Hi,
I was given Fentanyl for 2 weeks immediately post op before it was time to taper me off. They tried to C/T me and I had a grand mal seizure. They gave it to me for immediate post op pain rather than anything "normal" to get me out of pain and out of the hospital after a 3 level back fusion. Once they realized that my body was addicted to it, we had to do the slow taper from 200 mcg (that's what they STARTED ME on) to 25 mcg. It did take the pain away in the recovery room of the ER...but at such a high cost it is staggering. It NEVER made me feel good -- I was dizzy, nauseous, and just drugged out from the start and wanted off of it. Four months later, I'm physically beaten up, I have no control over my internal temperature controls, brain is mush, and I'm so exhausted I want to die. I'm 10 days off the fentanyl and now on percocet for a few weeks to address lingering back pain and to FINALLY get me to physical therapy. After that I never want to hear about a pain killer again. I am so angry.
What I would like to know is how long can it take before food starts tasting ok again (I've lost 21 pounds since January), before I feel less than run over by the Fentanyl steam roller, before I'm not either sweating bullets or freezing to the bone (this side effect was with me from the very beginning), before I am able to say the things on my mind out loud in a way that sounds like it does in my mind versus sounding like I have significant and permanent brain damage (thank god I can still write...I couldn't for a long while). I have a PhD and I cannot work right now because I'm too emotionally, mentally and physically unstable. I can only focus on something for about a minute before I drift off into space thinking about absolutely nothing for hours. Please tell me that my surgeon did not give me a chemical lobotomy on top of the back fusion surgery! When will I start getting "ME" back again?