Fentanyl Patch Withdrawal Symptoms And Duration (Page 8)
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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 agree, the guys hand this stuff out like candy........

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I don't understand why one cannot get a smaller dose pack to wean off. When I went through the withdrawal from Fentanyl, I was comatose......they gave me Dilaudin through an IV.....I responded very badly to it.....
I recall there is a high blood pressure medicine called Clonodin or something very much like it..., or a name very similar. You take two tablets the first day of withdrawal, one the second & third, and stop taking it. It stops the shakes, sweats and other horrible side effects to opiate withdrawal. A friend of mine, also a surgeon, helped me 10 years ago when I was kicking Oxy......they hand the crap out like candy......He did the research, and I took it regardless of the fact I don't suffer from high blood pressure.
I have low blood pressure, but took the drug anyway, I wanted freedom from Oxy. After 3 days, you ought to be fine.....Don't let those clowns give you Methadone, that stuff is even worse to get free of.....The fact they don't have alternatives tells me there is something wrong with the system.
Good luck to you.
Otherwise, there is nothing one can take......

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I believe that you wound down too much too fast. You need to wean off in much smaller doses. If you can cut them, great, if not get the doctor to give you smaller and smaller patches. If you can, ask your doctor for a calming agent while you go through this, especially since you lost your husband. I'm so sorry, and yes weaning at that time was bad timing as your nerves are completely frayed. My Dr gave me Klonopin. If the doctor can't or won't help with calming the nervous system, then go to Amazon or your local alternative store and buy Highlands Nerve Tonic and some Kava Kava in the day and night, and don't use it sparingly. Also make sure you get 7-8 hours of sleep to heal your nerves. Get Ambien if you can or use L-theanine and Melatonin and L-Tryptophan, or whatever they have to help you sleep. I have FMS also, have been ill with so much that follows it and I am now down to 4 micrograms of fentanyl with, one vicodin a day to get through withdrawals. Thee calming agents are the most important of this process for your nerves, pain and withdrawals. Feel free to ask me anything else. Have patience and faith.

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I had problems with my patches falling off since I am a cook and sweat a lot. I used a tegaderm patch over the fentenayl patch and it worked really well. I am now in the process of weaning down from 100mg ,\. At 50mg now and having increased anxiety, depression. Lost my husband in march in a car accident, not sure this was a smart time to do this. My pain dr. does not seem to care that at times I am sucidial. Taking it for fibromilagia muscle pain.,knee and back pain. I would not ever go on this again.

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How are you now with the rls? Did it go away? Did you try taking iron with dinner? You should defiantly be out of withdrawals by now. Let me know as I'm still weaning, down to 4 mcg.

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That's terrible! I'm so sorry for what you are going through. You are in my prayers. I wish I could do more for you.

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Hi there: Thanks for your comment. I do not beat myself up, I have a condition that will soon take my life.......and I was very careful in my use of narcotics because they can and do stop working......I have finally developed a physical reaction to Fentanyl, and I already have an allergy to morphine.
That is why I tread lightly.....Opiates are better than not having opiates.......but, if you reach a point where you cannot use any, what happens then?
I wish I could use Fentanyl, it is a very effective pain blocker. I am going for the neurostimulator.....Keep doing all you can. Thanks for your comment.

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Hi there I have Lupus ,fibromyalgia , and chronic back pain ( my whole back/and neck) I have pain 24/7 As a Nurse and Holistic Nurse I beat myself of for years because I felt like I was betraying the Holistic field by taking narcotics for this pain. It tried ALOT of different meds and weaned myself or stopped taking cold turkey.I really felt like a drug addict It took agreat friend to remind me that needing to treat my pain and function day.to day was OK .That's why we have them. .Don't confuse taking your meds as prescribed as an addiction.We need more understanding pain management Docs in the US and education .

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Thanks Waiting in the Sun,
I have it bookmarked now.

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John,

I tried to repost but it's being blocked our something. Go back to my post #151 in this thread and follow that link, it leads to another poster that copied Robert's method into one of the threads in this forum.

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Hi Waiting in the Sun,
I tried copying the article you posted the other day as an attachment but I could not get it to work. I thought I saved it to my Favorites/Bookmarks but I can not retrieve it. Could you please re-post?
Many thanks,

John

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I came off the patches when comatose in ICU due to blood poisoning. They gave me IV dilaudid instead. I had the tablets, so decided to stay off the patches after reading how brutal the withdrawal can be......My doctor is looking to get my insurance to give me a stronger version of fentanyl, one that can go under the tongue....only for cancer patients. If I can get that, I will probably go back to it. You are correct it is a good painkiller, but the patches are unreliable, there is no way to monitor or assure dosage. In my case, they fall off, or if I make a mistake putting them on, they are completely unusable. Medical use of what you suggest isn't allowed for patients being given controlled substances in our state. The doctors are not allowed to give out controlled substances if we come up positive for the medication you suggest. It is a way around the new laws, put it on the pain doctors. Until big pharmaceuticals can control and market it, they will lobby for ways around legal use. This is one technicality.

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I have cancer of the spine, on top of that, it is twisting on the axis, and at last scan was on the 3rd rotation. My condition is terminal, so it is not a matter of getting free of drugs, per sec, in my case, it is keeping drug use to a minimum. The reason is simple, as the pain continues to advance, I need to have stronger ones in reserve.....Mitigating the pain is all I can do. It appears the cancer has spread to other parts of my body, including the lymph nodes, so my time is about over. I was not suggesting another narcotic as a mode of detoxing......On one of my posts, I talked about how I got free of Oxy at home alone (recommend a detox center, but in those days, I had no resources for one) using a high blood pressure medicine prescribed by a surgeon friend to dry up the sweats and shakes, Clonedin....or something like that. I would never recommend a narcotic for those able to live without pain mitigation.

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MG,

I'm sorry to hear of your illness. Is there a reason you decided to come off of the fentanyl? It really is a great painkiller for those of us with extreme chronic pain, if I were terminal I would have no qualms about continuing fentanyl therapy. For those of us that are not terminal, have chronic pain and are still young enough that we're still looking at years of pain management though.......I don't recommend it until ALL other avenues have been explored and exhausted. With fentanyl being one of the strongest options for pain management, one you're on it all other opiates are like taking candy and your options for comfort start becoming bleak other than increasing your fent dosage. This becomes a problem when you still have years ahead of you, or say, you have surgery scheduled.......it becomes very difficult to treat the acute pain that results due to your extreme tolerance. For me, I have a very high metabolism and I seemed to burn thru all the medication in the patch within the first 26 to 30 hours, I then spent nearly a full day withdrawing until I could change my patch again. It was like being on the worst rollercoaster ride ever. It's still not legal in my state, but have you tried medical marijuana treatment? I have more faith in nature's cures than the man made nightmares we are forced to use if we want to live any kind of life.

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Using dilaudid or percocet is not really a good idea if you want off of narcotics, it just substitutes one opiate for another and you'd just withdraw from the new opiate when you quit taking it. Using the method I posted earlier I went thru no real discomfort, no sickness and in 2 weeks I was done and clean, it was much easier than trying to wean with another narcotic.

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This is an excellent message, thanks for posting it. Positive thinking, outside interests, keeping involved in life is essential to pain management. I have a terminal spinal condition that will soon take my life, but doctors who have treated me over the last 20+ years have expressed amazement I was not in a wheel chair years ago. I have kept engaged, listened to others, helped when I could, stayed out of self as much as possible.
I also had an MD who did acupuncture, and I am sure that kept me free of narcotics for at least 20 years. I have really enjoyed my life until the last couple of years when my condition has advanced to the point I have to accept my own mortality.
I have come to terms with it, and am okay about it. I have difficulty walking, pain has accelerated, ETC. I continue to reach out to others. I can listen, and offer support, and will do so the rest of my life.
Positive thinking and activities are essential to keeping life on a good, even track. When in hospital (been there a lot lately), my computer lets me connect to sites and people I like.
Keep positive. Thanks for the good ideas.

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Have you researched the drug, withdrawal and time period on line? The MFG will often give data, and so does Google. I was totally weaned off of Fentanyl in ICU by the doctors giving me dilaudid, the other drug given me for pain. I don't recommend developing sepsis, becoming comatose and nearly dying to withdraw, but I am free of the drug now. I may have to go back to it because I have terminal spinal cancer, my back just broke again, and the pain is powerful. However, ask your doctor if dilaudid or oxy might work for you to get free. I did talk to one doctor about the weaning off of Fentanyl & asked if one could go from the 12mg to 6mg, 3mg, ETC. He said 12 was the lowest, and I ventured that seemed a recipe for suffering. What about Percocet or something like that? I suggest asking & calling until receiving satisfactory response. If you don't, find another doctor. I hope you are seeing a pain specialist, they usually have the best information available in the pain field. If not, find one.

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Glad I could help, I know how terrified I was to come off fentanyl after experiencing it's wd's. I can honestly say, it was easy using Robert's method. Of course, I still have pain but I've found that it's no worse than when I was wearing a 50mcg patch and taking 10mg percocet 4xday. Now on the days I simply can't take the pain, I will take a couple tramadol, they don't totally kill the pain, but they help take the edge off as well as put me in a better mood with a little energy which also helps in dealing with pain. On another note, I found in the past that tramadol worked wonders for withdrawal from my opiates too (not something to take daily for long periods, as it too can be addicting even though it is not a true opiate). I wish you the best of luck John, keep us posted on your progress and if you need support!

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Thanks heaps Waiting in the Sun. It looks good.
Gratitude,
John

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John,

I hope that helps, they changed what I pasted and referred to a post here where it appears someone else had copied Robert's plan and posted it. I glanced thru it and it appears to be word for word the same plan Robert shared many years ago, so it must have proven successful for others too! Good luck!

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