Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms (Page 81)
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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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He is home!!! Thank god and so happy to be off the patch. He feels pretty good but I know the drugs the put him on are in full effect. So I have no idea what is next to expect. He is having needle surgery on his back in morning to deaden his nerves that the spine is pinching. Hawaiian Boy, thank you and we would love to hear about pain releive staying opiate free. He wants nothing to do with them. THANK YOU again...Sam

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He called, and your right he was nutty! They had him on suboxone and a slue of other things for cramping. He signed a consent and the place I was told is okay as they go.I think he is there for a bit. I will hopefuly be able to speak with a Dr. today but did speak with a nurse. He wants to be opiate free. He went on the patch after being on and detoxing from Oxi. and he hated that too. he does not want me to visit, I will wait and try to be patiant and send my prayers and love to him. He was NOT him self and wanted to break out, said he was measuring the fence, oh dear no. I know he needs their help. Thank you for writing HB. I really mean that. Still praying and trying to stay calm. Sam

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Sam- does yr bf have any relatives nearby? Did he go in under some legal status? If it was with his consent, you or a relative can be kept inford as to treatment. Likely, they will have him on a cocktail of drugs manage the detox.
Since he kinda went a little nuts , heat ne under a pysch.
Yr job is to find h a savvy drvto help ho taper off meds. Heat be given suboxone , or put on methodone.It works for Pat.
If he wants to Be off all opiate meds, post and I will direct you guys to methods of non drug pain management.
Stay positive!
Don't let the authorities bully you or him!!!
Get help
stay calm
be strong
you aren't alone, there is a community of people that know what you are going through... And we send peace to yr heart and healing to yr boyfriend.

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Cali Girl..I have been hearing a lot of people say how bad the patch makes them feel..I am glad that is one opiate I wasn't prescribed. Have you thought instead of trying to go CT off of the patch to just ask your doctor for something else?? My uncle has MS and talkling to him I know for him at least it is impossible to go through life w/o anything for pain. That of course is your choice, but for heavens sake, don't do this on your own. You haven't even started WD's yet, and after that, you have to deal with PAWS..For most people it can last from a few weeks to a few months, for me, it never went away. PAWS is post acute WD's. The symtemss vary, but can include depression, RLS, never having any energy, not feeling well, and in the worst case, wanting to die. I did try to commit suicide because the PAWS didn't go away even after a few years of abstinance, All I am saying is, no one can tell you You can do this everyone is different,. Make no serious medical decisions W/O talking to your doctor first.Your life is too important to just throw away because one drug is horrible for you. I take an opiate that has no side effects at all for me (I am not saying for you to take it) I am only saying that this is what helped me when I wanted to die because of pain and depression and the worst case of RLS in the world (at least I thought it was the worst) I take methadone, I feel like I haven't taken anything, no cloudy head, no tiredness, but it takes the pain away ,,Ask your doctor because only he/she can tell you what the best course of action is,, Good luck!!

Pat

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They have taken him to a rehab from the hospital. Does anyone know what they will do or what he is going threw. I am so worried I am sick to my stomach. Will they put him back on the patch because he quit cold turkey from 50 mg? Any words of expierence or advise would great as I cannot talk to him and do not know where they took him. Many many Thanks! Sam

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I have been on Fentanyl patch for 2 years along with Norco for breakthrough. I have MS and gnawing nerve pain from the knees down. I do not like the way the patch makes me feel ( tired, lazy, un-motivated, etc...) I was on 50 mcg and went down to 37 mcg and finally to 25 mcg. I took my last patch off on Thursday, and have had the worst WD symptoms, , more than I expected. I have still been taking the Norco, I figure that I can ween down on that after I get through the patch. The worst symptoms are restless legs and arms and sleeplesness. I have taken an Ambien the last two nights and that helps but as soon as i wake up and feel the restlesness in my legs and arms i have to get up and take a Norco and wait for an hour for it to kick in before I feel semi-comfortable. i am also taking Baclofen for spasticity ( a very small dose 5mg 2-3 x a day. Does anyone know how long the restless leg/arm takes to go away?

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I just drove him to the ER, i was told not to go in with him. I am praying they help him. He has been going nuts on any dose for 2 months, he could not take it anymore and figured he could tough it out, he did not tell till a week later and he was down to 1 patch, he made it threw my birthday. I really hope he is okay. We live in a fishing town were heroin has been a big problem and oxycotin too, they are very judgmental and I PRAY he will be alright, I hate these drugs!! So much.. they were killing his mind and his body, makes me cry. Thank you for writing and understanding.

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Sam, hopefully your beloved has been handled... It sounds like he wasn't in command of himself- tossing the patches. Hopefully he will be tappered off more slowly 100to75to5o on down to were he can come off without going crazy with the w symptoms. A pain management doc is needed. Make sure they understand he is not an addict!!!! He needs gentle care, not NA slogans. You love will be tested by this... But stand by yr man! ( whoa- must be channeling a country station) aloha

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need help! We are about to go to the ER His dr has worked great with him, he was on a 100 and he wet to the 50, was going to be on it 1 month and was feeling so bad he threw them out. Well that neded his reations for now with his dr, who is currently on vacation. He is really hurting. Do you kno what they might do in the ER, that is where hi Dr. told him to go. He has needle surgery to deaden the nerves in his spine on Tuesday, I have no idea how he will make it threw it

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C/T off the patch- why?
Whoever put him on the patch has a legal duty to taper him off- going down in mg -maybe with suboxone the last week... Go back to the Dr. Or find a new one! Educate yrself about the detox process, and get medical help ! Blessings for a good outcome.

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my boy friend is de toxing cold turkey from a 50 mg fentanyl patch and he wants to rip his vains out. he is not under any care as he threw out his patches and pissed off his Dr. but he can go to the hostpital as he was advised, he is worried about that and embarrased. I am very worried about him, he is a wreck. Any suggestions? We need help

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Hey fellow fentanyl withdrawers!!!
This is what I love about being off the patch, as well as the breakthrough oxy's- no longer do I count the days beforey refill is due. No linger do I have to be treated like a potential abuser by my HMO, signing agreements that stigmatize me.. aluding to illegal use. I don't have rashes and adhesive marks anymore..I don't live in a fog...once I was through the worst of the withdrawal, I had a brain again. I look forward to more improvement. Thank all who offer encouragement on this site. All opinions are valid from those who have experiened opiate dependency. Our Docs haven't walked through the fire.. Big Phara is culpable to a large extent. Med schools now are educating more , to prevent iatrogenic addiction. Thre is a site called painEducator. that publishes an journal you might be interested in. We need to be partners in our Heath care. Knowledge will arm you to make the best choices. If I have known what I do now about drug toleance and withdrawal five years ago!

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To Happy Girl..I realize this is about Fentanayl WD's however when people give dangerous suggestions it is anyones duty to tell that person who may be hurt by that suggestion to seek out a doctors opinion, You aren't a doctor and I have been through opiate WD's and fent is no different than any other long acting opiate, If I feel that you or anyone else is giving out advice that can hurt or worse to someone I will step in, You don't run this board.. I know people who have died from opiate WD's Do you??
Pat..BTW, if you have something to say, say it to me,

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I just want to let people know that there is hope. In 2005 I had back surgery, and was on fentanyl for about 3yrs. I was on 100mcg, then I started reducing 25mcgs until I was on 25mcg. I would do the decreased dose for 30 days then go down 25 until I was on the 12.5mcg, at the 15th day I quit and it has been 9 days and I feel like I have just come out of a fog. I feel so much better, but like others I have problems sleeping so I have been taking lyrica at night and 1 800mg ibuprofen, and I have been able to sleep through the night. I think staying extremly busy helps with the with drawls. I work full time and I am a full time student at night, I'm so tired all the time and my back hurts alittle but it is still better than being on fentanyl. I wouldn't notice the withdrawls until I got home at night and sat down. The lyrica really helped me get to sleep at night. Good luck everyone its worth it, and Jemmy Congrats are in order and B-rad man my hat is off to you and anyone who is trying to get off that STUFF and yes our health care system are the real king pins.

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I'm pretty sure this is a fentanyl withdrawal posting page.... Please keep your shares about actual experience with fentanyl and withdrawing from it. There are other topic posting places on this same site.
Dave, you'll make it through, not easily but surely.
I'm a month drug free and feeling more myself everyday but still having sleeping restlessness.

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Dave. Thank you so much for your post. I see it as one of the most honest I have seen. You have realized that most addicts like us started out as chronic pain sufferers. I started with dihidrocodeine (synalgos DC) in 1972 for dysmenorrea. By 1979 I was a fulltime heroin addict because it was cheaper and easier than finding a doctor to believe that I was in pain..I never have used fentyal, and only heard about it a few years ago, but it sounds like some scary stuff to me..I wish you all of the best, and please keep writting about your experiences so the people who are in WD's know what they are up against and also that they aren't alone.. I was going to be a pharmasist, guess it was a good thing I didn;'t finish...Whatever pharmacy I worked for would have been emptied out the first day......Thanks again, and my best to you..

Pat

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I have been on fentanyl 25mcg for some time for spinal injury. I am coming off, and the withdrawal is quite painful and debilitating. My pain is still quite high, on top of the withdrawal. I am taking clonidine 0.1mg qid prn symptoms of withdrawal. This is tough, but I know I can do it. I chose to discontinue the fentanyl due to the depression it has caused. Any words of encouragement are appreciated as I go through this tough week. After all is said and done, I have more compassion and sympathy for my pain patients, any pharmacist or doctor should read my testimony and remember to treat their patients with sympathy. I use to think another drug addict young in my career. How ignorant I was, be thankful if you never have a severe chronic pain incident, but don't ever look down at those who do.

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Hello B-Rad..I hope by now that you would have turned in the methadone clinic you were going to because the clinic you were at is 100% different than LEGAL methadone clinics.. I have been on methadone maintenance since 1984 on and off, and full time since 2001. The clinics DO NOT keep raising doses just for the fun of it. In fact they don't or won't raise your dose at all w/o your permission, and you must have a good reason to want to keep going up. Clinics have state and Feseral guidelines they must follow and raising patients doses isn't included unless you do blood tests that include letting them know that your body eats up methadone faster than you can store it.. A lot of people try to get their doses increased without luck because they want to get high. As for them taking payment plans, what is wrong with that?? Any medical office takes payment plans, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what is wrong with that. I also have had other doctors who took payments, so there is nothing in the world wrong with that..As for the methadone program not being what they tell believe it is, please enlighten me on that. I would love to hear your version of the truth. Methadone programs are not meant to keep you hooked on methadone, most patients get off of methadone at some point, and the doctors at the clinics don't hold anyone down forcing them to stay. That is up to the patient. This is a freee world and you can do whatever you wish to do..I am curious to know how long you were hooked on heroin because you said something that is not true. You claim that methadone w/d is much worse than heroin..NOT TRUE. While the W/Ds may last longer, they are not anywhere near the hell you go through with heroin. And if the Restless legs, etc lasted for weeks for you and that includes any opiate. That is a very short time, you area verylucky person to have had PAWS only last a few weeks. How about your whole life??? Well, mine lasted for 10 years, and that wasn;t methadone, it was heroin..I like your choice of words the prescription underbelly you must be a very angry person, and you are going around just blasting methadone. I can understand anyone wanting to be clean, but to blast a whole program that has saved many more lives than it has hurt, you are being very hateful and hopefully you aren't scaring someone off whos life could be saved by methadone..If your W/D's were that bad, you should have tapered because methadone when used the right way, and when patients tapered slowly, the withdrawls are not horrible like you claim they are, Ya know, I usually cheer people on who want to get off of methadone (my husband is one of those people) but when people like you come along and tell out and out lies, that makes me angry because you deffantly don't really know squat about methadone, and you are trying to put fear into people who methadone does wonders for.. If you deciedeed to buy methadone off of the streets, that is illegal so you have no right to judge any program, in fact you should thank them for saving your but*... Next time you want to bash in a program that has worked for tens of thousands of people like me, make sure you know exacally what you are talking about, because I have been around opiates most likely b4 you were born. Happy girl, being on methadone for chronic pain is not even close to being on it for maintenance, In the first place your dose would be much lower. So please don't think it has anything to do with methadone being used for addiction. I just wish people who bad mouthed certain drugs knew what they were talking about b4 they try to talk other people off of them, (I am not talking about you) To people like B-rad, if you hate methadone so much, you really need to go to the NA website..You will have a huge cheering section..Just don't try to demonize a medication because you hate it, that is just wrong. If I were the owner of the clinic you are bad mouthing, I would see where I wouldn't even want you near my clinic. As for buying methadone on the streets, the people that sell methadone are killing people because of overdoses, you are just as guilty for keeping them in business...To anyone who is going through PAWS right now,,There is no time limit for it to go away, Some people never suffer from it, and for a very small number, PAWS may never go away. Just be patient.. Some people just learn to live with it because they have no choice. There are medudations for PAWS, ask your doctor.. Some people swear by quinine, and others (my husband) swears by putting a bar of soap under his sheets right by his legs. Its' cheap and he says it works wonders. There is also new medications but I jsut don't know the names of them.. And please friends, if you don';t have real information, it is better to say nothing at all than to say things that can hurt others

Pat

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B-rad, thanks for your shared experience. It seems there is not an easy way to stop any opioid drug. I'll admit that when I had severe back pain, they were the only real reliever of pain...for a while. Then it takes more and more. I used Oxycodone but not the Methadone. It's been about 3 weeks that I have been Fentanyl patch free and I still have restless legs at night and trouble sleeping. I do feel better every day, though. My head is not so foggy. Keep posting your progress. We all benefit from each others shared experience. Thanks!

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I started using oxycodone for severe nerve damage in my foot , and was told I would be on treatment for the rest of my life . after about a year the doctors introduced me to the fentanyl patch , and about 6 months after that , my insurance lapsed and they cut me off completely . That was the first time I went through withdrawls .. I quickly found the seedy underbelly of the prescription drug world and became a large part of it . not wanted to go through those withdrawls for a single minute . I Ended up buying methadone off the streets . which , anyone who's made their way around the opiate block can tell you , Has worse withdrawls than Herion . After several Years of doing this , I went onto the methadone program , which is not what everyone believe it to be . The Methadone program is meant to keep people hooked to methadone . the increase doses regularly and will even take payment plans .. how nice . The point of my story is . when I finally said enough is enough and let myself go through the withdrawls fullbore .. it was the most unpleasant , horrific debilitating experience of my life . and I wouldnt wish it on a necropheliac pedofile . The hot flashes and restlesness are compounded . you are completely exhausted but you cant sleep . there is no end to it .. and it lasts for weeks

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