Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms (Page 17) (Top voted first)

I'm trying to wean myself off the Fentanyl patch. I went from 75 micro-gms to 50 now I'm on 25. Having a problem and not sure it is related to the decrease in the med. It's been 20 days on the 25 micro-gm and I'm going crazy. I need to keep rocking, moving in any way b/c my body is very restless. Is this a symptom of withdrawal and what do I do? I cannot take it any more.

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squwishy....some people might not agree ...but i think you went off to fast ...do u have any left ...?i would go see your docter...i used colazapam ,,,and a 2 percocet a day .....and hot baths ...and keep busy .....i hope that helps ...im praying for you ....you can do it .....its almost done...the drug is out iof your system now your dealing with the effects ...keep goin ..we are all here for you ...

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Hi Squishy, Pat, and Would Have Known,
I would say squishy that I am really not sure why you are feeling them now 12 days after? That to me is very odd. I started feeling withdrawls only 72 hours after having the patch on. I am on the Mylan patch (the one without the liquid) it looks like a nicotine patch actually. I have tapered to 75 mcg and 12 mcg patch together that I change every 48 hours. Let me tell you too, that I can surely feel the effects going into that last 48 hour period. I start to get very irritated and I start having pain. My doctor did end up prescribing me the Clonidine and more Valium. I take 1 5mg Valium a day. I have Oxycontin for breakthrough pain, but I rarely use it. I use Tylenol if I feel some discomfort instead. My doctor said using the Tylenol in conjunction with the Fentanyl will help with pain. BUT, I want off the Fentanyl, and to be put on something else for pain. However, I am not sure what he could put me on to kill the pain. I hate that with the drug I can do all the things I love to do with little pain, but without it, I am going through w/d and having pain! UGH! Sometimes I get so frustrated that my body is dependent on this drug. So we shall see. It won't be until I run out of these patches that I go to just the 75 mcg. I will keep you posted on how the Clonidine does. Merry Christmas everyone!

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should mention also that duration of use is 10 yrs vic/norco,4yrs morp 120mg aday then onto the patches for 3 yrs.

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Hi again, thanx again for sharing and encouraging notes!! I am so proud of all of us for doing this very hard task!!! I take zoloft regularly and a cholesterol pill and a high BP pill and glipizide for diabetes. I injured my back the other day and ended up in the ER, but I said an emphatic NO to going back on the patch!! I got 10mg of flexeril and tramadol. I have taken 4 of the tram. since the 23rd! I was told it was non narcotic, but...I do not want to replace a habit with another one!! I am doing OK at the moment, the last 24hrs have been horrible to say the least, but not as bad as when I ran out 2 years ago and I had just moved & had no doctor so the ER said tough titties!! I went spastic, I paced almost running around a 2 rm apt, showering with hot water & falling asleep standing up, I would put a towel on and get under the covers to sleep & the minute I started to doze, my legs would literally jump off the bed!! That was the most horrible 9 days I ever spent!! This time, I was going to do the taper thing, but...
I really think the patch was still giving me med, but gradually less & less until I took it off because 18 hrs after finally taking it off, the legs started!! I am hoping that now that it has been 13 days since I put on a patch of 50mcg, that I am nearing an end of the bad stuff. I can't believe the difference in my attitude, clarity, eyesight and depression, already!! I have been begging doctors for 3 yrs to put me in a rehab to get off & they said no!! I AM SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU FOR TRYING AND/OR SUCCEEDING!!!

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I wanted to add this. I am severely allergic to any other pain killers except the fentanyl. my airways close and I swell up from them. I have to have my knee replaced soon, I am so worried about how to handle THAT level of pain!! I have had pain the whole time I was on the fentanyl, so, yeah, my pain is worse, but I look at it as when it hurts, I know I am alive!! My doctor isn't too thrilled, but, I figured if I got in an accident or the like, I was already on a pain med, what else could they do for me, so I want to be clean!! Truthfully, when I lived in NC I was given the pill form of pot, I didn't like them because there's no way to regulate the dose, so I smoked instead and I found just 2 hits and I was fine. I am being monitored right now so I can't partake. I really wish I could get a script for that instead, no addiction and control!!

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If I Would Have Known...congratulations!! I'm sooo glad to hear you're doing well, and so proud of your determination.
Hang tough Squwishy! I also have not heard of a patch lasting that long...but then, who of us has had one stay on for that length of time? I remember one of the boys mentioning that he kept an old patch for a long time & everytime things got really rough, he would put it back on, the w/d would alleviate a bit, and he would take it off again until the nest time it got really bad. So there may be something to this! I very fortunately did NOT experience the Restless Leg Syndrome you guys are getting. Looking it up, it seems to be caused by a lot of things, treated by a lot of things, and seems to me that it is very possibly part of the w/d since part of the treatment is opoids...which you are withdrawing from!
I didn't see anything that might help except to try other pain meds, stay off alcohol & caffeine, and try to excercise a bit just before going to bed. Sorry I can't be of much more help than that. http:/­/­www.medicinenet.com/­restless_leg_syndrome/­page2.htm
maybe this will help?

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to Wishrmn...I think you are going the right way!! Your other meds & the anti-depressants should cover for you a bit while you are coming off. I stupidly went the other way, quit all my other stuff first, and left the Fentanyl till the end. I have a feeling that slowly depleting the Fentanyl, and THEN slowly cutting down the others chould give you an easier time of it. Keep us informed how you are doing, and Good Luck to you. No matter what, I'm sure it won't be easy...but it is worth it.

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Pat, I don't have a clue and I don't know how to find out if they prosecute or not. As for the hydocodone, I am allergic to it, tried it already!! The docs get extremely worried about what to give me when I get hurt. Today has been an interesting day!! I suffered badly with the spasms last bight and the fact that the new kerosene heater I bought a week ago crapped out and it is so cold in here I can see my breath, AND even with heater tape on them, the pipes froze so I no water!!! Then my ex tried to come the hour long trip to get a special heater to unfreeze the pipes & try to get the little one inside to work and, yup, his car was dead!!! It has been fun!! I am using the computer for heat and I have mittens with fingers that open hile I write this!! It could be worse, I could be just starting to get off Fentanyl again!!! I put the last one on the 16th, so 72 hours later would be the 19th so... today is day 10!! woohoo!!!

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ex just called!! he finally got the car going, drove the hour up here and rented the special haeters to unthaw the pipes and as he drove away.....he blew a radiator hose!!!

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So where is my post to Squwishy I sent last night??? I found a site for you about Restless Leg Syndrome, maybe you have to Google it yourself instead of me including the url? Anyway, the short & long seems to be: all sorts of causes, all sorts of treatments....but most treatments include the opoids you are trying to avoid...so ya, I would guess that its part of the whole w/d thing.
Hang in Squwishy...we are all pulling for you, praying for you, and empathizing with you!

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I found something pertaining to the RLS and bar soap.

"This home remedy mystifies us, but we have heard from many readers like you. The risk of unwrapping a fresh bar of soap and putting it under the bottom sheet where the legs will be is almost zero. The cost is far less than a prescription. Positive responses from other readers experimenting with Ivory soap remedy:

'A while back I wrote to complain that the bar of soap under the bottom sheet quit working for my restless legs. (It was great at first.) Then I got to thinking, it worked before, so why not now? That bar of soap had been there for six months, so I replaced it. The result: no more restless legs. A few times that I had symptoms, I put my feet on the soap and the sensations went away in about two minutes.'

'My husband was having severe leg cramps at night. Without telling him, I placed a soap bar under his sheets for two nights before he noticed. It worked! He's had no more cramps. We still can't believe it!'

'I have had severe leg cramps for years. When I read about putting a bar of soap in bed, I got a bar of Ivory and put it under the bottom sheet near my legs. It's been a month since I did that, and I have not had one leg cramp.'"[1]

I hope this can help.

Source: http:/­/­www.peoplespharmacy.com/­2005/­12/­07/­soap-under-the/­

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Thanx so much Tigerlily and Pat!! What in heavens name is with the ivory soap?? What does it do?
As for the drug you mentioned, does it have codeine i it like the name suggests? I am severely allergic to codeine, morphine demerol, valium & many more everything out there has been tried dince I had leg surgery in '86 that healed wrong & the leg broke in a spiral from the ankle to the knee! Then I had a car accident that triggered fibro, cfs & many other things. We all have our crosses to bear. BTW, ex came with a propane heater for me!!! The kerosene is going back because it is the second one that has quit after a week of use!! may get a small propane one for my room too because I hurt like hell in the cold.
The legs jumping is only from the withdrawals and if I take a flexeril every 5-6 hours and Motrin I seem to B ok!! What a WONDERFUL way to greet 2010!!!

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It is related to codeine but it doesn't cause the allergic reaction like codeine does. If I take codeine, I will die w/o an adrenilin shot but I believe people who are allergic to codeine can take dihydrocodeine. Ask your doctor about it. One of the reasons I also mentioned talwin is because I don't think that it is like codeine either, and there are no euphria at all because there is naltraxone in the talwin NX,,I can't be sure you can take dihydrocodeine. but I mentioned it because my doctor gave it to me years ago because I couldn't take codeine,, unfortunatly, vicodin has widely replaced dihydrocodeine. if you do ask your doctor I believe it is marketed by the name synalgos DC..It helped me so much years ago. and then when that ugly vicodin came around, it lost favor with doctors, and now it is making a comeback because people are getting addicted to vicodin..I hate that drug. That is the drug that made me relapse after I was clean for sometime..I am a chronic pain sufferer who became addicted to opiates, and years ago, they just kept giving these drugs like candy. I am on methadone because it is the only opiate I can take that gives me no euphoria, and I just feel normal and have no desire to abuse it, and it helps my pain..It is not for everyone however so unless you plan on always needing opiates, don't even ask your doctor about it, if you think fentanyal is hard to kick, they say methadone is 100 times worse..I plan on always being on it so it isn't an issue for me, but I hate to see doctors give it out and then when the patient wants to quit, it is so hard...Read that article I sent you on the soap, It really works....I hope you were able to get the link,if not let me know

Pat

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thanx for all that Pat!! I too am that severely allergic to codeine!! I also have to take either zyrtec or benadryl every day for hives< they never found a reason for them. I took Talwin for years but suddenly developed an allergy to it!! I think they probably changed one of the fillers in it. I will research the one you said and ask the doc in the am. Right now, we are frantic because the pipes burst under our home!!!

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I am so sorry sweetie, when it rains it pours...You must live somewhere cold for your pipes to burst. Its like why when all this other stuff is going on?? I hope you can get someone there to get them fixed soon...Feel better!!

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Thanx Pat!! The maintenance guys came in minutes of our call & after a bit of a struggle, managed to get the main shut off!! This has really been a day!!! We are so done in that we are laughing about it!! The pipe that burst was duct taped by the previous owners!!! DUCT TAPE A LEAK????? Well, it put enough endorphines in my system so the leg & back stopped seizing for a bit!!
I AM I CAN... I WILL!!!!!

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Hey, I am so glad I found all of you! I am a recovering alcoholic/drug addict (nearly 22 yrs w/o drink) who is currently going off fentanyl patches. I have been so freaked out by all the withdrawal!! I started on 100s, 7 years ago due to failed back surgery syndrome. I went to 75s changing every 48 hours after 2 years, then 2 years later down to 50s which is what I was on until Aug '09 when I got another new doc and I told him I wanted off of this drug! My titrate has been every 30 days on a new strength, right now I am on 12.5s and my body is SCREAMING!! The jumpy legs, the anxiety, the anger, the fear...it's gotten way worse now that I am on just 12.5s. Doc gave me hydroxyz and clonidine, voltaren for pain plus I take neurotin and Savella for fibromyalgia. I just want off them ALL but your information that this too shall pass is MOST helpful! THANKS!

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Welcome Meg and CONGRATULATIONS!!!! i WAS ON 150 AFTER BACK SURGERY AND THEN DOWN TO 50 AND ON THAT FOR 3YRS. I PUT ONE ON THE 16TH OF DEC AND LEFT IT ON. I AM STILL WITHOUT ANY PATCH AND I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW CLEAR MY HEAD IS BUT ALSO, HOW MUCH I HURT!! I REALLY DIDN'T THINK THE PATCH WAS CONTROLLING THE PAIN, UNTIL NOW!! I HAVE NOT SLEPT EXCEPT FOR 2HRS AND ANOTHER 12,IM BECAUSE OF THE CONSTANT SPASMS IN MY LWGS, ARM & BACK. I HAVE BEEN PUT ON ULTRAM AND VALIUM AS OF THIS AM AND THEY AREN'T TOUCHING THE PAIN OR SPASMS!! I ALSO HAVE EXTREME HYPERSENSITIVITY TO TOUCH FOR SOME REASON!!GOOD LUCK WITH THE REMAINDER OF THE WDS!!!

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To Meg_in_wa: Glad you found us! Its been a rough road for all of us, but we're here to tell you it DOES get better. I was only on this stuff for 6 weeks @100mcg every 3 days, and I quit cold turkey not knowing any better....duh!
I think personally that once you get down to the 12.5 patch you are only prolonging the agony. Check If I Would Have Known's comments.....he went through the tapering as well...and I think 12.5 seems to be the place where tapering does not work any more and you have to call it quits.
Even at 12.5 it took him just as long to recover when he totally stopped as it did me going cold turkey. Of course, with only 6 weeks on it, that could affect things too.
My recommendation would be to find another opioid to use when it gets really bad (I used Hydromorphone 4mg) and use the Valium to help with the RLS.
Hope this helps somewhat, but I see you are also on a lot of other things and have more problems as well. I will keep you in my prayers as I do the rest og the group.

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Hi Everyone. Sorry its been awhile. I too have had broken pipes, one right in the wall of my newly finished room. Glad to hear everyone is doing well. I have to say to
Meg that I agree with Tyger about prolonging the agony at 12 mg but that is my opinion. Most people I have talked to have some sort of withdrawal even at the 6 or 3 mcg it you are cutting them down. Hang in there and carefully read the posts there is good info in them. For THE RESTLESS LEGS, I haven't tried the soap however, i believe it was MauiGirl or Happy girl that said in one of these posts to try something at local health food store. My brother checked into this and bought me some Homeopathic Restless Leg medication, NOT the one at Walmart, it needs to be the one at the WholeFood Store but they are a little disc you put under your tongue and within about 5 min tops my legs quit jumping. I have suffered with this for years and this stuff is amazing!!! Also I can't remember who mentioned they were on SAVELLA, my doc just put me on it for the fibromyalgia but I HAVEN'T taken it yet, filled the RX but didn't take it yet, I'm scared to death of side effects of a new med. Let me know how long you've been on it and how it works if you don't mind. It's NOW BEEN over 60 days, I feel better!!! Glad to be off wicked awful patch. Hang in there to all. Got to get pipes fixed and truck is coming to suck up water. Erin, GLAD to hear you're hanging in!! Everyone IT WILL BE A GOOD YEAR for everyone who can get off this patch. LOVE AND PRAYERS To ALL!!!

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