Fentanyl Transdermal Patch

I HAVE TAKEN FENTANYL TRANS PATCHES FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW, DUE TO ENDOMETRIOSIS. BEWARE WHEN YOU GO INTO HOSPITAL, YOUR BODY COULD BUILD UP A RESISTANCE TO MORPHINE. MINE DID AND ON THREE OCCASIONS. DOCTORS DIDNT LISTEN WHEN I TOLD THEM MORPHINE DIDNT WORK, LEFT IN AGONY ON ALL OCCASIONS. ONE TIME IT WAS FOR MAJOR SURGERY. I FEEL ALL SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS. HAS IT HAPPENED TO ANYONE ELSE? PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

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my daughter was given 75mg patches and dismissed from the hospital at noon one day and died at l0:30 the next morning due to overdose. She was a cystic fibrosis patient that had breathing problems and weighed at her best 89 pounds.
She was given this drug for minor discomfort and pain when other drugs with a lot less risk could have been tryed and could have eased her discomfort. She had never even needed to be prescribed medicine for chronic pain. Beware the drug when given in the transdermal form is dangerous and the risks far out weigh the outcome. My daughter fought for 20 years to stay healthy with a life threating disease and lost the battle which she was until this time winning and living a perfectly normal life. All her fighting was to no avail due to one unconcerned doctor that thought handing out drugs was no big deal. Her disease caused frequent lung infections which caused no more pain than any of us would have if we were to have pneaumonia. She had a history of running high fevers and a history of low blood pressure. Any idiot can look on the internet and see that there was every indication that she should not be on this medication and there was no reason that justified her being given such a strong narcotic. I would appreciate any replies to my comments. I would espescially like to here from any medical professionals that could help me in any way.

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I'm on the 75 mcg patch for pain due to RSD and fibromyalgia. One time due to insurance issues I had been unable to get my prescription. After 5 days I could no longer stand the pain and went into the emergancy room. They gave me 2 shots of morphine with no relief. They ended up giving me a shot of a much stronger pain killer. I can't remember the name off hand but it started with and L. I asked the nurse about it so if it happened again we could skip the morphine but she said they never would start by giving me that drug as it was MUCH stronger than morphine.

I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter and the careless way she was treated w/this powerful drug.

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These patches should NEVER be used by someone who has not already built up a tolerance to an exhasuted their options of other, less potent drugs. Fentanyl (Duragesic) is 80 time stronger than Morphine. So of course, morphine will not touch your pain if you are used to using these, and if you have not used narcotics before, then you can very easily OD on these.

My doc tried to jump me once from Darvocet to the 25mg patches and I was sick for over a week, after trying only 1 patch for less than 24 hours, I couldn't even hold down water, that is when my DH got online and researched it. I refused to ever try it again.

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Thank you very much for replying about loretta's daughter. She was a very dear friend to me and any comments are very much appreciated. God bless ya'll!!!

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Very welcome. I sincerely hope her family can find some comfort for their loss somewhere.

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If what you say is true about what she had taken in the past and was taking, that doctor should be crucified!!!! He should never have prescribed that for her.

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WOW! That's something we need to know. Thanks honey. I'm sorry gosh that is scary. Well I had a scrip of #4Dillauded did nothing for breakthrough pain, Morphine don't work So what should ask for?
Thanks for looking out. Let me know..please.

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Loretta,
I'm so sorry about your daughter, They should of not for any reason gave her a Fent patch if she have never worn one. Now days everyone needs to know exactly what there getting and be super proactive about their care.

Especially the medical feild!!!! Over run over worked, were not people just bodies that need to get in or out according to how much insurance or what kind.

It's like we are either numbers being herded or prevented from getting the quality of care. That's if your no even close to being wealthy. Or know what it's like to see it like you did as I have too.

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So sorry for the loss of your daughter. They should have never given her a 75 mcg patch of fentanyl. She is only 89 pounds, has low blood pressure, most of all is not opiod tolerant. I'm really surprised they gave your daughter such a strong medicine. Just should have given her a must lower type of pain medicine if needed. My prayers to your daughter and family. Sincerely

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I know what you mean if you go into the hospital for any type of surgery or just the flu or phemonia you have to wait and be in pain till they want to giv it to you I was in so much pain due to cancer of the lung,breast,2back surgeries and I had to wait till they give your meds out which where I was at is about 10:oclock and I ask my dr if I could bring my own meds fom home cause I could not wait until they got to me and he said yes I told the nurses I could not wait that long for my meds cause I always wakeup around 6am and by 10am I was i so much pain it was hard to get it back under control.I wish you luck in what you are facing if you having more surgeries and take care of yourself it is that the drs and doesn't understand pain yet in my opionon.God Bless

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I'm so sorry for your loss, Doctors get big kickbacks from these and no way should she have even been on that, That's why people are dying on these, you must be very very opiate tolerate and have pretty much been on everything else for long periods of time. They are supposed to seriously evaluate someone.The weight of a person and if they having breathing issues are some of the top 3 things that rule out this patch. The last thing has the patient exhausted a lot of other opiates. I'm on a 50mcg and refuse to go up and I weigh over 200lb. I don't have breathing issues and I have exhausted other opiates, plus I was so tired of taking pills. So even though I am a candidate I'm extremely careful. My heart really hurts for your loss.

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I know this is an old thread, I couldn't agree more! Those are the first warning labeles you read.... Careless doctors. I'm sorry for your loss. I've been on them for 9 years now, slowly began making my way off this last year.. Xo

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Changing from Fentanyl to another opiate is a huge mistake. I was on Fentanyl for a long, long time - I used to buy it from the illegal market. When I could not find it, I had to use inordinate amounts of methadone or H. The problem is this: Fentanyl seems to affect on many more pain receptors than the other opiates do. So you're always going through withdrawal of something. If your doctor wants to help you, s/he should taper you with Fentanyl. Your only other recourse is to get on a higher dose of other opiates - but I'm guessing your doctor will not prescribe. This seems just another instance of doctors not listening to their patients.

I won't recommend going to the illegal market as the repercussions will almost certainly be worse. But I'm not with the pain.

I wish you luck.

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Loretta, I'm sorry for your loss. That Dr. was negligent and you should consult a lawyer about suing the Dr for gross negligence and reporting him to your state's medical board to start an investigation to get his license taken away so another family won't have to I through the same thing.

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I understand completely although I'm addicted to pain killers and have a high tolerance that doctor could have given her something way less potent like maybe a 10 5mg oxycodones I don't remember if you said what Mg the patch was but yeah guessing by her weight even 15mg could've killed her that's pretty insane considering a licensed physician should know such things

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I have bone & muscle deruriation fibromyalgia 5 types of arthritis among other illness & several Life threatening allergies, including benadryl & epi pen. I have been on fentanyl 50mcg patches along with dilaudid 4mg. I was in a motorcycle wreck & my dr. Office sent me to ER for test. The nurse practitioner refused to run tesr but gave me an injection of nubane & colace. I told him I was reacting badly he refused to agree told me to go home take a dilaudid & go to bed. I attempted to do so.I may have made it halfway up my stairs before I went into a massive siezure. I think it all couldve been prevented but I don't know if those drugs counter reacted or if maybe I am also allergic to colace I do know that I shouldn't have bew n sent home I told him my chest felt tight my nose poured clear fliud my upper body was stinging & my ears Ringing

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I"m not a professional but my best friend's daughter had CF. We had our babies at the same time approx 40 yrs ago. She lost her at 13 yrs. I know what it took for you to keep her alive for 20 yrs. Fentanyl is not something to be given out like asparin. It impossible to tell a 20 yr old that an MD does not mean infallable. I'm sure you did all you could do. My heart goes out to you.

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That doctor should have been sued for giving your daughter such a high dose of pain patch, Fentanyl is 80 times stronger than Morphine he should have never given her that drug at all.Pain patch is only to be given to people who can tolerate Opiate's.Fentanyl at higher dose's can cause slow breathing.Sorry to hear the loss of your daughter.

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To the lady whose child overdosed on Dr. prescribed patch, How are you doing now? I have held medical with legal work jobs, medical malpractice. Was the Dr.'s license taken from him; I assume you took action all ways possible. I have not heard of negligence of this sort. So sorry for your loss. I hope you have found peace somehow. Hope you have support necessary for your life journey. Jerri

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Re: shirkey (# 1)

Thanks for sharing. I've been on the patches for ten years now and the side effects are horrible, but there are no other options, except maybe some other pain meds, but this, for the most part, works, when nothing else took care of my pain. I had some side effects with the Lyrica, i was smelling things and things just were very strange to me. Also some poor memory stuff, paying bills twice, etc. My MD says its the Fentanyl and that may be true but I was very anxious and my mind was always thinking about weird stuff and I was having really weird nightmares. ONe day i saw an ad about Lyrica and I saw the side effects. I stopped taking it and within a week or two I was back to normal. That was weird. I totally understand your fear and experience about being in pain and having built a tolerance with the Fentanyl and the ensuing experience/fears of what might happen if you were in the hospital or something like that happened. Just make sure that you let your friends and family know so that if that happens, you will be fine. Also, you might want to create an emergency pack, like having typed up, in larger font the fact that you are on Fentanyl the dosage, how long, your MD, etc, and your fear of being in hospital or in a situation where they need to treat you, it could even be in surgery, and you might not be able to respond. Keep it on your inside front door at home so that if something does happen, it is right there. Maybe place it in a clear plastic pocket, like the size of a regular 8 x 11 letter. It could happen that you were in a bike or car accident and if you cant communicate, how are they going to respond? In that case, im not sure but you might want to get an emergency bracelet, that reads, Transdermal Fentanyl-Endometriosis-00/00/2011-2018, something like that. Best to you and yours. You are not alone.

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This is an old thread but if they gave you nubaine that was a big mistake for an opiate patient. Nubaine is a partial agonist it actually puts an opiate taking patient into withdrawl similar to narcan for overdose but a little less severe. Your seizure is possibly due to the complete lack of true opiates in your body. As long as the Nubaine is there it will block the others from working. It blocks the opiate receptor sites. It is a great drug for regualr patients in pain but a really really bad choice for opiate taking patients.

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