Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms (Page 24) (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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I have been on the Fentanyl patch for over 5 years and before that there were too many medications (opiopids) to even mention. I made the decision a few months back to get off all of them. I am 55 and have been on opioids since a very serious almost life ending trauma when I was 8. My doctors were unhappy with my choice to end this plan to continue with meds but I wet from 75 mcg to 50 mcg in one month and then down to the 25 mcg for 3 weeks and now take 7.5/500 vicoden 2 tabs up to 6 tabs every 24 hours along with oxycodone instant release 15 mg every 4 hours to help me come off this patch. It has been 4 days and the withdrawals are hell. It isn't like I have a nurse bringing the needed meds on a schedule and night time is the worse part. Once I get the meds in my system when I get up in the morning the withdrawals start to slowly go away but now on night 4 I wake up sick, cramps, nausea, the whole works so I have to hit the oxycodone and Vicoden. This is barely working because they also had me on oxycontin 30 mg and 10 mg for breakthrough pain that I stopped a few weeks back. It is like having the flu constantly along with some of the really bad things that happen with withdrawal such as hallucinations, etc.
This SUCKS. I do have constant contact from my doctor who can only say good job, keep it up. I had heart surgery 2 months ago and also have a heart monitor in my chest so should any issue arise with my heart it will be noticed by those who monitor this thing via electronics but still these withdrawals I would NOT wish on my worse enemy. They are really bad and I just don't know what to do. It isn't like I need to go without sleep for weeks just to make sure that I fill myself with the meds to make sure they don't happen and then I need to ween of the meds they prescribed to help get me off this crazy patch.
HELP!

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I am trying to come off the patch as well and have started having seizures. Anyone else?

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doing the same.been 8 days.still feel bad.but doing better though god bless

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Hopefully you were on for only a short time. At the end of my fentanyl I was on 250mcg every 36 hours for 13 years. Yes, 13 years. It took me from august 10th till dec 15th to take myself down to 12 mcg. I have been going through hell since.2hours of sleep is a good night, a day without withdrawal would be perfect. You will start to feel better after a month or so. NASTY NASTY drug fentanyl is, the dr's don't tell you that it is one of the hardest drugs to go off. Good luck please keep me posted.

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I was on fentanyl for 13 years at the end I was on 250mcg every 36 hours. It took me four months to wean myself down enough to go off, so I have been going through he'll since. Please get off this drug while you can if possible. This drug was originally an end stage drug given to people who would never go off it. It is prescribed frequently now days, what they don't tell you is that it is one of the hardest drugs to go off. I had my 6 & 7 back surgeries last may(28th lifetime surgery I am 55). I got lucky and my dr was very concerned with the amount of fentanyl I was on and that is the only reason I survived the surgeries. It was enough to scare me into going off this drug. It really does bad stuff to the body. Good luck!

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I want to wean off my patch!
Hi everyone. I am in early 30's and have neck, shoulder pain, and fibromyalgia. I also have depression and anxiety and panic disorder.
I am taking 25 mcg of Fentanyl for the last year. I am also on Soma 350mg for about 5 months, Norco 7.5/325 for about 2 and a half years, and Motrin. These are for my pain. I also take 1 mg of Xanax 4 times a day, but usually I will take 2mg when I feel very anxious and do it only twice a day. So I am taking my meds in the right quantity but not at the right times. I am on Nortryptiline before bed, and Phenergan 25 mcg for stomach upset do to my pain meds. Ok. I think that is about it for my list! :-)
Now here is my plan and I so scared. I have begged my doctor to take me off of my patch since I first started. He refuses. I had a hysterectomy and I sweat so badly that my medicine in my patch is not absorbed properly I guess. So a lot of the time I am grouchy and WD from that slightly. I am to wear the patch for 72 hours. It stops working after 48. My doc still doesn't care. Then I tell him that I am having blisters from the tape I am using from Mylan to keep the patch on and he said "There is nothing I can do." LIKE I OWE HIM A BIG FAVOR!
So, I try to just wean off of the patch. I wear the same one for 5 days and I feel like I am losing my mind, I can't function, I am sick to my stomach, tossing and turning, no sleep, clammy, sweaty, cold, hot, shaking. I tried to cut cold turkey, no use. I am on disability for mental health probs and let me tell you that WD don't help my mental health! Lol. Soooooo.....
This is my plan and please tell me if it should be altered in any way. I am not telling my doc about weaning off. I have read many of your ideas. I want to wean with out the WD. I am planning on this: I have mylan brand so I am able to cut it. I plan to do either 3/4 or 1/3 of my patch for about 2 weeks. I havent decided what is best. If I do 3/4, I am not going down enough, right? After those two weeks, I will cut my patch in half and wear the 12.5 mg of it for 2 days each patch for about 6 days, then go for each patch for 3 days a full 2 weeks. Maybe 3 weeks, depending on how I feel. Then after that, I will cut my patch into a third of the dose. Approx 7 or 8 mcg. That will be a 3 week deal as well. Then, I will cut the patch into 1/4 and do that for about 3 weeks. Then I will cut my patch into 1/8's and do it for 2 weeks like this:2 days on, one day off, 2 days on, one day off, 2 days on, one day off. THEN one day on, two days off, one day on, two days off, and then I should be done with no WD or very little WD. I plan to start on the 23rd of January, 2011, because I just put on a new patch. Waste not want not. Any recomendations. Please help me. I really want this for myself. You all take care and may God help you all with getting off this DOPE!

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Yes, this is the drug that people with terminal illness takes. I agree that if you do NOT have a terminal illness, please stay AWAY from Fentanyl! Or God help you if you are on it and want to get off!!!!
You are an inspiration! I can do it! WE all can do it!!!! It seems so impossible,but slow and steady wins the race!

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Hey guys, some of this is doable. I have gone from a 50mcg/hr dose to 37.5 to 25 to 12.5mcg/hr over the last 3.5 months and as 4 hours ago, I decided to take off my 12.5mcg hr and hopefully it's for the last time!

I barely felt any WDs at all during the my taper down but I was at each dose for 3-4 weeks and I had been using the patches and opiates for about 3-4 months prior. So this was a moderate duration of use (4 mos total for patches, 6 mos for opiates) and then a very slow taper.

I'm more worried about my last drop due to pain more than WD since my pain isn't well handled yet but I figure I can't keep using the opiates as a crutch the rest of my life and I should do something else. And sometimes the opiate pain reduction can become a vicious cycle as I think it was becoming with me and actually cause an increase in pain sensitivity and tolerance to opiates so it never would end if I kept going up, so I had to cut it down and perhaps even restart but I have to take a break now and I hope I can do it.

In terms of WDs, gabapentin timed properly is a life saver. Just build a tolerance to it and then take it just as you're about to experience WDs and you won't notice a thing (at least I didn't). Take high doses enough to inebriate you which won't cause any harm but will make you "forget" the WDs if they exist.

Anyways, please wish me luck on the last drop off which I think will be the hardest. I have some 12.5mcg/hr patches left in case things don't go well but I hope I don't need them!

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Dopesickalice, your plan will work if you stick with it! Good luck!

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hi , just wondering if i will encounter any problems traveling from australia to the u.s.a with my medication.i am prescribed 50 microgram patch every 48 hrs and have a four week holiday booked, any advice would be greatly appreciated

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What u need is a prescription for Ativan and that will take both away.

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I have been chewing up the 25mcg patches, one per day for a little over 3 weeks... yes i know how dangerous this is but what can i say, im a true druggie... anyways after the first 3 days of chewing these patches, i stopped doing it and within 48 hours W/D's had already set it... you might find this hard to believe, but i promise you just after 3 days of this strong of a dose, your body can become dependant... my skin was on fire, yet i was freezing and sweating... my legs could not get comfortable, i had to keep moving them & still never got the feeling to go away that my muscles needed to be stretched... absoultely no energy, yet no sleep either... ive never felt time go by so slow as it was creeping at this point... i honestly started contemplating the thought of suicide, which i have always been totallly against... i tried to watch tv/movies to help time go by, but i was so miserable that i couldnt even focus on it, just layed there and stared at how slow the clock was moving... i tried taking tylenol pm, along with 1mg xanax and a few hits of weed to ber able to sleep, didn't work...never slept a wink... the weed did help at times, but if i smoked too much it would cause my anxiety level to rise too high... i only made it 4 days until i gave in and bought another patch(off the street).. about 15-20 minutes after starting to chew on it, i felt 100% better!! then it hit me, i was gonna have to start all over once this patch was out of my system!! i would attempt each day to start the process over, but by the end of the day i would have paid for another patch only from fear of future W/D... anyways it ended up continuing for a little over 3 weeks, until i ran out of money and couldnt afford to buy anymore patches... so now i'm on day 3 of no more patches & hating every second of it... it takes me to such deep dark places, mentally that is... ive considered going to the ER, but have been told that without insurance and not having a script for any medication, they won't really do much for you... anyone have any advice towards taking CHARCOAL pills to get all the toxins out of my system faster?? i havent decided if i want to try it or not, im kinda afraid... if it completetly removes all the drug from my system, im afraid it will make the W/D's that much worse, but on the other hand, i'm wondering if it removes it from my system quicker, does that mean it also will cut down on the over all time the W/D's last?? another question, does anyone know if taking WELLBUTRIN will help ease the W/D's? i think i read somewhere that it might help, but i wanted to confirm it before i added something else to this whole equation... if i can make it 5 more days, an aquaintance of mine will be getting a script for suboxone filled and has already told me he will give me a few... ill have to pay $15 each, but im willing to do anything at this point... this aquaintance, has told me that the usual dosage for the average person starting on suboxone is approx. 16mg per day... yet due to my finances, ill only be able to afford to pay for 4mg per day for 18 days... i hope the suboxone will provide some relief, especially when it comes to getting some sleep... does anyone know if this might work, if 4mg for 18 days will be enough??

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You will be substituting one drug for another. You should have tappered down rather then stopping. Then when down to a 12.5 or lower by cutting them in half.{ I KNOW THIS IS A NO NO BUT THIS IS FOR GETTING OUT}. Then it would have been so much better for you and your withdrawal. It is possible to die from convulsions during withdrawal. I am not trying to scare anyone but this is true. Also I am taking 100 mcg fentanyl myself and have been since 2004. I have had the withdrawal feelings a few times when I had some patchs fall off and have run out before next doctors appointment. I am a person that will be on medication for life. I have had all the corrective surgery possible to help and there are still lots of pain issues left. I have only changed my doctor one time and that was in 2006 because i found my doctor right down the street from where I live. Made things much easier. I was in a fire as a child and sixty % of my body was serverly burned some places to the bone. So I do know pain I am now 57 I was burned at 9. I have arthritus in almost all joints. Have a knee replacement hip replacement and they will not cut through the burn scares so the rest are there to stay. I will be on medication for life. It is not fun your body never knows what to do sweat one minute freeze with the sweat the next. But unfortunately the pain rules and thats where meds. come in. The only answer to date. So going cold turkey is not wise. Go to your doctor and be frank with him. Tell him you are sick if he will not help go to the emergency room and tell them your issues and they will. Good luck to all. Keep on fighting.

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I have nerve damage also and took 600mg Neurontin for two years with no measurable relief. Fentanyl is the only thing that allows me to wear shoes at all. I hate being Dependant on anything, especially when losing my insurance would be immediately stopping the drug. I feel helpless with no real alternative. :(

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In my last post I told you all that I was trying to wean down sometime at the end of January. It is the end of February and YES! I have weened down. I know it says not to BUT: IF YOU GET THE MYLAN BRAND PATCH it is not filled with the "gel" and you can cut them in half. What I have done is I cut it into 3/4 and I took 3/4 of a patch for about 2 weeks, then I went down to 1/2. If I began to feel WD I would out on 1/4 and then take the 1/4 off after 24 hours. So I finally was on 1/2 for about 3 weeks and now I am down to 1/4 of a patch. It was an easy transition because I did it so slowly. I believe that I can be off of this with in another month. I have tried to take off the 1/4 of a patch but after about 24 hours I have WD and I don't want ANY of that. I was prescribed Neurontin and Topomax since my last post, but the Neurontin makes me so tired. IF I really need to I suppose I could sleep through my minor WD. The topomax is very new and I am "weaning ON that one". It hypes me up so that is a good thing. The only problem that I have found since lowering my dose of Fentanyl is this: I take more "break through" medication. So where I was taking only a couple or a few Norcos (hydrocodone) before, I am taking more. But I know my doc is an @ hole sometimes and he won't be giving me any other type of long acting meds anytime soon. I think that the docs and the pharmaceutical companies have some sort of "agreement" with one another....

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JoE, you should not use charcol to "clean out" your system, it will just make your WD worse. I am sure that because you have been on this for such a short period that you will be able to wean more quickly. This is what you need to do and this is what I would do. I know you know that you are a "druggie", as you said. If you can get a hold of another patch, you need to take it as your suppose to. Put it on!!! Wear it for 4 days and then take it off. You should be alright. I went rehab once and many people wore the patch there to get off of opiates. They would wear it for 3 days, then the doc in rehab would see how they were doing. If they were still WD the doc would lower the patch amount and the patient wore it for 3-4 days. Some patients only needed to be on the patch for WD from heroine for about 5-7 days. You will be ok if you do this. OR you can man up, or "woman" up and go tell a doctor the truth. It may save your life. People have OD'd from "chewing" the patch. I know, I am guilty, but I learned my lesson. I guess you will find out. Good luck and may God be with you. BTW Suboxone and Subutex can cause MAJOR ANXIETY! Any one I knew who took it, was buying xanax or valium off the streets. Just so you know.

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Okay, I'm off the patches but I still take some immediate release now. It's all immediate release from now on, hits me (funny how the illegal drug use lingo works here) in 5-10 minutes and lasts another 5-20 minutes. With the IR fentanyl (not a patch), I take higher doses and my tolerance builds up really high really fast, ... the very reason I went on the patches but at least there's no more constant supply of drug in my system, when I sleep for example. I mean I easily go 12-15 hours a day WITHOUT the drug. So that must be good right?

But I have stopped this once entirely with minimal WD. I did the taper as I've suggested previously, and just jumped off the last 12.5mcg/hr. But I had to go back to the IR due to the pain. I will be travelling a lot and I plan to stop entirely during my trips in the hope that the travelling will let me forget my physical dependency (mild now I think). It's the "black hole" that matters... your receptors don't come back in one day and until they do, you're at risk for some other habit creeping up.

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I would reccomend you buy a vaporizer and purchase some marijuanna. it has helped me through my detox and has also allowed me to manage my cpd without nned of any doctor's problems er i mean prescriptions. Let me make one thing clear i am not telling you to smoke like a hippie with a field i use on average 1 gram per day in total and this allows me to live my life and enjoy it as well. I hope this helps. As for me after 6 years on the 25 mcg patch i have self detoxed over the last 12 days and so far so good. the vaporizer helps to ease my restlessness and irratbilty as well i have found my appetite returning much to the pleasure of my family. Cheers To Fentanyl Free Living

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It's me again! Pleased to report that I have officially been OFF the patch for one week today!!! I FINALLY did it and I am only taking my short acting. Only one problem. The short acting really isn't cutting it for me. I am prescribed 1 (one) 7.5/325 Hydrocodone 4x a day for my short acting medication for pain. I have seriously thought about smoking Mary Jane for pain control and I have anxiety really bad, (I am on Xanax 1mg 4x daily) Been on Benzo's for over 10 years. I am 31 years old and a lot of doc's and counselors wanna take people off the benzo's all together. If I start the Mary Jane thing, then I won't have to worry about my PILLS PILLS PILLS!!!! So what's up with the vaporizing of the Mary Jane? Does it make you pass a urine test? I was wondering, cause I would really look into that if vaporizing it would help with the THC being in my system. THANKS and GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!

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You are definitely having withdrawals. I just went through the same thing by accident. I am also trying to wean off of it and could not sit still. I had to bump up my dosage and come down slower. I had other symptoms too like night sweats. Good luck.

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