How long can fentanyl withdrawal last?

[Hitman1020]

I've been on the transdermal patches for a little over 4 years now. My highest dosage was 175mcg/hr but for the last two years I was cut down too 125mcg/hr every 48 hrs because the higher dosage was literally knocking me out. The patches have become a horrible, horrible vice for me. I will be honest I used them recreationally more and more every day and I couldn't control myself or be trusted to take them as prescribed. I really fell into a dark place and often thought how much easier it would of been too just drop a few patches all at once and fall asleep and never wake up again. I'm was good person, a husband and a father. These patches ruined me and just about tore my family apart, if I had known now what I do I never would of allowed the doctor to perscribe them to me. I'm in day 6 now of the absolute worst withdrawals anyone could imagine, I would not wish this on anyone. I made a firm stand last Saturday that I'm no longer going to be a slave to this horrible drug anymore. I'm still dealing with RLS and the runs and minor stomache aches. My vision for the past few days has been I guess you could say blurred, just can't focus on one spot clearly. As for no sleep I felt like I was going insane, this is really the worst thing anyone could ever take. How much longer must I endure before I start feeling good, get a real appetite, some much needed rest and have these aches gone for good? Prescription or illegal drugs can and will ruin the best of people, if you must take them only do so for a short time so that hopefully you won't become dependent.

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

I've just caught up on your situation....those Fentanyl patches are the devil for sure.  My hubby cannot cold turkey because he's had 3 surgeries since last July, Chemo and Radiation.  They just switched him to oral opana which they will taper.  He just got off of the 30 mg oxycodone's. Originally he had the patch and up to 6 of the 30's per day.  He then went down to 15's and now he is off of those completely.  I'm so proud of him.  I could not do a taper...I went CT and have been clean over 40 days now.  Oh my here I go gabbing away again.

What I wanted to say is that I really think you should at least not jumping to a decision regarding your wife.  You think you will lose her if you do....if she finds out you weren't honest in the future you probably will lose her.  My suggestion is that you hook her up with the MH Forum called Living With An Addict.  Let her talk to others in her position...she'll learn she isn't alone.  She needs support just as much as you do.  She will learn an awful lot in fact and then perhaps you can come clean with her.  Something to think about at any rate.  I guess I've never understood the not being honest thing.  Before my hubby and I got serious we had a long talk and I promised him that as long as he was honest I would not yell, make him feel bad, etc etc no matter what the problem was.  The best promise we both ever made....25-1/2 years and we've tackled all our problems as a team.  Has he done things I haven't liked?  Sure...we all do.  But we handled the problems as a team and still are just as close now as we were then...if not more so.

Good luck to you.  You are in my prayers

[Hitman1020]

I've really been struggling coming completely clean with my wife. She's so proud of me right now for doing this cold turkey, I know I will feel better telling her but at this point I'm thinking it may do more damage than good. I think this maybe one I take to the grave. So day 7, still feeling crappy but no longer sick. Just got minor stomaches, still have horrible bowel movements, the achy restless legs but my vision is back to perfect so that's a plus because for days it felt like my vision was blurred and head was foggy. I can't wait for this to pass, got about 2hrs sleep around 6am this morning. I can tell you one thing for sure is that I am done with pain med opiates, no more will it control me and run my life.

[Jinx_777]

i think you made the right choice.  you want to be careful doing that same thing in louisiana because they have a database and the DEA (drug enforcement agency) will catch you.  just one more reason not to even try. lol

you have 7 days now, so i would say in about 4 more days you should be turning the corner and going downhill.  feeling better and better everyday.

i think once you have succeeded maybe you should tell your wife.  no need to tell your kids, but i think it would help you to talk to your wife.

welcome to the USA  :)

[Hitman1020]

Wow 27 days and I'm on day 6 cold turkey, that seems like its so far away and honest to god this is the hardest thing I have ever done. See I set myself up for success because I am originally from southern Ontario, that's were it all started. A little over a year ago we moved to Calgary, Alberta but I thought ahead and made sure I had a doctor their as well. Anyway getting my scripts each month was never an issue due to permanent back damage. Making my script last was never easy so I decided to seek out a methodone clinic. Different doctors and clinics and I convinced them that I just moved and no longer wanted to be on the patches no more, so instead of taking the drink they prescribed me a meth pill, I was at 80mg a day and always made sure that my pee would be clean if I had to due a urine test. This way I was abusing my patches in two weeks or less and then just used the pill for the remainder till I got my new script. This is the kind of dark side that the patches took me too, this way I was able to convince my family that I could be trusted again because I wasn't going into withdrawal every month towards the end. I tell ya I've really got a loving wife, she knows most of my story except for the meth pills. I think if she knew that it would of been the end. Okay kinda ran off there, so my wife was offered a position in her company in Louisiana, USA and we discussed it and took them up on the offer. Before I left Calgary my doctor their gave me 3 months worth of meds due to the health care system here in the states. I knew it would of taken us close too two months or more before we had all our health care benefits in place and a doctor to visit, so I decided that this was the best time to come off, I will be honest I used every last one in just a months time so that I would have no outs to get anything else. It may sound dumb or really clever but I knew the slippery slope I was on back in Calgary and I figured it would only be a little while before I got caught double dipping like I was. Good thing I let the benefits pay for my patches and I paid cash at a different pharmacy for my weekly script of meth pills, figured it would delay the inevitable that way or at least I kept telling myself that for 7 months before our move here in Louisiana at the end of July. So now I'm dope free and I know I'm going to eventually be the better for it. I look back at some of the stupid things I've done over the last few years because of what this stuff turned me into and I feel sick to my stomache, if I could only be honest with my family and tell them the whole truth about the stuff I had done just too keep myself from feeling sick, the high was no longer present and hadn't been for a long time. It was all about maintaining and trying to no get sick, I used to have an indifferent opinion about addicts because I never grew up with this kind of stuff but I became one and all too easy it was. At first the high makes you feel great, literally like on cloud nine but I don't know what that feeling is anymore. Moving out of canada to the usa has been the best thing I could of ever done for me. If I was still back in canada I guarantee you I would still be using, scheming, lying and spending more money than I needed to be not to mention what legal problems I most likely would of ended up in once the doctors found out. Fortunately for me I still have a great medical record and I didn't get burned on that end. But enough was enough cause I just couldn't keep putting my wife thru this crap again, the last time she had seen me withdrawn and sick was January and every month before that for about 4 months. I also have kids 19, 13, and a 7 year old, all boys and the looks on their faces when I got sick just about killed me but I couldn't stop myself. So now I told them that last week I cut up all the rest of the patches and flushed them and I gave the family two days notice before I knew I would go into withdrawal to prepare everyone for what was about to happen. Mind you I did tell a lie about cutting them up, I used them but I wasn't about to tell them that especially after them seeing me for the last 7 months not once being dope sick, thanks to the meth pills...but again more lies and the lies where consuming me and getting out of control. It was too easy to keep getting away with it every month back there and man was I paranoid. Every time I was getting a script filled I kept waiting to get caught but the drugs outweighed the consequences. I was really fortunate to get away with what I did for as long as I did but this is the kind of person the drugs turned me into and I was so ashamed of myself. Now I'm feeling much better about myself coming off the patches, I don't think I can ever be 100% honest with my family about all the ****** things I've done over the years but I'm am glad I found this place to feel safe and talk about my struggles and this awful journey I'm taking now to clean myself up to be a better husband and father again. If anyone can learn something useful from my story and struggles I will feel all the better for it. I know I just recently joined but I had been ready comments on here for months but couldn't post anything until I was ready to make the change to stop using this horrible stuff, i would rather live with my back pain than live another day on fentanyl, so please if anyone is given the choice to start using the stuff you should do a lot of reading on here first because I was never going to ever be an addict but the stuff will literally grab hold of you and in just as little as a few months your going to be screwed just like the rest of us who have used fentanyl.

[Jinx_777]

I recently detoxed off a 50 mcg patch and after 11 days or so it started to get a tiny bit better each day.  it has been about 55 days and i still get mild RLS at night, cannot sleep without otc sleep aids and still have no energy.

everyone is different so it is hard to say how long they will last for you.
i strongly recommend the thomas recipe and the amino acid protocol. you can search for both on here or google.

i have other health issues that cause chronic fatigue syndrome and other ailments like copd, emphysema and now pneumonia.  so of course i feel like crap.

my doctor is begging me, no trying to force me back on them and i refuse. i will never forget that horrible detox.  i cannot say the symptoms are too much worse than regular opiate detox (i think they are somewhat more severe) but they certainly hang on for a long time.

i have read it takes 27 days for it to completely leave your body.  

if you are determined and it sounds like you are,, you will make it through this.
i really feel this med should be given for end of life treatment. period