Percocet to Fentanyl Patch

[sassylibra]

I have been taking up to 12 percocets a day (sciatica) and now I've been given Fentanyl Patch (16.5 for a nominal in vivo delivery of 100 mcg/h fentanyl for 72hrs) and don't know what to expect, I'm alittle scared to put it on. Could someone tell me how they feel, I have 9yr old twins and don't want to be too zonked out. Thanks so much for any info, I'm so happy I found this site.

[fairdamidlin]

I was on two patches of fentanyl before I was done with it. It made me drowsy and depressed. If you can you should go to a pain clinic and try and find something that is not as strong but still helps with your pain. You will have side effects to this drug. I now have a pain pump placed in my body. It is connected to my spinal cord. A set amount of medication goes to my spinal cord at the area of my injury. I need one dose of this to my spinal cord as opposed to 300 pills and no patches. It is much better.
  I understand your situation very well. Your sense of not knowing what to do and hopes that you can escape your pain was a common feeling for me. I have lived this way for nine years. Be cautious of what you take. You what to stay as clear minded and as active as possible with your children. Any narcotic will have a negative affect on your thinking and energy. I wish the best for you. I have a blog site that I try and write in everyday. I have it in hopes that it can help someone through their pain. The site is ****.*** I hope that it can help. If you have any questions please fell free to ask me anything. Please take care.

[Mollyrae]

Hello Sassylibra and welcome to the pain Forum:

There is alot of mis-information here that you should simply ignore. There are membrs in the Pain Forum that can give you some great information about your treatment with the Fentanyl Patch and I am one of them.

First let me say that Fentanyl is 81x stronger than that of Morphine...I think someone had told you that it was 40x stronger which is an understatement.

I do agree with some in that a 100mcg patch for you is too high of a dose, especially converting from Oxycodone. I was using Oxycontin along with Oxycodone for breakthrough pain for a good 10 years and was given a 75mcg patch. For the first few days, I experienced nausea, night sweats, vivid dreams and dizzyness along with drowsiness during the day and sleepless nights. My system had a hard time adjusting to the Fentanyl. This is why I say that I feel your dose will be too high for you. You may be really uncomfortable for a while which will make you not want to continue the new med.

It took me a good 4-6 weeks for my body to finally adjust enough to where I felt almost normal again. It has been quite some time since I first was introduced to the Fentanyl and I think the best part of being on the patch is not having the constant euphoric feeling that the Oxy's give you. The Fentanyl goes into the blood stream slow enough that you don't have that euphoric or high dopy feeling. I actually feel "normal".

Well, make sure that you read the insert very carefully. It is full of valuable information on the do's and don't's.

Take care and good luck.
Mollyrae

[HawktheSlayer]

Hi I just feel that I need to put in my exp. with the patch. I was on pain meds for about 3yrs before my Dr put me on the patch. I was on the 50mg patch. I was on the patch for 3 months. I then got tired of not being able to get into a warm bed ( was winter ) I also have a high normal body temp about 100.1 all the time so for me I feel that due to my temp I was getting more than the normal person would get. Now I didnot tell my Dr that I was going to stop the patch and did so. Well I went through very bad withdraw I could not sleep and was going from sweating to freezing all the time. After the 3rd or 4th day I called my Dr and told him that I had stopped the patch and had these problems. He asking if I had any of my Vic's left I told him yes and he told me to take 4 (750) vic's and in 2-3 hrs take 3 then to take 2 every 4hrs till I felt better. I did this and was good after that. Now I have to say that for me the only thing that I have ever taken that made the pain go away way the patch. I wish my Dr would put me on them again so that I could have some time pain free again for a little while again. I would let you know that YES you will get addicted to the patch. There is really no question about it. But your Dr more that likely knows this and when he/she wants you to stop taking it that they know what to give you to help with the withdraw from it.

[jollyman069]

just because you enter into a pain mangemnet deal with a pain dr, doesnt mean you will end up being an addict follow the drs orders on how to ue the meds and you should be fine, the other writers are correct it is a very serious thing to start to get into, weigh the pros and cons.. i have been going to a pain mangemnet dr for almost 4 years now and he has helped me greatly, gave me back quality of life

[worried878]

so glad jacquii responded to your post as not an awful lot of use have experienced wds from the patch...heed the warnings and weigh out the pros and cons..above all..be safe

[Jacqui805]

I would like to help in any way I can.  I will PM you to talk to you more in depth.  Right here, I will say that there are a few inaccuracies above but in general everybody seems to understand that this is a big-time drug with big-time consequences and coming off of it is pure hell.  I would not enter into this situation lightly at all....something GoingToMakeIt says is a good point....Your body really does start to produce more pain at some point, so it is one helluva cycle.  I would respectfully like to say also, that most doctors who prescribe this or other pain meds really do not have any true understanding of what it's like to go through withdrawl.  It's one scary ride sassylibra, one I'll not take again.

Jacqui