Fentanyl Patch Withdrawal Symptoms And Duration (Page 4) (Top voted first)

i have post surgical lower back pain. was in 50 mcg patch and had side effects and so decided to wean off. i finished with the 12 mcg patch a week ago and am still suffering from periodic nausea, irritability, daily joint and muscle pain, but the worst is the consistent restless legs. it is driving me crazy. my doctor says that is not withdrawal. is he right? i don't think so. if it is withdrawal, what can i do about it and how long will it last? i am going crazy.

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I would avoid methadone all the way. That was the hardest med to get off of. I was severely sick, was in hospital because I kept having grand mall seizures and even after that I ended up in a detox center for 12/days. It took months to get over that hell. All because it was the cheapest ones to afford for my pain control. I'd suffer before ever taking that medicine again!!!! I thought I was in hell... And I was. I'm withdrawing from fentanyl now an it's rough but nothing close to what methadone put me through!!! Don do it guys! Guarantee you will regret.

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Best thing for fentanyl withdraw if ur going thru withdraws symptoms have ur doc proscrib tramadol HCL 50 MG every 4 to 6 hrs . Is what my doc wanted me to take but I had very low withdraw symptoms and that's after a few yes on 100 MG patches every 2 days and didn't need it

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Ghost
Yea u can !! U just have to want it bad enough ,,,,.. ,FYI , I live in Louisiana , tramadol is not considered a controlled substance here , still need a scrip but it's not that tightly controlled

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Posters,

I am a licensed professional nurse and again state do not attempt such a taper alone.

Due to government interventions in physicians prescribing you may not be able to get Fentanyl patches in the near future. Or will regular physicians be able to prescribe. Do know that scientifically we have proven that opioids are the safest for long term intractable pain but your government under the ACA has done this.

When we have rid ourself of this president and return to profit medicine you will see physicians prescribing per their training and your need. The next few years will be rough--if you lose a physician or they refuse to prescribe due to CDC and FDA hype over overdose deaths (which were all people illegally using non prescribed prescription drugs) you may be in crisis. If you are running out you must go for ER's will not help you (not anymore they too are paid to NOT treat your pain) get to a Methadone Clinic who will tell you that you must be an addict.

Bottom line is you are a pain patient who will say that you will end up an addict on the street without medication. Methadone is the cheapest long acting medication known to man created under Hitler's rule. Due to America catering to addicts Methadone Clinics will continue. I have more to say on this topic but this is also a reduction of patch topic.

Peace.

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Big drug companies have the system set up to increase sales and returns for their shareholders. We suffer and they profit. The whole system needs an independent inquiry or the suffering will increase and continue.

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From my experience I think you are coming off too fast. You may not die but you will feel as if you are and you may have to go back on them. Despite most of the medical profession advising otherwise I cut the patches into 1 mm strips and reduced weekly. That was still fraught with +anxiety , insomnia and severe restless leg syndrome (RLS). I needed to lay down because of my severe pain but the RLS would not allow me to for more than 30 secs. I was suicidal with pain,fear and sleep deprivation. Thank God I made it. I feel alive again now.

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beware the benzos you are going to take for sleep - coming off them can be worse than opiates for some.

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Richard, I am glad you were able to get off fentanyl. I want to warn you about the meds they will prescribe to help with the insomnia. You can develop a tolerance and dependence to them that is just as serious as the fentanyl. Don't let it be a long term solution. Congratulations again - I failed, I had to go back to the fentanyl because the alternative pain meds had so many side effects that I couldn't do it.

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Thanks for the info! I have only used the sleeping pill Belsomra for just 9 days. My Dr and I decided as you said just a short time like 18 days. Sorry to hear you went back on them Fentanyl that is for pain.

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Kathleend,
Yes the Withdrawl from fentanyl will be horrific even under the best of circumstances I hope he gives you assistive meds to ease the abstinence syndrome. I would expect he may transition you to the medication you were on previously.there are new drugs available that can ease constipation in chronic opiate based medication users but they be contraindicated for those with ibs.If your doctor had treated you with such disregard I'd seriously consider a change in treating medical providers. Yes there are new laws in place but there are processes that can assist in the Withdrawl symptoms of need be.

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Keep up the progress slowly you will get there if you are patient. The other choice is continual suffering worse than the pain. I was on fentanyl patches for 10 years and cut the patches like you do. I got down to 12 mcg and moved to Kapanol and slowly reduced that to 20mg twice daily. If I cut further I get pain. NA keeps me motivated.

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Sounds like a long journey -congratulations. It requires a willingness to suffer.

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You can also take potassium for the restless legs.

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I am so sorry for u. I am longterm on fentanyl patches 50. , but unwell last day and a half. I remember seeing a used patch on the bathroom floor and said to myself to b more careful changing.i realised it was like wd, as a few years ago was vomiting and got wd then too. It is frightening.

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I've been reading all of your withdrawls and thank god didn't have to go through wd for some unknown reason I was on 100mcg fentynal and when I had to move out of state my doc gave me 2 month supply but found it difficult at first to find a new pain doctor so I feared the worst wd but believe it or not my wd were hardly as bad as a minor cold didn't understand but it took me 5 months to find a new doc and got repriscribed so i ask the doc about why I had no we he said it was because fentyal has a long half life so it gradually weened me off itself I kid you not sorry for all of you going through wd I know what its like I had to go through wd when I came off of oxy's 80 mg 4 a day good luck

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Dang, I've been on Fentanyl for a few years now because of intractable neuropathy. I may be on it for the rest of my life. I vary from 100 mcg/hr down to 50 and even 25 depending on how badly the burning is. Neuropathy in the feet is exactly like walking on white hot shards of broken glass even though the feet are numb. Yeah. Numb and PAIN. It does zilch for skeletal/muscle pain; I take White Willow Bark for that. If things get too painful, I take prescription strength naproxen. I try not to take it, however, because I'm also on gabapentin.

I'm trying to replace Fentanyl with the gabapentin, but I'm a very colorful woman...I'm yellow, the color of my religion...I'm a devout COWARD! Orthodox, of course. The reason for my angst is that I have withdrawn from Morphine cold turkey. NEVER AGAIN!

One of the things that I have used with some success; however the pain always takes over and I've got to get back into a trance state. Tonight, however, I broke a 56 year record and had my first car accident. I backed up into another vehicle because I didn't see his headlights. My '98 Ford van had NO damage. The brand new 2014 Ford F-150's front bumper was dented in. I tell you this only because even though I was going very slow, I still had a whiplash...just what I did NOT need.

Take care y'all, hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

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I'm not a doctor but have been taking pain medication for 6 yrs and at times have stopped taking them for up to two weeks so that I can lower my tolerance. What you are describing is exactly what withdrawal is. Typically my withdrawal would last approx 10 days, the worst being the first 4 days but after that the symptoms were much less severe. While I was going through them though I still needed something for my pain so I continued to take my tramadol, which helped with the pain as well with the withdrawls. I've been taking tramadol for 11 yrs and the oxycodone for 6 yrs. I've had 4 back surgeries since 2006 and am worse off now than I was prior to surgery. I'm actually shocked that your doctor doesn't recognize your symptoms as withdrawl, it's odd because everything you mentioned is classic symptoms. Good luck to you.

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Methadone is not the way to go i had to quite cold turkey i was sick for two months first 16 days i didebt sleep five min getting off meth way harder then the pach im going thhro the w/d right now and compar to the meth not comparable just my point

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One of the things that I've learned about arthritis and its associated pain: Do not use pain killers. I'm using Naproxen, 500 mg twice a day.. I'm on Fentanyl 50 mcg/hr and it does NOTHING for my back or shoulder pain, however, it is the ONLY thing that works on my neuropathy. It seems to work only on nerve pain, but others have used it for other pain, so ???

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Denise, I have been on Suboxone for over a year and it works very well for the withdrawals. You also will see an amazing turn around in your life. I don't even take as much as the doctor scribes to me. I don't have to because I see now that I don't have to "have" anything for the pain. My Sub doctor told me my pain level intensified when I was on pain meds just so I would need more pain meds. The company makes them like that so you won't stop using their products. Now that I have been off the pain med for over a year I see a difference in my life. Good luck.

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