Switching from Methadone to Duragesic (Fentanyl)

[Daniel]

I have been on methadone maintenance for six years and would like to know if the duragesic patch would be an okay alternative to methadone. I am on a slow detox from sixty milligrams of methadone and would like to attempt the remainder of my detox using the duragesic patch. My clinic has helped me with all my pain and addiction problems and would like to obtain duragesic from my family doctor who is an internist. Can this be done?
Thank you in advance:
Daniel (Chem. Dep. Couns. Intern)

[tom to Doc Dan]

are you in disguise with this "Daniel" thing? won't work. And if you're holding your breath til Dr Steve responds, that isn't recommended by the manufacturer ...

anyway, just saying hi, Dan. Hope you're well.
I'm interested in his reply, whenever it comes. Doesn't the patch cost the earth, though? I'm also surprised to hear fentenyl talked about as a maintenance drug. Isn't fentenyl the mega-potent designer heroin that surfaces every once in a while and kills a bunch of people before it goes away? I'm curious, Dan, why go off the methadone if it's working so well for you? It really sounds ideal from everything you've said. Are there side effects after a long run on it?

I'm looking forward to my appt with the addiction doc on the 13th. I don't know why I never looked into it. I think like most, I'm brainwashed into thinking I wouldn't qualify unless I was a hardcore IV heroin user.

I must thank you again for perservering on this site and getting the news out on methadone. Who knows, maybe 30 years will be enough for me. Take care. Talk to you later.

[Frankinscense]

Tom read the response I wrote under 'Pain vs Pills' DATED 11/03/00. Please read. FYI: In the future and past I have and will post most informative posts under different subject headings. I hope all of you have noticed this already. I post information related to the subject. I try to give factual information that will benefit the reader in someway to help in this horrible disease of opiate/drug addiction.  
Doc...

[Mike P. to Ken]

I have a kinda funny story about duragesic...I was in the pharmacy about a month ago...the guy in front of me is having trouble signing for his meds/credit card etc...I look down and he has a white cane...so I figue..."Oh, he's blind..." He's wearing this muscle shirt though and his arms have all these square bruises/blood blisters up in the bicep area...I check out his other arm and what do I see - One MONSTER Duragesic patch with another smaller one right below it...I then figured out - he ain't blind - he's loaded to the gills! Well, it seemed that way at least. He had a big duffle bag with him...You know it's really scary when you just want to grab one of those patches and stick in on your own arm while you're running out the door...! I just thought it was funny that this guy could barely stand and looked like a Duragesic message board - little Duragesic sticky notes all over him...sad, weird, true.

[Brian Stevens]

Duragesic is a good medication when used correctly, I had a car accident in 1982 which left me partially paralyzed and in chronic pain.  I went through pain clinics and tried alternative Medicine etc when everything came together my Doctor prescribe Duragesic patches and another drug for breakthrough pain.  Drug addicts and chronic--pain patients are totally different.  Addicts get their drugs and make that the centerpiece of their existence people who use pain medication for chronic pain can go back to college, play with their children, go to school plays and get out of bed and begin to live again.  Believe me.  I have made the change and everything that I do I ask the lord for his guidance in my recovery.  Thank you.

[krishna baker]

how about someone has a heart condition can they put
Duragesic patches.

[Bethanyatg]

I have been on many pain medications these past few years and the only one that helped with my pain so far has been Duragesic. Yes, Fentenyl is 80 times stronger than morphine but....when used correctly it can be very helpful. I now can walk, drive and work if I want to when just over a year ago I was in a wheelchair. Duragesic/Fentenyl has given me my life back.
The DEA is cracking down on doctors for perscibing too many narcotics so drugs like these have to be administered by a specialist. I get my drugs through a pain clinic. I don't get refills on my scipt, I must go in each month to obtain a new script, then take it to the pharmacy. I don't ever have extra on hand and I hide them well, just in case someone goes looking for them.    

[joee64]

please can you  tell me if the methadone  is going to block my fentanyl patches i thought they were both synthetic  opiates so the will work together SOMEONE ANSWER ME PLEASE THANK YOU.