Can You Cut The Fentanyl Patch In Half (Page 3)

I asked my doctor the same question yesterday, she said "no", because once it hits the air, the strength starts to dissipate, or weaken. So she put me on the lowest dose, as I hope to get off them and all meds eventually.

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I just need to know if it's dangerous or not? Please let me know as soon as possible.

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Hi Tom from Idaho! I read your post and I'm excited by your results... I recently discovered the correlation between my bouts of feeling horrible and the days I'd forget to change my patch. I was mortified to learn that I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms from the fentanyl patch... needless to say, I called my doc and said I want off of it, but understand I have to ween off to minimize the unpleasantness... I just wondered how long you took with each step down graduation? They jumped me up too 100mcg/72hrs in 12.5 or 25mcg increments, and going back down the same way makes sense, I just wanted an idea of how long to stay on each step? My doc doesn't seem to be real helpful in my desire to get rid of this poison,so I may have to handle it on my own...

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Hi Tom , sorry to hear you're having trouble weaning off the Fentanyl. Sadly most of my doctors did not know the best way to wean off the patch. One doctor told me I would need to be admitted into the hospital to withdraw off this medication . My doctor wanted me to jump from 75 µg to 50 µg over two months and I said no .that the with drawl symptoms were too severe. You do need to be consistent with the times you change the patch. I was on 75 µg two years ago and I am now down to 16µg of fentanyl. I cut a 25 µg fentanyl patch into thirds . Mylan Brand only. Unless you want to constantly end up in the emergency room with high blood pressure ,panic attacks, and a host of other symptoms I would definitely take your time when weaning off this crap. I think in the beginning I went from 75 µg to 62 µg every 72 hours then realized that it was wearing off at 48 hours so I would change the patch sooner. After each dosage decrease I would stay on that for at least two months before decreasing . Sometimes I have to delay decreasing the dosage due to illness or other medications. I am at 16µg now and cutting them accordingly and now tomorrow I will start at 12 µg and hopefully in the next three months be off of this crap . Then I will be weaning off Valium which my doctor gave me over 10 years ago for muscle spasms. It is by far the worst drug to get off of . Good luck to you.

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I failed to mention that I am making sure to take my Norco consistently every eight hours to keep me even doubt so it's not such a roller coaster ride getting off of the patch. I am also supplementing with Motrin/ibuprofen and cannabis topical cream.

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So sorry to hear all the pain you're going through but it's so common with this medication. It's happened to me one too many times and why should we have to suffer with the with drawl ? My doctor put me on Fentanyl over 10 years ago. I was able to get two extra patches and explain to the doctor that they would either come off in the shower or I sweated them off. My doctor at the time would give me 12 for the month. It's worth a shot asking the doctor. But the sooner your off of it the sooner you get off that roller coaster ride from this medication . The heart palpitations the sweating in the leg twitching teeth clenching and whatever other symptoms that you may have hopefully will dissipate wants the patch is out of your system for good. I was at 75 µg and I am down to 16 µg and can't wait to be off of this medication but it has taken me over two years to get to this point safely.

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I took half 25 of mylan will i be ok i have never taken it before I ran out pain meds..my aunt have me half one

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Thank you, that's just the info i'm looking for because my 109 mcg jump seems to be too powerful for me.

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Never tried fentenol patches but it's all that's available today so I'm gonna cut one and try it tonight but scared AF

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I'm unclear regarding "overprescribing me" I understood you to say you receive a prescription every 28 days for 24 100mcg fentanyl patches labeled apply 1 ever 36 hers but you were verbally instructed to apply one every 48 hours rs. And now he reduced your quantity 6 patches = 18 patches (apply one every 48 hours) for 24 day supply. Is that correct? You need 12 patches to take as prescribed and you still have 6 extra to use for loss/patches falling off etc....I'm certain I misunderstood something....have you been using more than one every 48hrs?

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Granny, fortunately, I have only gotten up to the 25 in the three years I've been on Fentanyl, but I'm getting well enough not to have much pain on my patch change day. I used to use a gel type patch because they worked better. My first step in trying to get off the stuff was to switch to Mylan. Now I'm trimming off an eighth of an inch of the patch because I'm afraid to go straight to a half dose. Next time, I'll try trimming a quarter inch. It's hard to tell if I'm really ready, so I think the slower the better. My doctor is willing to drop me to a 12.5 whenever I give the word, but then I'm stuck with that dose for 28 days. If it's not enough, I'll have a painful month. If I trim them, I'll know before I commit.

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

How does cutting the patch release more medication?

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My wife of 16 years died suddenly and unexpectedly 24 hours after placing a cut 100mcg Fentanyl patch on her shoulder! Do not cut these patches! When you cut them, the barrier is broken, causing the patch to release too much medication too fast!

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Re: Marlin (# 50)

NEVER cut a fentanyl gel patch (Actavis), but you can cut the tape type (Mylan). My doctor has okayed it. I am reducing my dose very slowly over a couple of months, and I don’t have to suffer withdrawals.

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Re: Kelsey (# 16)

I am weaning myself off the patch by cutting 1/10 of an inch more off every few patch changes. Usually I experience no WDs at all, but sometimes I feel a little crappy for a couple of hours before the next change. It’s slow but painless. Only cut Mylan, never cut Activan.

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