Is Fentanyl Really 80x Stronger Than Morphine? (Top voted first)

if fentanyl is 80x stronger than morphine, how much morphine will I have to take if I'm on 25mg fentanyl. sounds scary

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Hi! I am a pro with the patches.
The patches are great, you don't have to worry about pills or anything.
1. If you don't know, it comes in generic and is much cheaper
2. When you put the patch on MAKE SURE you hold the patch on for 1 minute. The heat from your hand will ensure that it remains stuck to your skin*
3. The adhesive from the patch might start to irritate your skin or cause burn blisters. This can be managed by using a spray antihistamine on the location prior to putting on the patch just make sure it dries before putting on the patch
4. If you have trouble keeping the patch on your skin for the 3 day duration then there are these window bandages you put over the patch after putting on the patch, again hold for 1 minute so the heat from your hand can help it adhere.

Hope these tips help.

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Hello, Kim! How are you?

You're on 25mcgs of Fentanyl?

You'd need only about 7.5mgs of Morphine.

This is a narcotic analgesic, so it has the potential to be habit forming and may cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation.

Is there anything else I can help with?

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None. If you are taking Fentanyl you should have no need to take morphine.

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I have been researching most of the day and absolutely cannot find an answer to my question. I have metastatic breast cancer. My oncologist had me on 60mg mscontin, which I take every 12 hours. I was also on 20mg oxycodone every 4 hours for breakthrough pain. I have not asked for any dose to be increased, but Medicaid has made the decision that I should no longer take the 60mg mscontin every 12 hours and instead should use a 50mcg fentanyl patch every 3 days. All I want to know is if a patch of that strength is going to give as much pain control as my dose of mscontin and are the side effects from the patch going to be as bad as they were when I first started mscontin....feeling stupidly happy, talking too much, trouble sleeping, etc. I did not like any of those feelings, even the phony/chemical happy feelings because they were fake. Nobody with metastatic breast cancer is ever THAT happy even on a good day. Have also heard fentanyl patches can kill people even when used correctly. Medicaid wants me to stay on the 20mg oxycodone every 4 hours for breakthrough pain and after learning the patches can depress your breathing so much you can die from it, I'm afraid to take more narcotic (oxycodone). I am really spooked about this.

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Can't look at it that way. Different drugs and different effects. Fentanyl is dosed in micro grams and 1000 micro grams is 1 miligram

Like asking if TNT is stronger than C 4. It's all about the size or the amount.

Fentanyl is very strong. It's laboratory Heroin and Morphine is strong too but it does nothing for me in any dose. Only makes me sick like I have the flu.

Your Dr will know the conversion rate and put you on a proper dose. It's nothing to worry about - you might need less than you think of you might be one that's allergic to it.

Let the Dr do his or her job.

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It is 80 times stronger than morphine if you want to look at it that way. It doesn't work very well taken orally unless you are using the lozenges (suckers). The suckers and patches work the best. It is highly, highly addictive and you go through mini-withdrawals once you start becoming addicted when you are taking more than 4 lozenges a day - you are in so much pain in between doses. Be careful with this drug, in the lozenge form there are 10 tsp. of sugar in each dose and it rots your teeth. I lost 8 teeth. It is intended for stage 3 & 4 cancer patients who are not concerned about their teeth so much so brush your teeth all the time.

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Hi, so sorry and I know how a stage 4 metastasized cancer treats the body. I do not know what your doctors outlook is for you but can imagine. You have no business being on this course of pain management. Dilaudid and oxymorphone in i.v or i.m form would serve you better and the doses can be controlled more easily. It is very easy to teach anyone how to self administer or a loved one...god bless you.

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No it is not stronger in the way you are talking. It is more potent. Which in laymen terms means you need less. It is easy to get scared, don't. Look up buprenex in a PDR and the avg person reads It's 100-1000 times more potent than morphine. Well 1 buprenex inj. is .03mg per cc, more potent. Also, yes it has a stronger analgesic effect as well, but a much shorter duration of its pain relieving effects.

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Re: Rosen MD PA (# 10)

The way I explain the Fentanyl hysteria created by the media is this - yes, Fentanyl is up to 80x more powerful than morphine, but that doesn't mean you'll be given 80x more medication. It's 80x more powerful by mass (milligram/micro-gram), and there are equivalency tables that medical professsionals use to balance this. Example, if you were taking 2 of the 60mg morphine ER tablets per day, this roughly equates to a 50 MICRO GRAM per hour patch. So in one day, you would receive 1200 micrograms, or 1.2 milligrams, of Fentanyl, instead of 120 milligrams of morphine. 80x 1.2 = you're roughly getting the same amount of opioids per day. What the media has tried to do is convince everyone that anyone on Fentanyl is receiving 80x the analgesics that they were on other medications, and this is not only incorrect, it's ridiculous.

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Plain and simple you are on way too much of pain meds unless you are terminally ill, it's a ridiculous amount!!!

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Re: Pimmsy (# 5)

Can bandaid or surgical tape go over the patch completely covering it so it secures it in place for the 3dsys?

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Re: Abby (# 12)

Who the hell do you think you are? We have doctors, pharmacists, the DEA and who know who else that has their eye on pain meds ... she nor anyone else needs your 2 cents worth.

I would like to wish you something very painful that you can not get enough relief from the pain to eat, sleep, or get out of bed. A week or 2 of serious pain would leave you very much humbled!
Good Luck with that!

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It's not stronger it's just that it goes through the body different it's a patch it's absorbed through the body different. Do not take ANY other pain meds with it unless the Dr gives you what's called a break through pain med which maybe msir ( Morphine sulfate immediate release) or oxycontin immediate release. It's the same as if you took the Morphine long acting pill you definitely wouldn't take the patch as well! You must be very careful, an watch listening to some on here as anyone can answer questions best is to talk to your Dr if your confused.

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Yes, Fentanyl is 80% stronger.

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