Aa
2+ years on 100 mg Fentanyl patches
I am a 59 year old male who had to go on Long Term Disability in Sept. 2008 after 15 years in the Crime Lab. It got so bad, after accumulating nearly 800 sick hours, I'd get halfway to work on the bus and simply stay on the bus and go home again. Or after 1-3 hours, I'd go tell the boss that I just couldn't do it anymore. I was THE AFIS guy. And one of 2 latent fingerprint examiners in our lab. I enjoyed my job; loved it even, so it wasn't work to me, it was fun. I LOVED IT!!! My first 7 years on the job, we processed meth labs without any breathing protection before the state took over in their white suits and masks. After 2+ years of a 100mg fentanyl patch every other day, my doctor said she must cut my dosage (legal reasons, and I understand and agree) to every 3rd day. Already I'm feeling the effects but wonder what I'm in for? I'd like to continue to cut down and eventually get off fentanyl completely but although my daily pain (from head to toe) is anywhere from a 6 to a 7.5, it has recently been a bit higher. Even on my every two day routine, the pain rose up to a 7.5 or more for the last eight hours before I could change to a new patch. Now, I'll be in hell half my life. 36 hours of 6-7.5 pain and 36 hours of pure hell.
It gets so bad, I feel like all I can do is lay on the couch and close my eyes; not because I need to sleep, but it's the best I can do with all the pain, or symptoms, which includes: 3-4 different types of headaches including feeling like the inside of the top of my head has been filled with gasoline or kerosine, the same pain I get head to toe, but in my brain, and a 3rd type of headache includes my face going numb. I also get pain from head to toe (similar to the pain I experienced after running 3-5 miles, then rested until recovering my breath). The pain my muscles were in at that time is very similar to what I experience always now. Now, the more work I do each day, the longer I'll be in pain when I finish. If I use my arms, I'll have severe arm pain for hours after I finish. Other symptoms include, fainting spells, dizziness, lack of energy, lack of strength, no stamina, the shakes from time to time, and I should be using a BIPAP but am unable to use that or a CPAP because they both give me the hiccups so I sleep with oxygen instead.
My initial diagnosis included fibromyalgia, one narrowing in my upper back ("You oughta be a quadraplegic!!"), a bulging disk in my lower back, arthritis in every joint, and an unknown genetic disorder. My wife and I are both carriers of the myoclonic elilepsy gene. Of our three daughters, two have severe myoclonic epilepsy, which is terminal. The third is a carrier only, like my wife and I. The question remains: may I be experiencing some of the same symptoms of the disease I passed onto them? I get twitchy and lightheaded; even pass out completely, waking up on the floor.
When I first went on the 50mg fentanyl patch, MY BREATHING STOPPED for the first 6 hours or so. My wife (an RN) luckily noticed and assigned our daughters to sit by my side and wake me with a touch to get my breathing going again. I recall feeling like I didn't need to breath, it was suddenly unnecessary and a real chore, I was in such a haze. before bedtime, I was fine. Before that, I had to remember to breathe or I wouldn't.
One of the cops I worked with went out on LTD like I did but with different symptoms, and he too used the fentanyl patch and described to me how he managed to get off the patch and any pain meds at all, and back to work. At age 59, I'd be happy with a better quality of life. We have a pond filled with koi, goldfish and shubukins, and a garden railroad nearby which hasn't been completed because of my malady. And I dug that 13' circle 3' deep all by myself 10-12 years ago. Now look at me. I'm 6'2, 225 lbs.
If anyone has any insight into what I'll be going through in the near future, and/or any suggestions, they are all welcome. My plan, like I said, is to get as far off pain meds as possible.
My doctor prescribed a pain clinic but they abandoned me. She also sent me to the Mayo Clinic but they refused to take me in. And I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for two years so you'd think I'd qualify as family and they'd take me in without question. Nobody wants me I reckon.
Other things that seem to relieve my pain are music therapy (headphones, my itunes, and meditation), time sitting by my pond watching the trains go by, feeding the fish, watching the hummingbirds at the feeder, then hover near the clouds of gnats, picking them off one by one, watching the fish school, the dragon flies and bees visiting the pond, and the robins bathing in the waterfall chute. Even catching Snicker the garter snake, who is now 18" long, and playing with him before letting him go. It all gets my mind off my pain and puts me in a different place away from it all. PLEASE HELP Hunkerbuns
It gets so bad, I feel like all I can do is lay on the couch and close my eyes; not because I need to sleep, but it's the best I can do with all the pain, or symptoms, which includes: 3-4 different types of headaches including feeling like the inside of the top of my head has been filled with gasoline or kerosine, the same pain I get head to toe, but in my brain, and a 3rd type of headache includes my face going numb. I also get pain from head to toe (similar to the pain I experienced after running 3-5 miles, then rested until recovering my breath). The pain my muscles were in at that time is very similar to what I experience always now. Now, the more work I do each day, the longer I'll be in pain when I finish. If I use my arms, I'll have severe arm pain for hours after I finish. Other symptoms include, fainting spells, dizziness, lack of energy, lack of strength, no stamina, the shakes from time to time, and I should be using a BIPAP but am unable to use that or a CPAP because they both give me the hiccups so I sleep with oxygen instead.
My initial diagnosis included fibromyalgia, one narrowing in my upper back ("You oughta be a quadraplegic!!"), a bulging disk in my lower back, arthritis in every joint, and an unknown genetic disorder. My wife and I are both carriers of the myoclonic elilepsy gene. Of our three daughters, two have severe myoclonic epilepsy, which is terminal. The third is a carrier only, like my wife and I. The question remains: may I be experiencing some of the same symptoms of the disease I passed onto them? I get twitchy and lightheaded; even pass out completely, waking up on the floor.
When I first went on the 50mg fentanyl patch, MY BREATHING STOPPED for the first 6 hours or so. My wife (an RN) luckily noticed and assigned our daughters to sit by my side and wake me with a touch to get my breathing going again. I recall feeling like I didn't need to breath, it was suddenly unnecessary and a real chore, I was in such a haze. before bedtime, I was fine. Before that, I had to remember to breathe or I wouldn't.
One of the cops I worked with went out on LTD like I did but with different symptoms, and he too used the fentanyl patch and described to me how he managed to get off the patch and any pain meds at all, and back to work. At age 59, I'd be happy with a better quality of life. We have a pond filled with koi, goldfish and shubukins, and a garden railroad nearby which hasn't been completed because of my malady. And I dug that 13' circle 3' deep all by myself 10-12 years ago. Now look at me. I'm 6'2, 225 lbs.
If anyone has any insight into what I'll be going through in the near future, and/or any suggestions, they are all welcome. My plan, like I said, is to get as far off pain meds as possible.
My doctor prescribed a pain clinic but they abandoned me. She also sent me to the Mayo Clinic but they refused to take me in. And I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for two years so you'd think I'd qualify as family and they'd take me in without question. Nobody wants me I reckon.
Other things that seem to relieve my pain are music therapy (headphones, my itunes, and meditation), time sitting by my pond watching the trains go by, feeding the fish, watching the hummingbirds at the feeder, then hover near the clouds of gnats, picking them off one by one, watching the fish school, the dragon flies and bees visiting the pond, and the robins bathing in the waterfall chute. Even catching Snicker the garter snake, who is now 18" long, and playing with him before letting him go. It all gets my mind off my pain and puts me in a different place away from it all. PLEASE HELP Hunkerbuns
What about going into a rehab type facility to get off the patch and onto another medication with less side effects. Some of what you are describing sounds like your core pain, some thou sounds like w/d. You obviously can't live like this. Sounds like you may need to also consult with a different Dr. for a new plan. So sorry you are suffering. This will end, just will take more research on your part.
Another bad 48 hour period waiting for the time I could put on a new patch. I did so at 1930 and went to bed straight away; just couldn't do it anymore. Even getting out of bed, and walking, or getting a glass of water was too much. Hopefully my doctor can/will prescribe a pain pill I can use to get through my 48 hour stretch in hell. By 2100 last night, my wife came to bed and asked me to do something that required me to get out of bed and walk out to the living room, which I did, but I really felt like I wanted to jump out of my skin because the pain was an 8.5 and I was crying (not much else I CAN do) and thrashing in bed for an hour. Music therapy wasn't an option (too much effort) so what else do I have? How about getting totall smashed? Like a few shots of whiskey. Would that help dull my pain? Would it wreak havoc with my medication? I am literally at my wits end. Tylenol is like a sugar pill and not worth trying again. Plus, when my RLS kicks in at night, I feel like I won't survive. Last night, as I sat at the dinner table, bot legs suddenly felt like I had a heating pad o the tops of them. Like I need another problem or pain to deal with. So many jobs around the house and yard need doing but I just can't. PLEASE HELP. H.
Oh Dear, I hate that you are suffering so. Going to bump this thread up in hopes that more will help with knowledge of fentanyl patch. Hang in there hunk, this will get better.......Time is not your friend now, but necessary for the bigger picture.
Stretched my 100MG fentanyl patch out from every other day to every third day and now I'm borderline suicidal. I am literally in hell for 2 out of every 3 days. I can't do anything but lay and cry. Doing anything is a chore. This isn't living, it's hell. There's nothing good in my future. The light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train. Besides pain from head to toe, today I'm also dizzy and twitching. And I put on a new patch last night. When does it get better? How can I tell if the increased pain is my original symptoms coming back or withdrawl from fentanayl? Not only am I in more pain from the decrease in pain medication but I can't recover when I put on a new patch. I still feel awful. On a scale of 1-10, I'm in the 8's now, which to me is so much pain I cry because that's all I can do. I want to continue to get off fentanyl but if this is what I have to look forward to I can't do it. H.
Hello glad u here I know what u going through I am disabled and dont work no more Going on 4 years now it takes time to use to not working and I to had to get off the pain pills well u on the patches and its a lot better with out them now I have a lot of pain too I had a major tramma broke my back and a bunch of other bones so now I got a bunch off steal in me can't stand very long can't walk very far so I know what u going through I have to do a lot of sitting or lay flat on my back but u find way to get by with out the pain meds man I feel for u and if u what get off them u can
Welcome! I am going to private message you a name of a member on here that has experience with the Fen patches. Please check your inbox. I have to say your natural pain techniques sound awesome and soothing!
1 Comments
i would like more info on the patchs myself.
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