Fentanyl Can I Just Go Cold Turkey When Quitting (Page 2) (Top voted first)

My doctor has had me on the 100 fentanyl patch for 1 year now. He is going to take me off it. Can you just stop taking it with out side effects or withdrawals. Please tell me the proper way to get off this patch. Please help me, I have the doctor appointment tomorrow and want to know what to say. So far it sounds like his plan is just to take me off cold turkey. I am scared of withdrawals. I am a mom of 5 kids and need to be ok. Please help.

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Totally appreciate the comments and all. I called about another doctor but they have no openings until next week. I have no money to buy more patches to do a gradual. I called about detox centers. One place you had to have 5100 dollars just to walk in without insurance!!! I do want everyone to know....last night I laid down at 7pm thinking for just an hour. It is 7am the next morning!!!!! I slept! Maybe it's over or at least the worst is over? Aint life grand!!!! Only problem is I missed my favorite show....Big Brother. Happy for the internet!!!!!

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Thank you so much! I do appreciate all your advice.

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Hi there i was just checking up on you to see how your getting on I told you I'd be your support person if you try detoxing from fentanyl so that's what I'm doing i didn't want you to think I was all talk and let you down like we all have been to some extent by medical professionals that should knOw better, i havnt seen you post amything since our discussion so i was a bit worried, hope you dont think im prying, we all may be in different countries but this drug has the same affect on our lives regardless of age race or gender. Sing out if u need a talk take care

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I was on fentanyl for spine fusion with nerve damage over 9 years on the 75 with the last three taking every other day. I myself decided to see a acupuncture dr, three times a week, I myself started increasing the time between changing patch, I did it from may to July and now it's been a month with no fentanyl. No side effects at all. Did no other drug, I am still have pain, but does not seem any different unless I am doing to much then I go to bed and try to calm it down with heating pad..

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Lamb,
I am so sorry for what you and others are going through.
I am a fentanyl user, and have a pharmaceuticals degree. I have decided the fentanyl patch is no longer for me.
May I please make suggestions. Benzodiazipnes are universally used to help cope with withdrawls. So is clonidine patches, or you can take it orally. It is simply a mild heart medication, that used in low doses may help you short term with overcoming your withdrawals.
When I have had to treat street drug addicts, we use a series of these meds, then slowly taper them off.
I believe the most powerful people, are the ones admitting they are scared and had enough. I am very Proud of you. And please tell others to STOP CUTTING THEIR DAMN PATCHES IN HALF!
the way they are designed, the pharmaceutical company only places the proper mg. In a glob of the patch! And YOU AS THE CONSUMER DO NOT WHERE! On the damn patch! It can be very dangerous! No dot do it!

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Pharm-have you heard of anyone that once off fentanyl gets severe runny nose,congestion, bad dry cough, wheezing, I have had these symptoms since August when weened self off the fentanyl 75 every other day for over 9 years straight..now I went to a pulmonary dr, who says I have asthma now,, blood test done today, on advair. HFA 115/21 now plus dymista nose spray, singular, mullnex D now for all of the symptoms. Told me I have to get the asthma under control.. It's been over 15 years that I had allergies and asthma no attacks no meds, now off Fentanyland all this happens,, ever hear of this,, Disgusted!, my chest is tight,,just do not feel right

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Thx for the advise lilred. I called my dr he wanted to put me on other opiates to help me off of this one. I do not want to go through the withdrawls again. Dr told me at some point i will still have to go cold turkey, eventually to get off the drugs I will have to stop taking them. I am now at day 9 and have been drinking about 1.5 gallons of a water/gatorade mix and taking very hot baths to induce a good sweat. My wife is a r/n and so is my best friend. I was told that fentanyl is stored in your fat cells and the best way to get it out is to flush it out. I had my first good nights sleep last night since this whole thing started 6-8 hrs. I still have the flu like symptoms but when I got up today I could tell that there was an end in sight. This might sound weird but colors are brighter, things smell better and all my senses are a little more alive. even though I am still sick I am in a really good place today.

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Hey. I have a solution for anyone that cannot pay for their patches. Of you do not have medical coverage, go to janssen (google) and look for a program called Patient Assistant Program aka PAP. This will refer you to Johnson and Johnson and once you complete the application, give it to your doctor and within three days, the approve the Brand name- Duragesic. It's apsolutely free. It's a god send for me and my husband has cancelled my insurance. If you have any questions in this, please feel free to call me. Matthew {edited for privacy}. IF YOU GET APPROVAL, MAKE SURE YOU CALL CVS OR WALGREENS OR WALMART AND ASK THEM TO ORDER THE NAME BRAND DURAGESIC PATCHES IN YOUR STRENGHT AND QUANTITY. TRUST ME, many many many pharmacies do not have the name brand in stock. CVS is the only pharmacy that can get them within a few days versus others where they get their controlled's once a week. Good luck to you all!!

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How are you feeling? As we go into 2014 my goal is that after 12yrs of this damn med I am ready to be done. If someone would have explained in detail what this would do to me over time I would have never touched it w/a 10ft pole. Beyond my chronic pain from MS, fibromyalgia, & neuropathy pain this med has now taken away more of my life. Yes, it has helped my pain control better than most oral opiates were delivering, but the chronic side effects starting causing their own additional problems. I started noticing if I changed a patch too late in the day I better not expect sleep that night. Even if I was physically exhausted & wanted to sleep the insomnia would set in & I would lay there all night starring at the clock tick by till the alarm went off. I am a single Mom of 4, so I have to exist everyday or all things in the house go to hell. I also noticed that on days where I had lost sleep I was very nauseas at times which caused vomiting all day long sometimes unless I took a anti nausea med. This caused it's own problems with my aging dental, and having no dental insurance. I have now lost almost my entire upper row of teeth, and now look at dentures :( My anxiety level increased as well, making me a moody, b****y individual. My temper has flared out of no where at times, even making me go "where the hell did that come from?" when I have blown up at ppl, usually my kids. Making me feel guilty then, because truly no one deserves that no matter what they have done. My zest for life has been totally robbed from me. I now hope just to get from the beg of the day to the end of the day, so I can recluse myself from the world. My children being the only ones to see me exist everyday. I no longer want to get dressed except my jammies, sweats. I no longer want to put makeup on or do my hair. I am lucky if I can drag myself to the damn shower anymore & stand there hurting to get through it. I honestly believe it was a aid in ending my relationship w/my husband as he could see me changing a long time ago before I would accept the facts myself. The relationship mind you needed to end for other reasons, but this fact didn't help any of the matters of it ending. I have other problems from use of fentanyl like IBS, narcolepsy etc that I never had to deal with before using it. In the course of the 12yrs of using it I have had a few periods of unexpected withdrawls like mail order pharmacy getting my order lost for 2 weeks, or when my husband dropped my from his health insurance so I know that this is going to be true hell to do but I have got to for my kids sake, but especially myself. I am not a young individual, and watching time slip me by on the things that I am missing out on. My kids are growing fast before my very eyes, and I want to be able to enjoy life again w/them, and not just be the recluse this medicine has put me in the state I have become. My fears though are the horrid withdrawls. It's a nightmare waiting to unfold. Then I will have to figure something else out for the daily chronic endless pain. But, it will have to be something that does not rob me more of life like fentanyl has. 1 dr told me that I have been using this for so long that it physically has changed the neuro transmitters of the brain/spinal cord so that I will never be able to get away from opiates now. God, I hope this is not truth. Dr's & pharmacutical companies should have to disclose everything to patients. It's also why I tell anyone now thinking of using opiates to control their pain, or any medication for that matter, learn everything they can before they decide to use something. I am talking everything, everyone that will tell you the in/out, the pros the cons about something. I know that some ppl are still fearful of mmj to help their pain, anxiety, insomnia, etc.. but I have been using it lately to help w/ sleep at night instead of ambien because it was causing me to sleepwalk doing weird things, migraine headaches the next day & again the endless nausea & vomiting. At least it is a natural plant and not a synthetic drug like Ambien, Fentanyl, etc.. It is has passed for medical use here as well as recreational use(this I dont't agree with) now in WA state. It may be a thought to help the withdrawls away from the Fentanyl. Within moderation of course. Well speaking of time I have spent a plenty on here telling my woes. Please tell me how your journey is going as I am ready to take this road myself now. Has anyone ever considered a spinal implant to help w/the chronic pain control? non medication use. It has been a thought of mine for awhile now.

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I also overlapped overnight when applying new patches (150 mcg every 48 hrs.) I think it made me lackadaisical (?) about taking the old patches off. One night I'd applied the new patches and just as I was going to take the old ones off, the phone rang in the kitchen and there was macaroni cooking that I needed to stir and then my daughter called and I ate dinner and went to bed. The next night she called me again as usual and later she said I sounded fine. Again I went to bed and luckily a friend from church who had been trying to reach me all the next day came to my house, rang the doorbell multiple times and finally went to my neighbors house and talked her into unlocking my front door with keys I gave her. My friend said I was lying face down on my bed, one arm dangling and she thought sincerely that I was dead...2 more hours and I would have been....my kidneys were failing and my oxygen saturation was only 70%.....she called my daughter for permission to call and ambulance.... called my sister who lives nearby....and that sweet sister spent 5 hours in the emergency room with me vomiting as well as the "other" end.....then I was given lots of diagnostics....then admitted into the drug detox floor, where I became very combative, so combative that I demanded to leave....and fought the aide and nurse off, backed into a corner and pulled a chair in front of me.....my sister had just gotten home when they called her to tell her what was going on and get permission for 4 point restraints....my sister said she was not the person to give that (in the background I am screaming "They're trying to kill me....help me!"....so they call my daughter and she gives them permission (I'm still screaming for help)....when I realized what they were going to do I gave up the fight and lay down limply on the restraint table and they proceeded to give me a Haldol injection...I thought they were trying to kill me still....then I woke up in a hospital bed with a "sitter" beside me and the withdrawal continued...I remember vomiting once more.....then nothing but three days of hallucinations, being spoonfed lots of jello and lots of bedpan experiences as they were hydrating/flushing the drugs out.....my sister and brother alternately never left me alone from 8 a.m. til 9 p.m. That's what family does I found out the hard way. when I finally woke up I had restless leg syndrome all over my body for the next 5 days in the hospital as we waited for a bed to become available in a rehab facility.....which turned out to be a lock down psychiatric hospital....it was jail with meds and trips to the cafeteria 3 times a day, the unit with scary, violent men ate in the cafeteria the same time as we did....I was in a wheelchair as my legs were deconditioned topping off many other health issues...my roomate is hard to describe so I won't...one day a young schizophrenic gal asked me to jump out the window with her....another woman asked me if I'd ever been in jail like most of the other women....I was given my regular meds, which are many plus some antianxiety medicine and a sleeping pill...the bed was like lying on a rock...I begged for a foam mattress topper and the 3rd day I got one....that 1st 3 days I slept a total of 5 hours...I was a zombie....it took 8 more days of more sleep, 3 regular meals, practice walking pushing the wheelchair in front of me...alert visits to the psychiatrist and discharge team...on the 8th day I asked the doctor if I could go home as my family was having a reunion of sorts and more of my siblings were visiting....he agreed to discharge me on the 11th day....I'd never been happier to see my sister and brother when they came to pick me up....18 days of hell....I was lucky to be alive and I thought happily about sleeping in my own bed and seeing my little Yorkie....at first my sister thought I was trying to commit suicide....THAT is also in my permanent medical records....one night she came to visit me in the jail cafeteria during the 1 hour scheduled for visits and she told me she didn't believe that anymore....I was home a week before my daughter arrived from the mid-west where she lives to stay with me a week, go to all the doctor's appts. the psych hospital had scheduled...she grilled my pain management dr....and didn't like the answers to her question, nor his quip that he'd been taking care of "mama" for 14 years and she didn't need to worry.....my daughter told me I had to choose between pain medicine and her....my sister told me to get a hobby so I could stop thinking of the pain....I cannot believe I went through all this at age 65....I have fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue,chronic pain, myofacial pain syndrome, spinal stenosis at C5/6 and L 7, with extreme osteoporosis of the entire spine and left hip and left shoulder, multiple serious surgeries throughout my life, including one in 1999....I went under anesthesia and woke up and I was never the same.....disabled at age 52....other people have worse....I'm blessed with supportive family and friends...I have a comfortable home.....a positive attitude....and no more pain patches......my opiate receptors are reset.....as well as my pain receptors. My advice to you is stop overlapping your patches....this could happen to you as well. God bless!

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Do going to na meetings help ? I was clean and sober 15 years but surgeries and ms made medication a necessity but the tolerance is crazy. I think it lasts two days but I keep it on for three just in case plus put a new one on. I have three left then quitting Bc I feel like a prisoner and slave. I have Valium ambian and muscle relaxers if I need them that will help right? Currently I'm wearing seven fifty mg patches with band aids to keep them on I can't remember when three days are over but this is dangerous and abusive. Unfortunately if I have a melt down I know my dr will give me more. He doesn't care 15 patches and 189 ten mg norco every month. I have a family I love it has to stop I'm Scared I won't quit ;-(

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Hi all~ I'm sorry to hear of so many of you guys losing your insurances and just having to quit cold turkey, sucks. After being on the patch for over two years, I'm on a gradual walk down from a 100 mcg now at 50mcg's. I'm having mild withdrawals. Some RLS at night, sweats, stomach cramps, hand tremors. But they are not constant and therefore doable. As a replacement for pain I have gone to Cannabis oil and that is working out very nicely for me as well as helping to curb the withdrawals from the fentanyl.

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I started at 125mcg 12 years ago. At one time in Summer I got down to 75mcg, but had a car accident, and was put on 325mcg. I have no hip joint due to a hospital infectin, staph, and osteoporosis, so a new hip + 8cm of femur would be a life or death risk, which I don't wish to take. I'm down to 300mcg, but it doesn't last 72 hours, so I'm not basing any more, and it's winter so much more pain. Over the nearly 20 years I'm like this I have arthritis too, hence the winter time pains.
But this drug is messing up my life, to be honest. I have 2 out of 3 days OK, but the third is cramps, spasms, sweats, aches, painful hip, etc. It is the nastiest pain relief drug I've been given. I was on morphine and my Dr stopped prescribing, but after a week I was OK, although in pain but only from my hip.
I know my Specialist would never put me on morphine, as I messed up with it, but I'm considering Methadone to reduce the amount I use in the place of Fentanyl. I know it's bad for w/d too, but it can't be as hard to stop as Fentanyl, or at least reduce. I'm really fed up with the side effects of the Fenta too, so I'm getting a bit depressed at the thought of finishing my life with this damned drug in my system. I'm 56 by the way, so I am well over half way through my life span.
Getting off the patches bit by bit, from 300mcg, would take YEARS, literally!
Methadone or Fentanyl? At least with a twice a day Methadone dose I wouldn't have 1 day out of 3 in w/d. I do know it's not perfect, but it could no way be worse than it is now.
Have any of you tried this. I thought I could base the dose enough with methadone to only need 50mcg or less of Fentanyl. My Dr is OK for this procedure.
Any advice would be welcome.

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Hun you will be fine, you are doing the right thing, feel free to msg me for support if you like. Mine went up to 125 and it was just terrible coming off so I do know how you feel and it's dreadful! Like I ssid try drink lots water, I got depressed too and felt like I had lost all control of everything, just couldn't think straight all I wanted was the drug to make me better but at the same time it was me who had chosen to come off it against the docs advice due to chronic pain. I really feel for you, keep up the good work! What day is it today as far as folding the patch? At least you got good advice there my stupid doc told me to cut it! That could have killed me. Be proud of yourself! Take care, hope you get some rest x

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Hi I'm just wondering how you are getting on, start weaning yourself off see how many patches etc you have left and divide them up, how many do you have left? You could ask to go on methadone for the pain and to detox from the fentanyl, it's still addictive but I find it easier to stop than I did fentanyl, that fentanyl just about had me suicidal it is terrible stuff that ruins lives. I was on 100mg for a year and a half they just kept increasing as I got used to it.
Let me know how you are?

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I know we're all different but I run out early every month of my oxycodone-I do not get withdrawal because the patch covers it. I had to reapply for prior authorization on my fentanyl as it had expired. Timing was horrible! It happened to be same time of month I'm out of oxy. I was first out of oxycodone, then five days on top of that without the patch while waiting for new prior authorization. I praise God that I did not suffer withdrawal from either. I think it's because I can't feel any of them when I do have them so my body can't tell that they're gone. I also think I'm under the grace of God to not feel either. I don't know what your relationship with the Lord is but prayer definitely helps to fight withdrawal. So yes you may go inti withdrawal stopping the patch though it's quite possible that you may not.

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I had the same thing happen. I had gone up to 400 MCG Fentanyl over the course of 7 years I was told just go off your Fentanyl patches for 72hrs and when you get moderate withdrawals take Suboxone, which is basically just Narcan which sucks all the opiates out of your system all at once. Its like a month of withdrawals in 24 hrs. IF you want to get off Fentanyl go to a rehab or hospital. This rehab at home with Subxone is a scam. It will put you in the worst pain you have ever felt and could kill you.

As for the "Fentanyl is 1000 times stronger" bulls***. Yes it is stronger, but they give you 1/1000 of the amount. It is measured in Micrograms not milligrams. So it really isn't that much stronger for the amount you get. Some Docs will make it sound like they are giving you enough to kill 20 horses. It is something that shouldn't be used unless you are use to opiates, but your not getting the equivalent of 1000 Oxy.

I have had some great doctors, but I have met more liars than anything. Check everything they say. I had an ER doc tell me recently that a new law won't let them give you pain meds in the ER if you are prescribed pain meds by your primary care doctor. RIGHT, so if I come in with both my arms cut off i just have to suffer because my doctor gave me 10 vicodin last month. This was one of the stupider lies. Another said I picked up 3 of the identical prescriptions at the same pharmacy the same day. Like any pharmacy would do that. He had the paper in his hand but when I asked to see it he suddenly got very defensive and said I can't see confidential medical records. THEY ARE MY RECORDS. Anyway, just check everything they say.

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Well this is it! I've got 1/4 of my last 25 tucked in my upper gum line and so far I'm okay....I stuck with doing the 25 and used the 50's as a slow instant release. By that I mean I would apply patch and remove after four or five hours and reuse as necessary. They are gone and instead of wearing my last 25, I cut into pieces and down to last piece.....stomach a mess but always has been....I'm thinking that I wouldn't know it I had withdrawal anyway due to the various conditions I have to begin with.....might be time to go green

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Just know read your latest email. Cold turkey is nuts. If you're doctor has no compassion. Ask the doctor to put in writing that cold turkey is what they want you to do. Unfortunately for me, I had to get very nasty with my doctor. Asked her if she remembered her oath??? And if she took it seriously? She backed down. You should never let a doctor bully you. You are there boss. Always remember that. If they still refuse. Tell the doctor you need a months supply until you can find another doctor to help. God bless you. Hang in there

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Addiction is different than using prescribed opioid prescriptions for chronic pain. Unfortunately most people do develop a tolerance over time and the strength is then increased. I think most people like myself were never informed that starting on these meds would mean staying on them indefinitely or suffering through hell to get off of them. I know if I was honestly told what using fentanyl would be like long term, I would never have said "yes" to the first patch. I never thought to research long term effects or withdrawal because I was in pain and trusted the medical profession. Now we are faced with wanting to get off these medications and no one to turn to. I am retiring in a few years. I know I cannot work without fentanyl. I have sworn the first thing I will do after retiring is to get off these meds. The posts here have shown me how difficult this may be but with the support of all the brave people that have successfully done it, I will make it through.

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