Decreasing Fentanyl Withdrawal Help
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Being weaned off of fentanyl. Just need to talk to others about it. I've dropped down from 100 to 75 it's been a month. Sometimes I have no appetite for days at a time. Now my whole body is aching really bad. I was put on this after I had sugery on my cervical spine and after I found out later that my back was just as bad and I couldn't stand the pain. They started me on a low dose and increased until I was doing ok. I just want to mentally feel good again.

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Buddy,

If you are still on 100 mcg/hour you have not a clue. I am a P450 ultra rapid opioid metabolizer which means I was on far more then you and due to this 120 mg. morphine equivalent no physician will write this much. I was with Dr. Famous in California the past 5 years and due to new regulations he dropped 30 out of state patients without cause and with 4 weeks of medication. Try going from 650 mcg/hour A DAY to less than 30% only because this physician told us to put aside a percentage and 10 months without a doctor pal.

When you go from the 100 mcg/hour to a lower dosage patch alone you will know suffering like a dying man trust me.

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Just a brief background. I have endured 12 orthopedic surgeries, 7 on my lumbar and cervical spine including multiple level fusions and 5 on my right shoulder. I own a company and work everyday, while there are days it has been quite the struggle.

I have been on Fentanyl patches for as long as they have been commercially available in the U.S., which is roughly 20 years. For about a decade, my dose was at 500 mcq every 48 hours. For a few years I was on Actiq at the same time. At the peak, I was the patient with the highest narcotic usage my pain clinic had EVER seen in their practice. Just imagine getting 15 BOXES (5 patches per box) of the 100 mcq patches every 28 days. Along the way I have had to supplement the fentanyl with just about everything ever devised for pain relief and the list is too long to even recall at this point.

My pain doctor has been very diligent the entire time and he is a very no nonsense type of guy. I have routinely undergone drug panels and I have never strayed from the stuff written by my doctor. I realize that my use of these drugs have placed my pain doctor in a very tough place and he and I have both undergone several extensive reviews and investigations from the state level narcotic drug monitoring boards. My use at this level was monitored and neither the doctor or myself has had any sanctions or other legal problems.

I had a spinal neurostimulator implanted in 2008, which helped. I ended my Actiq use and declined and then stopped any supplemental pain med use. Beginning in January of this year, I reduced my level from 500 every 48 hrs to 100mcq every 72hrs. Frankly, if done progressively, it wasn't terribly difficult. I leave on my old patch and replace the 2nd old one when applying the new one.

Prior to my Fentanyl patch, I was on 80mg Oxycontin and taking 6 to 8 everyday. That was a roller coaster of ridiculous proportions and would NEVER go down that road again. But that was a long time ago.

One of the most useful things I have ever done to deal with both the pain and the med withdrawal symptoms is to learn and really focus on the TRUE POWER your brain has. I can focus and reduce my heart rate and lower my blood pressure an AMAZING amount within just a few minutes of intense focus on using my brain to control my body. I can reduce my blood pressure 12% within 3 minutes and sometimes, even more. Same with heart rate.

When you are in chronic pain, and I speak with tremendous authority on this matter, you tend to focus on the pain and it becomes a self fullfilling process. You have to close your eyes and FOCUS intensely on relaxing and learn to achieve almost a self hypnotic state. However you achieve this is up to you but learn to focus energy NOT on the pain and it's cyclical effects but on something positive and productive.

I learned to achieve this in a quiet room and perfected my ability to reach this mental state so effeciently that I can now do this anytime, anywhere. While not all pain can be controlled, you can reduce the severity. Learn to DISTRACT YOURSELF mentally and not focus on the pain or the withdrawal symptoms. It takes time but it really is beneficial.

It is far too easy to simply reach for the pill bottle. I became very disgusted with how controlling the narcotics can become, even for someone who is very independent and self sufficient. I simply decided that I HAD to reduce my need and tolerance on narcotics and I have been quite successful in doing so. This same approach can be used to deal with the withdrawal symptoms.

When you are suffering either pain or withdrawals and lying there focusing on how bad you feel, it seems to become a very self full filling prophecy. You can learn to distract yourself, just as you can reduce your med dependence. It is very challenging to achieve, but the results are very worthwhile.

While I am a voracious reader, I have never read anything which I found I could attribute my ability to reach this controlled mental state. Your brain is extremely powerful and I really believe that we only use a small percentage of it each day. Instead of focusing on the negative of the pain, try hard to focus on the positive of something else. I hate to say this but "Find your happy place" and learn to go there, often. It will cost you nothing and certainly won't hurt.

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Hi- body and other pain is part of withdrawls.If you are really concerned get checked out even if all is ok you are having peace of mind that is important. G

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Hi ask you doc meds for the symptoms.nausia get antiemetic.tummy pain use something like massage and hw bottle buscapan may assist.It will take month each time you can do it.I watch dvds vera downton keep it light distraction.sleep when you need.glucose energy drink if not eating.see your med officer every 2 weeks touch base.your mind will be clearer the lower you get.do not worry.day by day G

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Anthony you are so right about the people that really need it not being able to get it while the abusers do. The government wants to control everyone and everything. I like you have used the same pharmacy for the last 7 1/2 years plus I have a signed drug contract with my Dr. Plus they can do med counts plus UA's at anytime. Can your family physician help you? I feel so bad for you the withdrawal must be horrible. Try to keep hydrated if you can't eat. Someone told me to take vitamins and vitamin D because of the area where we live. Plus drink as much juice as possible. But with the way you feel I doubt you even feel like drinking anything if your stomach is like mine but just keep sipping it. You're in my prayers. Please let me know how it's going. I really have no idea what to expect as we decrease these meds. But I am truly looking forward to getting off them.

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I promise you that you do not want to go cold turkey. Please don't even try it.
A big part of the problem is all the news lately. Some Dr's over prescribing. Feds putting the screws on all doc's records. They are all paranoid to open their books and I imagine their insurance premiums are much higher when qualified to scribe heavy pain meds. So it makes it hard for people that really need the meds. What really gets me mad is if I were an abuser I could get help. I only took what was scribed to me and only filled at one pharmacy so my records were easy to see. There is a med that fens off the withdrawals. Suboxone (sp) but like I said abusers get it but legit people must suffer. Catch 22

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Anthony, I'm sorry your Dr. has done that to you. It must be horrible. Do you have a family Dr that could help you? If circumstances were right at this time I think I would rather go through withdrawal all at one time and get it over with. I know it must be really bad for you. But I sometimes go for days without hardly eating I can't even force myself to eat. Extremely exhausted for no reason but withdrawal. Lots of other things to. You will be in my prayers. I hope that the process goes fast but I would seek help from your family Dr. maybe they can help. Please let me know how you are doing.

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I'm happy your doctor is tapering you off. I was on 75 mcg/h for years. Just last Thursday my unethical doctor told me he was not refilling my script. I feel like death. No sleep for 3 days now and have not eaten more that a few saltines and dry cereal. Honestly I pray to just fade away. 8 years total on this patch then nothing. I've had 2 cerical surgeries. Good luck. I pray all works out well with you.

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My Dr says it will be a long process :(. I've been on the 75mcg for a month and a half. The newest thing is really bad stomach pain, and no appetite and some nausea but I try to drink lots of water. I've dealt with severe stomach pain all my life due to appendix rupturing when I was very young. I thought the pain was normal because it was there from around the age of 4 or 5. Scar tissue turned into adhesions and I didn't find out what it was until my third child what it was. I've had them removed 8 times. But I just deal with the pain. But this pain that I'm having is in a totaly different place so I figured it was a withdrawal symptom so I didn't get scared. How long have you been on fentanyl? How far down have you gone? Thank you for responding.

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I am so sorry about what you're going through.

Everything you've described are normal withdrawal effects, though. You will likely experience them for awhile each time you lower the dose.

How fast are you tapering?

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