Fentanyl Patches Killing People!
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I would like to know WHY the FDA has not taken the Fentanyl Patch off the market? This drug is being handed out like candy. Anyone who is not terminal or under Hospice care or in a hospital invironment should not be using this drug. Why would a person be prescribed a medication that is 80 times stronger than morphine for a backache. I do not believe patients know how powerful this medication is. The warning should be labled in RED. When are you FDA going to realize This medication is killing while relieving pain! I know because it killed my son.

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Re: Mel (# 126)

I’ve been on fentanyl for over twenty years now. All my doctors will tell you I function just as normal as a person not on any drugs. My adopting my grandson had really nothing to do with the meds I take other than I must keep them under double lock which I do. I went through the foster program for a year and then onto the adoption process and they came from one to twice a week. I’ve never taken my meds any other way than prescribed. I don’t know why anyone would think I’d be zoned out. I’m glad to say I function better now than before I was on the medications. I was in such tremendous pain before I was put on the meds I went months with barely any sleep. The pain kept me up. To the woman that had the question on the adoption . I went and had to be finger printed and a criminal back ground check by the FBI in order to adopt my grandson after my daughter who is bipolar abandon him. She sees him but he goes no where with her. People seem to have misconceptions about people on fentanyl. I also am on hydrocodone that I take in the evening. Every person that know me well and those that don’t don’t see me as a over drugged drug addict. If anyone you know is in this condition then you should call their doctor. I did to a very good friend of mine and told her doctor off and was going to have his license taken away because he ignored my calls and she died of an overdose. I was 7 days from having her go to another rehab through my doctor. Many people on these drugs don’t label them like I do. On my fentanyl I change every 48 hours and each patch is labeled by the day of the week. If I changed on Sunday my next change is Tuesday and then Thursday and so on for the whole month. This should be done with anyone that is on the medication.

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I am sorry for your loss as a mother of a deceased child I know your pain. I loss my son 8 years ago not from fentanyl. In the early 2000s I was on the patches after cervical spine surgery 3 100mg every 3 days. I did exactly as prescribed came off the patches 100mg at a time without withdrawal symptoms. The medication was a life saver for me I was able to go on with my career. I don't mean to sound insensitive to your pain, but my opinion, the medication is safe as long as it is used as described. Again, I am sorry for your loss.

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This might surprise you, but the 'strength' of any medication is not really relevant! If it's 'powerful' on a wgt basis, you give LESS, and conversely, if it's on the 'weak side', you give more! So, we might reconstruct your comment to suggest that the amount of fentanyl administered in a patch form is too high!

So, the answer is to LOWER the concentration of fentanyl in a patch! It's true that the 'duration of a drug 'positive effects' might be shorter if 'fewer molecules' are given, but the answer to that is to decrease the 'time interval between doses'...

These are basic pharmacological concepts in the world of medicine...

tkjtkj, M.D. (Ret.)

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Re: Mel (# 126)

I have a question unrelated to the topic . How hard was the adoption process. started the process with our grandson today. We jus paid the attorney

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Re: Sus (# 124)

In your situation if you go off the patch you many not be able to function to care for your grand kids. I also am caring and adopted my one grandson. If it wasn’t for my fentanyl I’d not be able to care for him. I’ve had him since he was one and now is five. I’ve been on fentanyl for over twenty years and my pain is controlled and I realize it’s a death penalty taking it but there is no miracle pain relief. So fentanyl is where I’ll need to stay. I had a stimulator put in and one of the best the one thing I hated was charging the battery every day. The worst thing was I got an infection so bad I really thought I was going to die. I couldn’t even walk into the hospital from the taxi. My surgeon came to my home to see me and was going to take me himself. It took weeks for me to get my energy back and really have a fear of trying it again. The cdc had to come and test me for the infection I got.my choice was clear it’s stay on fentanyl as much as I wanted to get off the meds.

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It killed your son because he didn’t use the medication properly. I have been on fentanyl for over twenty years. Every month I write on the patches that day of the week that I need to change it. I was on 100 mcg before my surgery and was able to bring the dose down to 12mcg after but then I was having pain in a different location of my spine. You don’t understand chronic pain because you are not the one in pain I went months in pain and didn’t get any sleep and couldn’t function. We had to bring the dose up until it controlled my pain at 50 mcg. My pain is now controlled and I’m able to function now. I’m not drugged up like some people who lie about their pain. I’m not a person who ever like to take any medication and was not a drug abuser. I would not be alive today if it wasn’t for the medication. I had a good friend who was on Demerol injection at home. I called her doctor because she was forgetting when she last took her meds and was so drugged up . I got her over to my doctor and she was going to go to a rehab in a different state and I planned to travel with her unfortunately she died from her meds and I blame the doctor because he was not trained in pain meds which is a simple two year course. No doctor should be prescribing pain meds without that course and should be sending all pain patients to pain management doctors. I was lucky to have a good doctor who was an anesthesiologist. I’ve had a few doctors that I’ve actually fired for their lack of understanding and very negative personalities. You have to take your health in your hands. No one knows your body like yourself. Make sure your doctor is trained in pain if not find and get a Refurral to a pain management doctor. No doctor should be prescribing pain drugs unless they are pain management trained and our government should see this and stop reg doctors from prescribing long term pain drugs. That is my experience and personal opinion and I stand by it.

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I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m a grandmother who is the guardian of 2 grandkids. I wouldn’t be able to function without my fentanyl patch. I agree that these types of drugs are a deal with the devil. But I’ve tried everything else since my accident. You see I can barely move , I went through my windshield and messed up my neck and back. I refuse any more surgery. I’m in more pain after each procedure. I’m sorry about what happened to your family.

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Re: kf3355705 (# 122)

You are so right! In all ways! They are always odd or weird and they know that there is not a lot of PM Doctors to choose from so you're at their mercy.

I have gone through 4 PM doctors since 2008! One committed suicide, another started being a medical Marijuana doctor and because she was doing both in the very beginning (like a month or so) the DEA literally came in and busted her! Saying she didn't give her patients a physical check up?? Please!!

What really pisses me off is the way the Government treats people with real Chronic pain issues, taking away our ability to get treatment! Not everyone is on medication to get high. Doctors make people jump through hoops and most of the doctors end up quitting! I wish I didn't have the Chronic pain issues that I have. I hate the monthly crap I have to go through!

My last doctor was the best doctor I ever had period, I had for all my health issues, I literally ran all my issues by him, would get him copies of all my different test results and he even recommended certain GI specialist because I was in the hospital for 7 weeks needing abdominal surgery from an ulcer that abscessed and perforated and my stomach wall.

I actually looked forward to my monthly visit with him to discuss my other health issues with him, he was so intelligent and caring. And he was not a doctor who gave to much of medication, although he was accused of it! And they took his license away! He was a doctor who wasn't afraid to speak up about the corruption going on! He actually tried to change my medication when I first started going to him and I was in so much pain not to mention sick!

So he put me back on my medication I had been on for at least 9 to 10 years. Then the doctor who took over for him did the same exact thing to me, put me on the same medication he had tried even though I told him we had tried that. Thank God after weeks of being sick not to mention my insurance company wouldn't authorize it, and It took me a week to actually get it, and I had to pay an extra $70.

He has in mercy put me back to my regular medication of the fentanyl patch and percocet. Which is what my Insurance company recommended when they wouldn't authorize the other medication??

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Re: Krazycatlady (# 120)

I should have stated as well that I do sympathize with the chronic pain patients who claim Fentanyl is the only medication available that eases their pain, I really do. However, I was once addicted to Lorcet, Percocets, Lortabs but haven't taken any Narcotic pain meds for over 10 years now and I know what it's like to do without, BUT ....THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU & I is...... I had no legitimate pain to complain about. I wanted them and abused them (40 Lorcets daily) simply because they made me feel great, gave me energy & I will always claim Lorcets improved my depression tremendously. That isn't something any professional is going to accept or believe but I'm not the only one who claims the same thing. It is sad when you are an honest person who is in chronic pain and who does currently have a pain management doctor but has to suffer with extreme anxiety in addition to their pain because they have to worry about losing their PM Doctor possibly for little or no reason at all. That is so unfair and quite frankly in my opinion and what I've seen so far with lots of PM Doctors is that they themselves seem to be mentally unstable somewhat, they are peculiar and they seem to move around a lot and are in my opinion very unprofessional, or can be. At least that's been my experience with some of them in the past. I do wish you well and understand and can relate somewhat to what you are going through.

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I have been on fentanyl for over twenty years. I have a method of making sure I only use one patch ever 48 hours. As this is how it is prescribed to me because every 72 hours I was still at borderline pain. It was prescribed to me because they didn’t want to see me in pain every 5 hours with other pain drugs. Sorry you lost your son but you can’t take your anger out on the drug that works for others. Every month I open up my packs and sit down and I label the outside by day of the week that need to be changed. Example: mon, wed, fri, sun, tues, thurs, sat etc. This prevents me from taking any earlier. I sit down at 7pm daily and on the day I need to change my patch I take off the old one and place the new one on the opposite side I took the old one off.

I’ve never drank while on this medication because I have a strong desire to live. I’m against recreation users as they are the reason why pain patients get so much flack and we lose our rights to certain drugs that have helped me live a longer life. There have been many suicides due to this drug being taken from patients as they can’t tolerate the pain. My pain was so severe I got no sleep and didn’t want to live. If they took this drug away I’m sure I would be one of those. I don’t think they’d be any deaths if people took the drug like I do.

I’m also on hydrocodone which I take at night because after standing and living where I can function again. I get pain down my spine but not like it was before. At least now I’m not paralyzed from the neck down and can walk again. After cervical surgery and one of the best Nevro stimulators which had to be removed due to a staph infection. I am living life close to normal with having to lay down during the day. It’s up and down but I’ll take that over not being able to function. I had to speak out because it’s people like you that don’t understand not having to live in pain that have what works for me taken away. My family having to suffer your fate of not having me around. Because I have not forgotten the level of pain which made me not want to live. I get reminded if one of my patches fall off it takes five hours for it to work. I keep all my medications locked up and used patches taken to the police dept for disposal. I am able to live now from 42 to 63 and see three grandchildren. My life is priceless because of this drug.

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Re: Jean (# 2)

A lot of chronic pain patients use them. What a lot of us have is a permanent condition but not a terminal illness. They have cut back giving pain medication to Chronic pain patients and patients on hospice. It just isn't given out willy nilly. We chronic pain patients lots of us have lots are medication bc the CDC and there opiods epidemic and people are still dying. It's not chronic pain patients - it's people buying it from people and using street drugs! Yes some chronic pain patients have addictions but most of us take our medication as prescribed. So I don't think it needs to be only for terminal patients as you think. I have had CRPS stage 2&3 from my toes to my shoulder blades for 18 yrs. It's miserable. If I didn't have my meds I don't know what I would do. I have known many people who took their meds as directed and still lost their prescriptions. Got to the point that they took their own life. Just like Veterans can't get there's either. It's not fair or right. Yes I know life's not fair!

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sorry about your loss. was your son prescribed this medicine. when taken properly it can and is a great tool for chronic pain patients to live a somewhat functional life. a dr should have been monitoring his levels of tolerance. With that being said ALLLLL medication can be abused and makes it hard for legit pain patients to get the help we need and frustrates me when the medicine is blamed and not the person abusing it, it's called personal accountability something you don't see much of nowadays. Prayers that your family can find some comfort and I truly am sorry for your loss ?????

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I realize this post is super old but everything you said is still relevant today. I have asked the same question many times. Fentanyl is deadly on the streets and drug dealers add it to already dangerous drugs and it's guaranteed to end lives. So many people in my parish and other surrounding parishes have overdosed due to Fentanyl. It shouldn't be so easily accessible. It should be reserved for terminally ill patients under the care of hospice or on their death bed in a hospital setting only.

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Because it helps a lot of people just to be able to function and get out of bed and have some sort of life.

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Re: sc3dacity (# 113)

I totally agree with you, I have been on 100 micrograms of Fentenal patch every 72 hours and percocet 10 mg every 6 hours for 9 years now and I have lost my wonderful pm doctor and the doctor who took over for him is switching EVERYONE'S meds! He's just put me on Opana ER 10mg twice a day and 2 mg diluad every 6 hours for breakthrough pain. My other doctor tried this once after having me to a swab test and I was in so much pain and sick to. That he put me back on Fentenal patch.

Now I was just switched and my insurance would not authorize it so this doctor ( I don't like but try finding one) thanks to the DEA?? So this doctor actually appealed it. Took me an extra week to get it. Thank God I still had patches left or I would have been sick! Its still the same result too.

I go back in less than 2 weeks and hopefully he will have mercy on me, or at least up my dosage of the new medication. But the Fentenal patch has gotten a bad rap! People should not take it unless they are oxy tolerate. And most people who have overdosed have gotten it from the streets which are bootleg from China or Mexico.

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You deserve another response. 80 times more potent than morphine is called a "morphine equivalence". It IS much stronger,but that's why the patch is formulated to deliver 75-100 micro-grams per hour, which is an appropriate dose. The patch does not "kill people". poorly manufactured/QA'd patches do,and more often than not, patients who don't care enough to READ AND UNDERSTAND THE PACKAGE INSERT wind up killing themselves. The FDAdoes not work for you, they work for Big Pharma. This is what "we" voted for, and we got it, so we have only ourselves to blame.

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"This drug is being handed out like candy." Not to me it isn't. Nobody will prescribe any effective pain relief to me and I'm gradually concluding life is not worth living like this.

If your son died from a fentanyl patch, it was not because it was a "fentanyl patch". Something else was going on. I would wage an enormous sum on neither of you reading the package insert and following the instructions exactly. If properly made fentanyl transdermal patches were properly applied to every person in the US, the number of deaths would be tiny,and then only because of allergic responses or other drug interactions. Patches are the safest way to take that medication.

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Be clear about this. Drugs don't kill people, mis-use of them, or drugs not being what they are sold to be does. Fentanyl patch is a VERY safe route of delivery if people READ THE LEAFLETS and ASK QUESTIONS, and don't do stupid things like apply over broken skin or lotions, or use with alcohol. ANYONE taking any opioid should have a suboxone injection available always, and pay attention to their breathing. Many people use fentanyl transdermal because there is no other option that works (as is my case). If the FDA banned every medication a few people didn't like there would be no medications for anyone. There is nobody forcing anyone to take anything they don't want to take.

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I was on 275mcg of Fentanyl for Lyme Disease pain, which was horrific.. and after 12 yrs of fighting lyme and recovering as best as I could. I started trimming the patch back to see how I could easily come off.. and realize now the patch was causing me more pain than I was actually in. So I agree, I think it does more harm than good, it also left blisters on my skin.

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Re: Ralph (# 110)

That was exactly my thinking when I have researched all the different medications is that they all come from the poppy plant?? My doctor (a new doctor) just did this to me. Switched me from a 100 mcg every 3 days fentenal patch that I have been on for over 8 years and put me on Opana 10mg Er. Plus took away my 10 mg percocet and put me on diluad 2 mg. And now I have had to wait 5 days because my insurance company didn't want to pre authorize it! They were not going to accept it and the doctor fought it on appeal??

Again I don't understand all this, why change something that works to a drug that my former doctor (whom was the one who did the swab test) tried on me and it was horrible. So I was switched back. Well I lost him as a doctor, he's no longer in the field ( which they are trying to do anyway). Now I have to start something I know doesn't work or I'm screwed and have nothing. There are no doctor's that I can find in my area! They have either all quit or the ones ( 2) I heard about are not taking new patients. At least at this time.

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