Anyone felt great first two days on Fentanyl and then lost that?

[luv2bmomjen]

  It has been almost a week since my switch.  I was taking 125mg Oxycodone and switched to part FentanyI and just Oxy for BT pain.  I have been waking up so happy (compared to normal) and not in pain.  This morning was bad, had no energy, felt withdrawl and pain of course.  So when I saw my doc we decided to go with the lower dose of 25mcg instead of 25 and 12mcg.  I felt more fuzzy on both patches.  That was the main reason.  But my body had just begun to adjust to the 37mcg and now that I backed back down to the 25mcg my body is not very happy I think.  I am not as fussy as I was a week ago but not doing as good as I had hoped.  I don't go back to see her for two months, any thoughts?
My biggest compaint is that the first three days or so after I switched I felt awesome, happy for the first time in years, no pain, no fuzzy, no ephoria, just like myself again without anxiety etc.  Why did I feel so great and social and happy and then it went away?  Was it just the Fentanyl hitting my system that made me feel good or will I ever be able to get it back?  I thought that the 25mcg dose was perfect and when we upped it to 36 that is when I felt yucky again so that is the reason I asked to stay at 25mcg.  Should I have given it more time to "kick in" and adjust to the higher dose and then I would have felt good again?
If anyone takes the patch and experienced this please please let me know.  I need to be happy and without pain for me, my kids and my husband.  The last four years have been hell and I felt for two days like I had my life back and then it was gone again.  I'm so sad.   ..

[Jaybay]

Head to your pharmacy and pick up some Nexcare Sport banadages to use as patch covers.  I've only seen them available in larger sizes but you can cut them if needed.  Just cut them BEFORE you pull off the backing so you can save the remainder.  Since you're only using them as covers rather than wound care, sterility isn't an issue.

[luv2bmomjen]

Still waiting for mine to work better ;-(  all and all better pain relief but I am so so so moody.  Also having trouble withe prior authorization so I can't even get my 12mcg patches.  I also can NOT get them to stick for more than 24 hours and I need them to last at least 48.

[sandee1818]

I have been on he patches for a few months now and they help me a great deal. You need to let them have time to work properly though. I was told to give it a good week for them to build up in my system by my Pharmacist. I was having a hard time the first few days but it got better everyday. I was taking oxycontin but they had stopped working and I did not want to go up any more dosage wise. I started out on the 75 mcg and they work fine.
Give them time to work. You may need to add the 12 mcg patch. Your doctor starts you out on the dose basing it on the conversion of what you were taking.
I hope you get to feeling better. I would never go back to oxycontin as they have been wonderful for my pain control. i have problems with them sticking but work with that:)

[Tuckamore]

It takes time for your system to adjust to changes in medications. Sometimes it can be weeks. You may not have given the change enough time.

Proper pain management is a trial and error process and it can take months to find the right combination as Millie said. Be patient. You might want to see if you can get an earlier appointment with your PMP. Two months seems like a long time between visits.

Sometimes that those first few days on a new med does make us feel great. It's not a true euphoria but it's close. When the med levels off, as our system adjust that feeling is gone but the pain management should remain. That may be what you were feeling. I experienced a week of that along with fuzziness until my system adjusted. I suspect you may have been experiencing the same.

But again I would contact your PMP. Try to get into see him sooner then two months. Please let us know how you are doing.

I'll look forward to your updates.

Take Care,
~Tuck

[mellie4]

I tend to get side effects on most medication I've been on.  I've been told to give a week or two to see if the side effects go away.  (This can be hard because a week or two can be a long time to deal with side effects that are unpleasant but also if you're feeling "fuzzy," it can cause problems with driving, other responsibilities, etc.  (I end to feel really out of it on Neurontin.  It's almost a high feeling, though not quite.  More like I feel I'm in slow motion and I have trouble word finding, etc.  When I first took it, I was still dealing with work and I could not have a conversation with my boss without sounding like an idiot.  So I went off it.  This time I had the same side effect, and the doctor said to give it two weeks and that side effect should go away, and it pretty much has.)

I think you should call your doctor before your appointment.  I know you had said you were taking oxycodone as a breakthrough med.  Are you still taking that?  You mentioned feeling like you were in withdrawal, and it's possible that being at the 25 mcg. of Fentanyl and not taking the oxycodone is causing some withdrawal.  But, again, this all needs to be talked about with your physician.  Try to see if you can get in to see him this week or at least talk to him by phone.

It is often by trial and error with things that we find the perfect (or near perfect) combination of medications.  I don't think any CP patient has total pain relief or is without any side effects.  Took me a while to realize that it was pain management not pain cure :)  Some side effects of medications are totally intolerable but sometimes we have to just find what works best, even if it's not perfect.

Hope to hear you find a solution.