1st post need a little help

[TT1979]

Last Tues I stopped the 100mcg duragesic patch and I went through h**** til about Sat. and then I went and screwed it up on Sat, Sun and today. I had some left and I knew I shouldn't but I thought what the heck the worst is over and I really wanted to sleep so I only used it long enough to get rid of that ya know odd feeling so I could rest and then I flushed it. I didn't have any bad withdrawls Sun or today from using it that little bit but now I am scared that I will have to start over with DAY 1-LIKE w/d. Does anyoen have any advice for me of what to expect or words of encouragement for me?? I would greatly appreciate it if you do.

[katie1015]

i've been on the Duragesic patch for close to 8 yrs.  in the past year, they've totally changed the patch.  it no longer has the gel inside.  it is more like a postage stamp. i never had any problems with my tolerance level or w/d the
way they used to make them.  Now i am going into severe w/d after only 1 1/2 days. increasing the dosage doesnt help becuz it's still the 72 hrs deal that is bothering me.
my pharmacy manager told me some of his patient's drs. are prescribing them for every 48 yrs instead of 72.  this isnt minor pain i have, it's severe pain from a crushed dislocated pelvis.  when i was put on the patch, i was able to live my life again.  has anyone else had success w/their drs. increasing the dosage to 48 hrs?

[JB5050]

Hello,I have just been put on or am trying fentanyl or duragesic patches, I am not sure of the outcome yet, actually in the 50+ hour as far as time goes so through the most worrisome part.  You read about fentanyl and it scares you. I am looking for another patch that may work as well, this is after a 21 year methadone treatment finishing at 50mg. day.  4am, cannot sleep at nights or days start early, your choice

[cat9841]

My w/d from fentanyl patches lasted 8 days, shaking, puking, diahrea, but even after the physical symptoms were gone, the mental anixioy is lasting, wish there were more to say, just hang in there, drink green tea, it helps detox the body. sleep it off if you can, take some benedryl for sleep if it helps and hang in, it does get better.
CAT

[NautyOne]

Im sorry I guess I didn't read the part that you were only on them a month.  Thats a pretty high dose for starters.  None-the-less that explains maybe why you did so well after just 5 days.  Yes, it is.....as i said .....one of the most painful painkillers to get off of.  Go into the pain management forum and read the posts.  You will see what I'm talking about.  Thank God it's only been a month.  burn the rest.  I apologize If I scared you.....I feel really bad.  I just missed the part that you were only on them a relatively short period.  I can't tell you what to do except read in the pain management forum for more information...it's all over the place people screaming to get off the things, and for some reason....maybe because it is a patch....doctors are very cruel on tapering people off.  Just my opinion from lots of research.

nauty...........

[Jacqui805]

I was on 200 mcg of fentanyl for four years.  I just posted to someone else who was on this drug.  Please check the forum or check my posts or even my journal.  All opiates are relative, in that the while the dose does matter, the potency of the drug does as well.  Fentanyl, or one brand name of Duragesic, is quite close to the street drug heroin as far as this is concerned.  It is very hard to come off of because a patch, as you know, is designed to last roughly 72 hours, and then it stays in your system after removal for about 12 hours or so.  I had a hell of a time, for sure.  I am now, at 12:14 a.m., 40 days off.  I swore I would not live through the w/d, and stared at a .45 readily available to me during part of that time.  Without the love and support of my family, my will, and the wonderful people here, it'd have been WAY more difficult.  You can do it.  If I did, you can too.  It was really long for me, and I have spoken to many a folk now, on here, who it was like that for too.  While the initial, puking, crapping, yawning, anorexia left me after a week, the next two were by far the worst for me, with severe anxiety and insomnia as well as increased pain.  Sounds bad, it is, it was, but I DID get through it.  I can honestly tell you, I'm experiencing things in an awesome way.  I didn't even know while I was on the patches (two 100's) that I was looking through ****-colored glasses, my spark had dimmed, and it sapped my energy and left me depressed.  You'd think one would notice that, especially previously not being that way at all, but it was a sneaky thing.  I am looking through rose-colored glasses now, am clearer headed, energetic, happy, and looking forward to making up for lost time.  Anything I can do to help or support you, please let me know.....Jacqui

[worried878]

A guy may age...48 has his dad in the hospital who is extremely attached to this clear patch on his shoulder...was hard to find and since they thought it was a wound they consulted me...the man was deliroius and wanted it replaced right then but we had no orders to do so....he was suffering until a doc was called in and wrote to replace the patch which was not until the next day..i saw him the next morning and he looked like death...he got his new patch and perked up...he is dying of a painful cancer so i see no reason to with hold it from him...when someone is dying you keep them comfortable...when someone is not dying and using them for pain it should be re-evaluated...and I not an expert just see lots of pain every day...mental and physical....the worst are the narcotic people who come in cos you can not really help their pain as the tolerence is so high..they call for meds on the hour and know when and what they can get...I would have been an awful patient a few weeks ago!

[worried878]

The DURAGESIC® (fentanyl transdermal system) CII patch is a strong prescription pain medication for moderate to severe chronic pain that can provide long-lasting relief from persistent pain.

Through its innovative patch technology, DURAGESIC delivers fentanyl, an opioid pain medication, into the body slowly through the skin, where it works to relieve pain for up to 3 days (72 hours).

DURAGESIC is strong medicine for serious pain. The DURAGESIC patch should only be used when other less potent medicines have not been effective and when pain needs to be controlled around the clock.

At my hospital we use these only for terminal patients....to keep a dying patient comfortable...rarely for any other reason

[cat9841]

hey read my post, from cat9841, the last one was called "drug is calling" I was on the patch and my w/d lasted 8 days, that was 3 1/2 weeks ago, then tonight I find a patch and am so tempted to put it on, but I won't, but its so weird how it is calling to me.
I will be here for you if you want, I know about the patch, they are mean nasty drugs to get off of.
CAT

[TT1979]

I am trying to find out about it right now. OMG I am really scared now. How stupid am I to not even know that this stuff is worse than oxy! I jsut assumed that all narcotics are equal. I hope there is someone out there that has more info. Gosh I feel like such a dummy. Well, in the  meantime I am gonna keep looking for some answers. thanks lostmarbles I appreciate your help and support.

[lostmarbles]

have you tried checking it out on google..? I don't know where nauty has gone but try sending her a PM... go to her profile and click on send message... whenever you want a chat you can PM  me too.... soryy i dont know anything about your DOC.. im sure someone will come on soon that might xx

[TT1979]

lostmarbles:
The duragesic patch is a patch you put on that slowly releases pain meds into your system

Naughtyone:
Is the patch really worse than anything? Even if it's only been like a month of using it. Now I am getting scared like this is gonna be more horrifying than I thought. I am generally a very positive person and decided that I couldn't take anymore of this **** so I flushed any and all pills last month and was left only with duragesic. I really have no good knowledge about it but if you do would you pls share any of your knowledge or experience about it with me pls!!

[lostmarbles]

what is it? the patch I mean?

[lostmarbles]

its good that you are positive about this... i can tell that you really want to do this.. that's good news!! have you checked it out on the internet?..try google and put something like withdrawing from duragesic patch

[NautyOne]

Duragesic is one of the hardest things to come off of.  If you were feeling even ok after 5 days......OMG  you are a warrior.  Don't do it again.  That stuff is evil.  As bad if not worse than really high doses of Oxy.  You did so well.  Stop now and find out and try not to do it again.  Please God, tell me you are not eating or sucking on those things.  It can KILL you........not to be messed with.  When I hear Duragesic the hair on my toes stand up........Don't flush the rest of the patches you have.......Burn them!!!!  I wouldn't even wish that Stuff on what floats in the sewer.  

[TT1979]

Does anyone out there have any clue how long the physical w/d symptoms last from the duragesic patch? I have only been on it for about a month but before that it was like 200-400mgs of ms contin for about 5 months.

[TT1979]

I plan to keep posting daily for help through this b/c everyone here is so supportive and no one in my life has any clue that I am even dealing with this. They think I had the flu. Hopefully since I only left the patch on for about a max of 4 hours it won't be horrible. (One good thing is that I have absolutely no way to get anymore drugs of any kind so I feel good about that.) Like today I kinda felt like myself doing chores and running here and there. I am really exhausted but I keep pushing myself to keep moving as I have read others posts to exercise and I will regain my strength faster. So I guess, here is to restarting hopefully not such a crappy Day 1. Thanks everyone

[lostmarbles]

It is weird that most of us here found this site at our worst time... it really is a blessing!! the key is to keep reading, keep posting, whenever you can, especially in the early days and weeks. You can gain so much strength and insight here and there is some truly wonderful people here that genuinely care...regardless of what type of addiction we have had... addiction is addiction right? I am 21 days today and to be honest someone on this site in the early days told me to watch out for cravings but as I had just come through the worst w/d's I thought there is no way I would ever use again... the truth is that when I was feeling great at the beginning of week 2 I completely forgot how truly bad it was and for a nanosecond I visualised that one xanax to help me sleep for one night wasn't so bad.... of course I quickly snapped myself out of it but the mind really does play havoc with us!! so my hearfelt advice to you is focus on your clean time, don't stress over what happened at the weekend, focus on your wonderful children and keep busy... im here if you ever need to chat...and KEEP POSTING! XX

[toxictome]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of good support and info to be found here.

I have no experience w/the patch..but if you used your reg . amt for 3 days...i think you will experience some w'ds...that's my educated guess..   LOL

I was tapering off xanax and was taking it every other day and i would still feel the effects on the day i didn't take it...time will tell i guess......

[worried878]

You are right tho....getting thru the WD portion is the easy part...people are so afraid of it...staying straight is another battle...have managed so far   I try to wait 5 miutes or say a prayer and the craving will pass..I have just had an awful headache and realize this is a big test for me working and all and not feeling well...I have gone thru WD weeks ago as it is just a bad sinus headache that I chronically suffer with off and on....lots do tho and dont take narcotics to deal with life...keep posting and hang in there

[TT1979]

I can tell you that when I started last week I stumbled across this site and in my worst and weakest moments I somehow managed to stumble to the computer to read posts from all the people here. It helped me tremendously. I now know that the first 3-4 days really is the cake it's the staying on the straight and narrow that is the hard part. I am jsut gonna hang around on here and keep myself busy which isn't hard since I have 2 kids and I am a stay at home mom. Thanks for your strength.

[lostmarbles]

maybe you won't go through w/d's again - I don't know, I'm not really sure to be honest as my DOC was different to yours... but I can tell you to keep on posting and not to give up... you slipped a little and at least you haven't got anymore..plus you're posting which is excellent... i doubt you will go through wd's but just hang tight, have faith in yourself and you CAN do this.. xx