Chronic pain from Hydrocodone to Duragesic patch

[Hippiealways]

Due to chronic pain I was put on Hydrocodone (Loritab 750)  I  was prescribed 2 a day 500mg to start then 2 a day 750 up to 3 a day all in a 2 year period.  Just recently because of my drs concern for the tylenol affect to my liver I now use the Duragesic Patch 50 mg which has been such a relief...I am able to do almost anything without worrying about the pain I will feel tomorrow.  The dr was happy to give me the patch and I am happy to have it.  What is this doing to me physically...he even remarked that my dosage would be upped as my tolerance needed it. I expect to be on medically supervised narcotic pain relievers for the rest of my life.  Having no side affects now and  several people have commented 'if you are in chronic pain the medication goes to the pain and not to form an addiction' this doesn't sound possible to me...appreciate your opinion on this.  Thank you

[FranSp]

This is my first post here and wanted to share my experience with the "Patch"! Almost 12 yrs ago I was hit by a car while walking in a parking lot to go into a bank and pay my mortgage. Basically, I was taken into the ER. My upper thighs and legs were bruised and my back hurt like hell. (lower back). The ER put me on ES Vicodin and muscle relaxers. A year goes by and I'm put on every pain med. out there. None seemed to help with the pain in my lower back. Another year goes by and the pain is unbearable! So my doctor at the time tries me on Fentanyl 25mcg. every 3 days needed to be changed. WOW!! This medicine gave me my life back! I was in disbelief! About 5-6 months go by, the patch isn't working like it used to, so I'm bumped up to the 50mcg. This continues within the next year until I'm put up to the 100mcg, plus instead of changing them every 3 days, I change them every 2 days. A few more months go by, and they put me on the brand patch named "Duragesic". YES! These brand patches worked wonderful! That was 10 years ago and as of today, 08/09/11 I'm still on the Duragesic 100 mcg patch and still change them every 2 days. Along with the patches, I'm on generic Percocet 10/325mg. The Percocet 10/325 I've been on for 5 years now, same dosage. About 7 years ago my Pain Management Doctor tried to take me off the 100mcg duraesic and put me on Opana ER 30mg. He swore to me that I would not have any withdrawal symptoms from the duragesic whatsoever! Well, I took my last patch off and it happened to be a Friday night. About 8 hours later I started to feel like somebody threw my entire body off a 5 story building, and instead of dying, lived through all that pain, if I were in fact dropped from a building and survived. The pain was excruciating! And then to top it off, my entire body felt like my skin was actually crawling. Then the restless legs started, and that was so intense I couldn't quite screaming. I remember laying upstairs in bed so I wouldn't scare my kids to death and my husband was there with me. The next thing I knew, I'm waking in an ambulance. They brought me to the ER and for 4 hours straight I was tied down to a bed, not given anything medication wise, and all I could do was scream out loud because my legs were running in place and the pain in my body was so bad. The hospital finally contacted my pain doctor. They did not tell him I had seizures or anything that I was going though, so my dr told them to keep me on opana. The ER wrote a script for some pills that kept me sleeping for 3 days straight, enough to get over the withdrawals. Finally, I woke 3 days later and my back felt like it was literally broken. I tried to take the opana er for two days to see if it would help any of my pain just a little, and nothing! So I called my dr's office, explained to them everything that went on the Friday night before. They asked my if I could go up to the office and see my pain doctor as soon as possible. My doctor was furious because the hospital didn't tell him what exactly happened. I went 6 days off the Duragesic patch and used only the Opana ER plus whatever the hospital gave me to sleep for 3 days straight. So fortunately, I had to be put back on the 100mcg Duragesic patch and Percocet 10/325. We went and got my scripts filled. I put one patch on in the bathroom at Walgreen's and took a percocet when I got in our truck. Within 30-40 minutes, all my pain, the jitters I had and the over all ****** feeling I had were gone!!! Now, that was about 7 yrs ago and as of today, I am still on the same exact medications. The Duragesic 100mcg and the Percocet 10/325 for breakthrough pain. My pain issues are still here, and getting worse. I had a 45 minute CT Scan about 5 months ago, and it shows that my condition is getting a lot worse! I now see a new pain doctor as of a month ago because my old pain doctor wouldn't up my medications. So this Friday I have an appt. with my new pain doctor and I hope and pray he'll up my meds. for me in hopes that it will help having a higher dosage. I was told my my primary care physician that with chronic pain, the highest dosage of Duragesic one can go up to is the 100mcg. unless one has cancer or another life threatening disease they claim a patient can go up to 400mcg if need be. Now, what scares the hell out of me is, if this 100 mcg if the highest does I can go up to, then why in the hell did the all these physicians bring me up to the 100mcg within a 1 yr. period?  Every since I've been on the percocet 10/325 I've been given 120 a month which is 4 a day. Why not raise the percocet to 6 a day or 8 a day? I get my liver checked every few months and my liver is in good condition. I'm only 41, and over the next 5-10 years what am I going to do for pain relief if nobody is willing to raise the Duragesic patch anymore than 100mcg that I've been on for 10 yrs now? So, the reason for my post is to let everyone out there in chronic pain know for one, what has happened to me can happen to you, and secondly, the Duragesic/Fentanyl patches are a wonderful medication for pain, but after 10 yrs of being on this medication and up to the 100mcg dosage, what is there for us next to use for pain relief? If your considering using the patches for pain, please talk to your doctor about how high a dose you can go up to. Just please be careful please!  Be safe, get all the facts and information you can get before starting and stopping the Duragesic/Fentanyl patches, and don't let any physician tell you that a pill will take the place of the patch and give you know withdrawls or side effects. Take it from me, I went through pure hell when mine tried to switch me from Duragesic 100mcg to Opana ER 30mg. Just the restless legs were enough to make me want to end my life, and this is not a joke! Again, be careful, and if you want/need to get off Fentanyl/Duragesic, taper please!

Sincerely,
Fran from Virginia

[calebsrme]

DON'T START. If you have started, get of them by tapering of them now.
I ended up taking 200 mg every 72 hours, then every 60 hours,eventually my body needed the patch every 24 hours. I realized that there was no way I could take enough to satisfy my craving for it and checked into a rehab center.
I detoxed from fentynl, vicodin, xanax  and another med that I can't recall; it was an absolute hell to detox. I do not think I could survive another event like this one again. Please stay away from them, I implore you,    

[momof2inpain]

I have been using the 100 MCG Fentanyl/Duragesic patch changing every 48 hours for 8 years now, with Dilaudid or Norco for break through pain...I was changed from the Dilaudid to the Norco when I felt my pain relief was not sufficient.  I have an L5-S1 fusion after the S1 vertebrae snapped off of my spinal column at the facets.  the vertebrae was completely broken off suspended by ligaments.  The surgery was the most horrible pain I have ever been through in my life! Prior to that I had several fusions in my cervical spine for badly herniated disks.  I have to be very careful for anything I do because the facets, the bones that link the vertebrae, have fractures throughout my spine, and believe me I don't want to break any vertebrae again.  I was pushing a parent type grocery cart, where both of my kids were sitting on it and I had several 25 packs of diet pepsi in the cart - well, I heard a loud crack and the pain was so bad I went down to the floor.  I was 36 then.  Several months after the trauma and surgery, the multiple sclerosis I was diagnosed with in 1989 came out of remission, which has made things worse for me because there is a lot of pain with having MS. I also have fibromyalgia, degenerative spine disease and osteoarthritis.  I go to a pain clinic for my pain therapy and medication for the entire time now.  I read a lot about people in this forum using the Duragesic patch and I would like to know if there is anyone out there who has been using the patch as long as I have and how they are doing on it.  It doesn't get rid of my pain completely because I have a lot of nerve damage in back as a result of broken vertebrae.  With the medication I take, I get relief at about a 4 or 5 out of 10, where 10 means the worst pain ever.  I recently found out that I have a lot of damage at the C2 level, in my cervical spine, which is causing a tremendous amount of pain, despite pain medications.  I would appreciate any one sharing their experiences who have been on pain medications long term, especially with the Fentanyl patch, and also, how people cope with severe pain that keeps them up at night (in my neck) even though I am on a strong dose of pain medication.  Bless  You All and Thank You So Much!

[BadbackRN]

Anyone ever use Humira for pain associated with back surgery with rod placement.  My hands are swollen, tingling and hurt like no body's buisness.

[Dark_Optimist]

I just read your last post. I'm really afraid... I'm currently using 75mcg patches every 48 hours. I start to withdraw on these at around 40 hours. I hate duragesic for all of the reasons you describe. I must have a strong family as I wouldn't put up with someone as labile as I am. I've used these patches for 2 years and originally loved them.
I reluctantly started duragesic after my doctor and others told me they wouldn't be like Oxycontin. That's another story...

My doctor at that time prescribed what was considered maximum dosage Oxycontin for RSD and Body pain. He then literally disappeared. Left town……None of the other docs in that group would continue my treatment and I locked myself at home and began cold turkey. I almost died.

Now I'm seeing all of these horror stories and I don't know if I can do this again. My doc thinks I'm whining about the duragesic. I'd really like to be human again. I used to be considered a high energy, type A kind of person. Now I don't want anyone else to see me like this.

Thanks for letting me rant. I have no one to talk to that understands

Mark F

[roxme]

I finally weaned off Duragesic patches after being a zombie for 6 years. Until I went from 75 to 50 to 25mcgs I didnt even realize it was this drug making me so inert that all I did was lay in bed. I have fibromyalgia and other problems. After I myself decided to wean, I stupidly assumed Id still get my 4 vicodin a day which I have taken for 8 years. dumb me, I was left with horrible withdrawals beyond belief, thinking my only relief would be death. I tried some weird drug called Savella which is just a prozac but the FDA approves it for fibro, not narcotics, which is the only thing that helps this debilitating pain. Someday if enough people kill themselves maybe the FDA will finally approve narcotics for fibro. I relented big time today and got a 10mg Kadian scrip. I hate myself. But Duragesic withdrawal is worse than words can say. Im glad its over. I feel like ME again. I just hurt, never sleep and lost 10lbs. Until narcotics are not abused by druggies those of us who need them will contemplate suicide when our doctors refuse to prescribe real relief. I live in a rural area anyway I hope in 2 years I will relocate to a normal city and get away from doctors who accuse suffering souls of being drug addicts. But I would never take Duragesic again withdrawals are still going on and I took off the last 12mcg patch 10 days ago.