So this is what I take every 3 days to stay almost pain free. As well as clonazepam. But lately its been 43 degrees celcius during the day and my patch is absorbing very fast and within 12 hours can cause my breathing to go shallow and feel very sleepy. On the other side of the coin the patch only lasts max 2 days which means I get terrible withdrawal by the time i can put the next one on. I just want to be put back on a simpler medication like I was when I was first treated.
What would you do please? Im kinda lost. My doctor is good but he wont change the fentanyl to something less like morphine or oxycodone.
Its like fentanyl or nothing. But I cant go with nothing or I will go back to TN hell.
Please help.
Peace,
Dash
Hi Dash, i have been put on fentanyl patches over the last couple of weeks due to severe constant break through pain. its had me climbing the walls. My gp started me off on 25mcg/hr, then slowly increased to 50, 75 and now 100mcg/hr. I myself find my breathing shallow sometimes, ive read that it is a side effect, if you are worried about your shallowing breathing speak to your gp. I find from my meds that i produce loads of heat, i have a right job getting the patches to stick to my skin lol. The only place i find they stick is on the front of my calf, it must be the coolest part. As for the patch lasting for the three days, i agree with you, i find they only last 2 days, thats when all of the pain attacks at once. This is my first day on 100mcg/hr, i will let you know how things go. How are things for since you started these patches. You also didn`t mention what dose you are on.
Sue
Wow. Are you seeing a GP or Neurologist? If this is your Neurologist, I would call your General Practitioner to see about changing that med. Maybe you could see if your GP will discuss it with your Neurologist. OR you could change Neurologists. This is your life and your disease and the docs need to understand that you can have some input. If you decide to keep with the Neurologist, call him everytime you have an issue. “What should I do now? I can’t take this. I did better on the Oxycodone. . . yada yada yada”. Just stay on top of them. It is amazing how we need to manage our health issues. Good luck to you and let me know how it goes. It sounds like you are doing somewhat better. Hang in there.
My pain is at a level I can deal with since I started Fentanyl It also wasn’t until I went on clonazepam that the attack feeling seemed less frequent. I say both of them together has helped hugely. Nothing else worked except opioid medication and numbing agents to an extent. The problem with most numbing agents tho is that they are very toxic if you have lots and lots. I tried Tegretol which seemed to work when it stayed down but most of the time didnt stay in my stomach long as it was almost instant reaction to throw up. I tried Neurontin, Lyrica, and I cant remember what all the others were I think one was Mexatil. Anyway cut a long story short. Yeah downsides of the patches are that it doesnt seem to stick that well or last it’s 3 days. Make sure you hold it on the area for 30 secs then let go. My insomnia and anxiety got worse initially. They dont handle the Aussie summer that well.
Well let me know how you go on 100 micrograms. Make sure you watch for signs of OD. Take good care friend.
BTW I have been on it a couple of months I’m on 50micrograms which seems the perfect dose… In the right weather maybe.
Peace,
NW
Thanks Debbie I am doing better. It is a crazy world we live in when we have to tell the doctors what the right thing to do is. Thanks for your support at the moment I have many doctors but no neurologist at the moment as I’ve moved pain clinics. The last pain clinic made me do a double blind infusion test to see what drug worked best it was lignocaine. But a person cannot inject lignocaine every day the other one that worked was Fentanyl. But they refused to try it and left me in pain for weeks it became inhumane to live and no one understood how much i needed out.
So basically thats why I left there and now I have no neurologists.
Peace,
NW
Thanks Sue and Debbie