulated to be used in that way.  First of all to get them off the stick to use them rectally or vaginally, you’d have to break them off.  They won’t just pull off in tact. And you’d be putting shards of the stuff up inside your private areas, not just a smooth piece of hard candy.  If you put it up you with the stick, you could perforate your bowel or vaginal wall and end up with major medical problems.  Also, the hard "candy" is pretty slow dissolving, so even the pieces you put up your vagina or rectum could cut you up.  And if you could get pieces with rounded edges, you are still dealing with something that wasn’t formulated for those areas which have no saliva to dissolve them with!  The vagina, in an unaroused state, has very little moisture there and definitely not enough to properly dissolve the thing.  The rectum would only have enough moisture if you had severe diarrhea, in which case you’d not be able to retain the thing long enough.  Not only that, but if you managed to get some kind of liquid to duplicate saliva, you’d be dealing with the surface area of many pieces of the "candy" rather than just the outside. That would mean it would disssolve MUCH faster than normal and could overdose you. Face it, it wasn’t made to be broken up, removed from the stick or put elsewhere.  To do so is to risk your health and safety and is totally foolish when there are meds that you CAN use rectally and cost considerably less than Actiq!! Actiq was designed for people who are often in severe nauseous states from chemo.  It’s only indicated use is for cancer patients, so those of us using it for intractable pain are using it against directions.  Just putting the sucker between the gums and cheek and occasionally sucking on it or just letting it dissolve in your mouth has never affected my nausea, and I use Actiq for my worst migraines, when I am worshipping the porcelain god on a regular basis.  It’s never worsened my nausea, nor has it made me feel more like throwing up if I put it in my mouth. If you can’t use them as directed, I would suggest another breakthrough med. How about OxyFast?  Or if you want something rectal, why not try morphine, dilaudid, opium or numorphan suppositories?  There is no saliva in the rectum to properly dissolve the Actiq–same situation for the vagina.  The Actiq lollipop does rely on saliva to dissolve it, it relies on some of it going into the stomach and not being as well absorbed, and it relies on it being used as a whole unit, not broken off its stick and put up your backside. It sounds like you WANT to try this, in which case NOTHING anyone writes will talk you out of it! Mouse

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Why not recommeded? And if you are nauseous you probably couldn’t bear to put a flavored lolli in your mouth for any period of time. It’s not recommended because they weren’t made or formulated to be used in that way.  First of all to get them off the stick to use them rectally or vaginally, you’d have to break them off.  They won’t just pull off in tact. And you’d be putting shards of the stuff up inside your private areas, not just a smooth piece of hard candy.  If you put it up you with the stick, you could perforate your bowel or vaginal wall and end up with major medical problems.  Also, the hard "candy" is pretty slow dissolving, so even the pieces you put up your vagina or rectum could cut you up.  And if you could get pieces with rounded edges, you are still dealing with something that wasn’t formulated for those areas which have no saliva to dissolve them with!  The vagina, in an unaroused state, has very little moisture there and definitely not enough to properly dissolve the thing.  The rectum would only have enough moisture if you had severe diarrhea, in which case you’d not be able to retain the thing long enough.  Not only that, but if you managed to get some kind of liquid to duplicate saliva, you’d be dealing with the surface area of many pieces of the "candy" rather than just the outside. That would mean it would disssolve MUCH faster than normal and could overdose you. Face it, it wasn’t made to be broken up, removed from the stick or put elsewhere.  To do so is to risk your health and safety and is totally foolish when there are meds that you CAN use rectally and cost considerably less than Actiq!! Actiq was designed for people who are often in severe nauseous states from chemo.  It’s only indicated use is for cancer patients, so those of us using it for intractable pain are using it against directions.  Just putting the sucker between the gums and cheek and occasionally sucking on it or just letting it dissolve in your mouth has never affected my nausea, and I use Actiq for my worst migraines, when I am worshipping the porcelain god on a regular basis.  It’s never worsened my nausea, nor has it made me feel more like throwing up if I put it in my mouth. If you can’t use them as directed, I would suggest another breakthrough med. How about OxyFast?  Or if you want something rectal, why not try morphine, dilaudid, opium or numorphan suppositories?  There is no saliva in the rectum to properly dissolve the Actiq–same situation for the vagina.  The Actiq lollipop does rely on saliva to dissolve it, it relies on some of it going into the stomach and not being as well absorbed, and it relies on it being used as a whole unit, not broken off its stick and put up your backside. It sounds like you WANT to try this, in which case NOTHING anyone writes will talk you out of it! Mouse

Mouse, I wanted to know if it was theoretically possible because I do get nausea to the point that I don’t want to use the Actiq at times.  I asked this question is two different forums and your response was the only one I got, but you just said it would not be a good idea.  I only wanted an explanation.  The Actiq works very well for me and I have had problems in the past with morphine, so I would be hesitant to try another breakthrough med, even OxyFast.  Your post was very informative and appreciated, with the exception of the last paragraph. Karena

Response:

The Actiq works very well for me and I have had problems in the past with morphine, so I would be hesitant to try another breakthrough med, even OxyFast.  Your post was very informative and appreciated, with the exception of the last

paragraph. Karena: You have to admit that it was a question from way outta left field!  And when you were informed it wasn’t recommended, you then came back with "why?" There ARE recreational users who come here for info, and it’s often difficult to tell the difference.  To me, I wondered why you wouldn’t just find a way to treat the nausea, rather than look for a way to misuse a medicine that could be dangerous!  Why not get some Phenergan or Tigan or Compazine suppositories for when you are really nauseated, so you then don’t have to consider using the Actiq in an alternate way or look for alternate breakthrough meds?  It DID sound pretty odd–the question and then the comeback.  Like you pointed out, I did at least explain things, in detail, so since I went to that amount of trouble for someone whose wording made it all too open to interpretation why they were asking, I don’t feel I did anything inappropriate or even rude. Mouse

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The Actiq works very well for me and I have had problems in the past with morphine, so I would be hesitant to try another breakthrough med, even OxyFast.  Your post was very informative and appreciated, with the exception of the last paragraph. Karena: You have to admit that it was a question from way outta left field!  And when you were informed it wasn’t recommended, you then came back with "why?" There ARE recreational users who come here for info, and it’s often difficult to tell the difference.  To me, I wondered why you wouldn’t just find a way to treat the nausea, rather than look for a way to misuse a medicine that could be dangerous!  Why not get some Phenergan or Tigan or Compazine suppositories for when you are really nauseated, so you then don’t have to consider using the Actiq in an alternate way or look for alternate breakthrough meds?  It DID sound pretty odd–the question and then the comeback.  Like you pointed out, I did at least explain things, in detail, so since I went to that amount of trouble for someone whose wording made it all too open to interpretation why they were asking, I don’t feel I did anything inappropriate or even rude. Mouse

Hi Mouse, Well, that last remark you made did upset me, so that’s why I said everything but the last paragraph was appreciated.  It may have seemed implied, but I did not accuse you of doing anything innappropriate or rude.  I have been a regular on the NG for quite a while and hoped my question wouldn’t be taken as off the wall or odd, but in light of the goings-on with the weirdos and the cotse.com postings, I can see why anyone would think of it as a strange question.  I do appreciate that you took the time to write, and I expressed that in my last post.  No one else in the two forums I posted it to did except you.  Since Actiq is transmucosal I wondered if it could be taken via *other* mucousal tissue. I do take Zofran for nausea, but when the nausea hits and the breakthrough pain hits its a crap shoot as to which will act the fastest: the Actiq or the Zofran.  Hence my question.   I know there are some oral drugs which can be administered via *other* methods, so I thought my question had some merit.  But your post brought up some obvious reasons why it wouldn’t be feasible, reasons I had not thought of.  Thanks again for taking the time to answer my question and I hope there are no hard feelings. Karena

Response: