I went to see a new pain management specialist. I wasn’t happy with the one I was going to “here’s your script see in a month” …no follow up, no nothing basically.
So the new dr suggested a fentanyl patch at the lowest dose. I’m trying it out. I actually have a little more energy…maybe from less pain who knows.
Has anyone else tried this? What was your experience?
My rheumatologist started me on a 12 mcg fentanyl patch(lowest dose)this past November but was upped to 25 mcg a week later. I take it with tramadol and 15 mlg morphine IR for breakthrough pain. I was started on it because of severe pain from systemic bone marrow edema, osteopina, cartilage and labrum deterioration .. it works well enough to be able to walk with a walker in short spurts and not be confined to my wheelchair all the time but definitely doesn't last the 72 hours as prescribed. The problem is I've already built a tolerance and need the next dose up but I've been putting it off. I really hate to think I'll have to up my dose every 6 months:/ I can't take percocet, loracet or any pain meds with acetaminophen because of my non alcoholic fatty liver. If you do go on it definitely talk to your dr about the pros and cons. Good luck
I have used them in the past and they worked quite well but I didn’t like the drugged feeling it gave me. I don’t like my brain to be too fuzzed out. However they were much needed as I had been in an accident and messed up my back. They also spare your stomach from taking yet another med. Good luck!
I’ve used it also and experienced the short life. It never lasts for 72 hours that it’s supposed to. And I’m also on the lowest dose which isn’t enough pain relief for me so I use hydrocodone for breakthrough pain. I also worry about becoming dependent on it as I’ve heard it’s a bear to get off of. That being said if you need the pain relief, you need the pain relief. Quality of life is questionable when you’re in a great deal of pain. I very much hope this works for you. If you like the patches there’s also extended release morphine patches. My daughter is an oncology nurse so that’s where I get all my info. Oncology nurses definitely know about pain.
I forgot to mention that I had problems with the patches staying on. The summer was the worst as I would sweat and rhetorically patch would not adhere as well. Showers also did it as well.
I have used butrans I’m off it now but I’m not sure if it worked or not
I have been using the Fentanyl Patch for some time now. I have many different pain issues. I have found considerable pain relief. I like the Mylan patch the best, it’s smaller, and stays on much better. I hope you find some pain relief.
I have been on the patch for almost 10 yrs, and I don’t know what I would do with out it.I still have break through pain, when I try to do to much, or my flares are extremely bad. When the patch lift up, sometimes I clean the area and use water proof tape.I hope this helped.
Also, I found that they only last about 48 hrs so my rhuemy rx wrote it this way.
I m on Fentanyl patches for about two months and had to increase because it was not doing any thing for my back, but it did work for pain in my hips, knees and ankles. I had an ALIF done yesterday. As I am in the hospital now. I’m going to ask
I’m a Living Testimony! !
My husband uses and doc changed script to 48 hours instead of 72 which helped a lot. He has found a good deal of relief with it. Hope you do too.
I also use it, has been really beneficial. I also change every 48 hours
I only changed it once so far. When I do put anew one on I feel tired and a little fuzzy. The next day (today) is great …so much less pain. I’ll have to see how it continues. Right now it’s written for every 72 hrs.
My dr was thinking about me trying that. Maybe ill try. Im currently on a morphine tab that makes me kinda out of it which I dont like.
amber said:
My dr was thinking about me trying that. Maybe ill try. Im currently on a morphine tab that makes me kinda out of it which I dont like.
It’s supposed to stop the highs and lows from just a pain pill. So far I feel better.
The first patch the doctor put me on was a Butrans Transdermal Patch. 25mcg. You change it every 7 days. I found that it worked quite well. After I changed jobs and insurance coverage, the new insurance did not cover it. A one month RX was going to cost several hundred dollars. Well. That was not going to work. So, doctor suggested trying the Fentanyl patch. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall the dose but it was a lower dose. Had to increase the dose once. I found Fentanyl worked almost as good as the Butrans patch. Fentanyl patches have to be changed every 3 days. They also are a more dangerous drug. Knew someone that used these for pain control and had just put a new one on. Was sitting in a chair, leaning against a heating pad. The heat caused the Fentanyl to be absorbed into the skin, causing respiratory depression and they passed away still sitting in the chair.
As badly as we want our pain to be at least manageable, don’t lose sight that these medications need to be respected for what they can do…the good and the bad.
One last thing - the Fentanyl patches did not stay on near as well as the Butrans. Especially in the summer when perspiration goes way up. Once I could go back to the Butrans, I did. They do work for me a little better.
Hope this was helpful.
I believe I must be "one of the lucky ones " as I have been on a Fentanyl Patch since 2000. I’d been through everything, treating Unfused/ untreated scoliosis which in adulthood progressed from 1 curve
curve to 4 curves. The decade of NSAIDs and good. Drugs like vioxx, plaquenil, Ultram and on and on, prescribed by my excellent and sadly now retired Rheumatologist, once pres. Of Amer. College of Rheumatology, who was also treating me for Sjogren’s SLE and whet he predicted I’d have as our Daughter had JRA, RA which in fact reared its head w/ CCP in mid 2000s. I had just wanted anything to allow me to walk, stand until maybe 5:00 p.m. to finish out our last Daughter at home until she left for college. The “rest is history,” which I guess is still being made: I was so naive about drugs (never even smoked cigarettes), perhaps my not knowing I was on a strong opioid helped me tolerate it? But only after 4 yrs did I find it was an opioid. In the meantime Addison’s, SIADH and the RA Meth / prednisone treatment in Fl perhaps w/ 3 steroids , balanced out my in creasing Fentanyl; over this last 14 yrs I have been, in responsible FL hospital pain program (along w/ my own choice of getting “OK” from Mayo Minn. Head of Spine Program (who told me I did not take enough pain medications, and his MD Wife was head of Rehab program) . Anyway, I have as might be expected , increased from 50 to 75 to 100 mcg, and my Hospital program which gives extensive psych testing, etc. shocked me by 2 yrs ago suggesting I increase the 100 mcg by changing every 2 days. I awoke in 2005 unable to use my left hip, had been on a walker, w/ MSContin 30 mg 2x day, w/ PRNs of MSContin 15 Mg 50 pills / month which in FL I rarely use, but do find necessary up North when we go at holiday time. Also, I accidentally fractured my sternum last month, so have reluctantly added the PRN MSContin. In any case the inevitable (due to my 4 curve scoliosis which is simply causing my spine to “fall apart,” (osteoArthritis is only the beginning.) I am now in a wheelchair, but consider myself lucky at 57, since my “world renowned” orthopedic surgeon told me in front of my Mother at age 12, that I would be dead by 40, left lung and heart smashed together. In fact maybe I got too cocky and so at age 57, as much of what he has predicted has started to come true: I have “shrunk” 4 inches, got CHF from IVIG jug have had a small heart attack and get pneumonia “if someone looks at me.” Sometimes I cannot believe this because I was so anti drug I stupidly refused my C section meds in '82. '84. But in a wheelchair but from bad back, bad hip, etc., etc., I try to have a good Attitude, use massage, acupuncture, reflexology yoga in bed, etc. I guess I am Blessed, but this fearful backwards step is likely going to further hurt individuals like myself who are responsible, do not abuse, are told "You are one of those individuals who need pain medication and should not have to be on your deathbed to have it prescribed. Johns Hopkins came out perhaps 1 1/2 to 2 decades ago w/ a ground breaking article on just that subject. While I absolutely believe that knowledge about our meds is essential, particularly about how they can be misused, abused, I know already that I will in the end not only suffer the side effects I have had to accept as part of needing (as w/ steroids/ Addison’s Disease) certain medications, but believe it or not, though twice I have attempted grad school only to be told it would have to be stopped due to bad flares, I still have dreams of going back to work, going on tiny trios w/ my Supporuive Husband, and playing with my Grandchidren. I have already found in my home state I visit to see my Mother, in certain MD offices if I get sick while visiting. I am considered a pain drug addict or abuset. If only all the classmates of mine who thought i was nerdy for not drinking or smoking could see me now. Sad. But thank you for discussing this Impt.!topic. Love and good health to all.
HI I BEEN ON THE PATCH FOR 6 YEARS AND HELPS AND MY TUMMY IS NOT UPSET THAT MUCH. I TO STARTED AT THE LOWEST DOSE THEN I WENT UP TO 75, THIS YEAR I WENT DOWN TO THE 50 MICS AND ITS WORKING OK HOWEVER I FIND MYSELF TAKING NORCO FOR BREAK THROUGH PAIN, I SOMETIMES FORGET TO CHANGE IT BUT MY BODY LETS ME KNOW. I DO WANT TO WARN YOU ABOUT THE SUMMER WEATHER, SOME TIMES THE PATCH DONT STICK AS WELL AND BE CAREFUL BECAUSE IT WILL COME OFF. I HAVE FOUND THEM STUCK ON THE SHEETS, IN THE DRYER, UNDER MY FOOT AND ONCE IT WAS STUCK TO MY HUSBAND WHEN I TOLD MY DR. ABOUT THIS WE LAUGHED BUT I KNOW USE TAPE DURING THE WARMER MONTHS.OTHER THAN THAT THE PATCH WORKS GREAT FOR ME OH YEA SOMETIMES THE SPOT YOU PUT IT IN CAN FEEL A LITTLE SORE AND BE CAREFUL WITH THE GLUE I HAD A REACTION TO A DIFFERENT PATCH WHEN KAISER RAN OUT. WELL THAT ALL I KNOW SO FAR BE BLESSED AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF GODSGIRL66