Fentanyl Patch Wearing Out (Page 2)
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Hello. I am on the fentanyl patch, 125mcg every 72 hours. And ever since starting the patch I have been able to once again be more active. I exercise for an hour every morning and walk in the evening. My dr said the patch will last me 72 hours but by 48 and sometimes less, my pain begins to return and I start feeling withdrawl symptoms I use to feel on oxy or percs. I've tried telling my dr that I need to change every 2 days but he insists that this does not happen to anyone else. Does anyone here have the same issues? And are you feeling better results from different brands of the patch?

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Jessica definetely have had the same issue before your body has grown an identical tolerance and the only way to hang in there is to taper off with some low dose brekthrough medication you dont want to add more medication as you would be going in the wrong direction but also know reading your other article that the fentanyl helps you need tomaybe strengthen your toletance instead of weaken it per say otherwise your 125mcg will soon not be as effective and youll then be glued to that tolerance and have a rougher time making things manaegable with the pain you have to deal with maybe im not making any since but backing up and taking a small timeout 20second one to put it would help more and give you back 2 differnt tolerances to work with(i should know working on mine)due to such high painlevels im dealing with know were your coming from

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Hey phil classic case of where if you cant beat it(or em) then join em to a small degree getting ready to go in for big time back surgury and if i can come out of it with long term less pain than what ive been dealing with its time to start wrapping up my episode done it once before but thats good info for me to absorb for rightnow other ideas of course ive been adding on a list to ease my detox that i plan on soon as i have surgury l-3l-4 herniated disks crowded nerve that just makes me cry at night and at work my 2scripts from pain management just hasnt been cutting it lately i wont take this crap the rest of my life though if you know what i mean just stuck in a corner right now with definetely a semi clean way out of it just need to get this surgury done and start weening my way foward only way to do it know were your coming from good luck wish me gonna need some soon
........fenatyl what a relief for now....
.

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Milo, well said! The patient must advocate for him/herself. I was wrongly diagnosed with MS. I have had a 22 year journey dealing with chronic pain, insomnia, fatigue, migraines, and the list goes on and on. My "team" includes 4 doctors that have probably never spoken to one another about me or my care. It is unfortunate but a patient cannot trust a doctor to look out for his/her best interest or treatment. You seem much more organized than I am but your advice is key. I hope everyone reads your post and follows your words of wisdom. Otherwise you will fall victim to a long list of medications with negative side effects. No one is watching out for the patient. If you are too sick to handle the responsibility, please bring a family member or friend to help.

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Not to sound rude, but if you dont think your drs are talking to eachother... WHY arent you doing something about it? YOU are the captain of ur healthcare team. Not even your family doctor is the captain, YOU ARE. Your family dr is more like the 2nd in command. Do not ever assume they are thinking about ALL you need. They have hundreds of "yous" to look after. Only YOU can look after YOU the best.

Have a copy of your own medical records. KNOW THEM. Never go to the doctor without reviewing them and preparing ahead of time. make notes to take with you each visit. You would be surprised how much they DO miss and if you get the right doctor like i have been lucky enough to find, you will be able to voice concerns and have them listened t o and acted upon.

When I first came to Canada, I hauled a suitcase FULL of records to EVERY doctor appt. I am sure they thought i was nuts or "malingering" ( making it up) But, over time i became educated enough that they began to listen, and in the end it was ME who diagnosed a problem I have with insulin, which was making me quite sick. When I suggested it may be my insulin problem, I had the medical records right in hand to show my reasoning and I was given the CORRECT diagnosis (for that part of my health any way) Had I NOT been all over my records and researching on my own, i could very easily STILL be producing too much insulin and be very ill by now. I discovered the probable diagnosis at age 35, by then i was already childless, and had high blood pressure, not to mention many other effects of the disease. But, most doctors know little about my illness despite it being one of the most common reasons for infertility. (and EASILY treatable with simple diabetes pills twice a day) My point is do not rely on them to be combing over your records, looking for tests from two yrs ago looking at other doctors notes, lab work etc. MOST read the most recent progress notes and thats about it. So if the LAST doctor you saw says you have "abc disease" the next one will go with that assumption and continue wth that theory. SO if YOU do not look into these things yourself you may find yourself in worse shape than when you started. ( I was being treeated for Multiple Sclerosis before I discovered my TRUE problem... and the drugs for MS are BAD BAD BAD for you especially if you dont actually HAVE MS!!!)

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I was on the patch also and needed to go to 48 hours per my doctors permission then I needed at 24 hours which doctor wouldn't allow. I also developed terrible sweating and I'm well past menopause. My body just kept wanting more. I had to stop using the fentanyl patch

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Hi, I have recently heard of exactly the same thing happening to someone else. I guess this isn't much help but you are definitely not the only one experiencing this. I should push the case a bit more. You could try buprenorphine. Not as strong but apparently lasts stated time.

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Many pain management doctors are physiatrists. Find out what your doctor's specialty is. An orthopedic doctor often is called a pain management Doctor but physiatrists do have better understanding of the meds, side effects, drug interactions, etc.

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Hi Jessica. It sounds like what you need is a physiatrist. Physiatrists specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation. ThIs is branch of medicine that works to restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities.

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Jessica, in the beginning the Fentanyl patch did last for 72 hours if it didn't come off due to sweat. Soon I discovered after 2 to 2 1/2 days I was hit with breakthrough pain. My pain management Doctor decided it would be better for me to change the patch every 48 hours. It increases the amount of medication in your bloodstream but not as much as increasing the dosage. So a one month supply is 15 not 10. It seems very common if you read some of the posts here. Good luck!

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Jessica tell ur doc to give u opana er 15 to take night before ur third day .. I did this till I had my doc change me to every 2 days ... im off all meds now exploring other Av of pain management .. acupuncture massage therapy and hot I mean hot hydro therapy

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Jessica, I don't feel any of my doctors provide an integrated approach. I have fibromyalgia and rhematoid arthritis. I see a pain management doctor, rheumatologist, osteopath, and a psychiatrist. Each strictly adheres to the meds that their "specialty" allows them to prescribe. Two of the doctors do not accept my insurance. I don't think any one has spoken to one of the others about the best treatment plan for me, their patient. An integrated approach would be great, time saving and probably money saving with better results.

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Hi, I have had the same problem from the day I began Fentanyl. I ALSO have found activity and LIFE again with Fentanyl... Also the bonus is not having to stop every 3-6 hours to take pain meds, and having meds in me 24/7 allows me to be more mobile in the morning as I am not waiting on drugs to kick in.

I am a hot person, I sweat a lot and am ALWAYS hot. I also am very active. I had a problem with patches either falling off or loosing effectiveness after 2 days as well. So what I did, was ask my doctor to write my rx differently. I took 50 mcg at the time. So she wrote the rx for "25 mcg patch dispense 20, use 1-2 patches every 2-4 days" This allowed me to wear one patch for a day or so then add a second should i need it. And it made her feel better knowing i was trying to use the lesser dose and by writing it to use every 2-4 instead of a flat 3 day rate. The 4 day allowance made my doctor more comfortable with it.

What I suggest is ask the dr to wrote your rx for " 75mcg patch dispense 10 use 1 patch every 2-4 days" AND ALSO write a second rx "50mcg patch dispense 10 use 1 patch every 2-4 days". This will allow you better control over your dosing as well. I found that if I was not active and had no plans I could do just fine with one patch, but if I planned on lots of work or travel I would apply the second patch. I also liked that it allowed me to accumulate a reserve supply of patches. Because the ONE MAIN PROBLEM with the patch is adhesion. I have had patches fall off after only 5 hours use.. and they NEVER re stick. And if ONE patch falls off you become one patch short at end of the month. In the USA I found myself saving the fallen off patches to take to the doctor to PROVE it did fall off. I hated that. Now I live in Canada, and the doctors here are more trusting than that. I recommend ANYONE living in the USA on Fentanyl call the drug company that makes your patch and complain that you LIKE using the patch and PREFER it but feel you will HAVE to change meds due to adhesion issues, and ask can they help. I did this and Jansen would send me a box of 100 patch covers called TEGADERM, every 2-3 months, I just had to call and say I was running low and they would send out a new box. These patch covers are a god send It is the same material the hospitals use to keep an IV stuck on to a person. The patch covers Jansen used to send me were rather large, about 3x6 inches. A patch cover that size is QUITE expensive. I can buy a box of 8 SMALL 2x3inch tegaderm in the drugstore for $8 Canadian. But, in the hospital pharmacy I can get them for 35 cents each... the 3x6 patch are STILL $1.30 or so Canadian EACH!!! So the free supply from the drug company is a true blessing. (They dont give these free in Canada, but DO still in the USA) If you do not need the covers, I say STILL get them free, I had stopped Fentanyl for a while and had a full box of covers remaining. I discovered 101 uses for these things over the years, I used them for photo covers, phone covers, the list could go on and on.

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My dr is extremely paranoid. He compromised with me and allowed me to change my patch every 48 hours but I had to go down to 100 mcg. So I've been doing so for the past almost 4 weeks. It's been really bad. Usually I only have to take oxy on the 3rd day being on 125 mcg because it completely wears off. I have severe pain and withdrawal like symptoms. But now I'm taking oxy every day because I have constant break thru pain. I go back on Tuesday. I'm going to tell my dr that I would rather go back on 125 for 72 hours. It's better to have 2 good days and oxy on the 3rd day than to have constant bad days. I hate taking oxy. I feel like a slave to the pills. But I have to tread lightly with my dr. I don't wNt him to tank my patches completely. Idk what I would do if I had to go back to living the life of severe agonizing and debilitating pain I did once before. I couldn't live through that again. I wish he would just give me a break. I know 125mcg is the perfect dose for me. I even showed him this website and how many others change their patches every 48 hours. He says those Drs should lose their license. Unbelievable. If it wasn't for my ortho surgeon who knows my pain because of the state of my shoulders (two torn rotator cuffs and much more) and my neck (collapsed discs and large bone spurs) and already having 3 surgeries and waiting on the next, I don't know what would of happened to me. He's the only one that has made sure I don't suffer any more or longer than I have too. And my dr thinks that I should not have any other surgeries. "People walk around with torn rotator cuffs all the time, it's not that bad, it's mostly phycological", is all he has to tell me. But no other Drs will work with me. I'm not a difficult patient what so ever. My case is just difficult.

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My doc prescribes it for every 48 hrs. No big deal to him. I am opiod tolerant AND a large person. (Big guy). Sooo... maybe your doc is just one of those skittish ones who do not like prescribing drugs that are very, very poten

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Hi, the oramorph is liquid morphine. 5ml spoon =10mg of morphine. I used this to ease the withdrawal symptoms. Only using as much as i needed. Coping with some of the withdrawal symptoms. Been off everything for over a week now and only have slight tummy upset. My worst symptoms have been back and stomach pain. Also restless at night. I hope this info helps.

Phil.

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Phil, I am not familiar with the pain medication you were using. However, this past summer with the hot, humid weather in NY made it impossible to keep the fentanyl patches in place for even 48 hrs. I tried using tegaderm patches ( 3 of them ) to keep one 75 mcg/hr Par brand patch in place. My skin got burned and cut from the adhesive. Would like to get off the fentanyl. Can you provide any additional info. About the medication mentioned in your post? Would it be an alternative to fentanyl?

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Hi, i am a 52yr old male with arthritis in neck. I had exactly the same problems as you with these patches. I found that as soon as i got warm after only moderate exercise, the sweats became unbearable. The patches kept falling off. I was feeling withdrawal symptoms between changes. I came off patches from 90mg, dropping 30mg at time, used oramorph to help. I took the last 30 mg patch off 7 days ago. I had no more oramorph. It's been rough week but only have upset tummy at moment, so feel it's nearly over. I won't be using fentanyl or morphine again. I hope you find something better than these patches, because i felt they were inadequate. Good luck, Phil.

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Jessica, I go to 4 different doctors. Two are covered by my insurance and two I pay out of pocket. I understand your frustration. My pain management doctor is an orthopedic doctor but he claims that he is watched very closely when prescribing medications that are controlled substances. He was understanding when I explained the patch did not work or stay on for the full 72 hours and that's when he suggested applying a new one every 48 hours. I hope you can find a doctor that listens to you and addresses your various health issues.

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Thank you for everyone's info. I went to the dr last Tuesday and what he decided to do was take me down to 100 mcg and chNge every 48 hours. So I went through a day of minor withdrawls but I'm having to use breakthrough pain meds every day now when before on my first 2 days of 125mcg I didn't need any. I go back on Thursday and I'm going to have to tell him that it's not working. 125mcg is a perfect dose for me. I hope I can convince him to allow me to take the same dosage again. My dr is one of those who is so by the book, follows all the AMA guidelines and is completely paranoid about prescribing opiates. Which is hard to believe because he is a "pain management specialist". I know that they are really cracking down on prescriptions and auditing many doctors who hand them out like candy. I also know that it is only masking my real issues. My dr was really working hard on helping me with my Addison's, celiac, hypothyroidism, premenopausal issues. But it seems like he has given up. It is so hard to find a good integrated doctor who is willing to really dive in and get to the root of things. I found a practice not too far from me but because it is integrated medicine, you have to pay out of pocket. And it's expensive. I hope my dr will allow me to get back on my original dosage of 125mcg for 2 days. Just long enough for me to find a dr who is willing to work on difficult cases.

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I'm not sure if I'm using this forum right but 48 hours is all I get as well

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