One week of Fentanyl

[TobyGER]

Hello,

I have a question about Fentanyl. I have to mention that I'm from Germany
but I signed up here because there's not much to find about Fentanyl
on German websites, so excuse me if I make any grammar mistakes.

About a year ago I had surgery and chemo to get my tumor removed. Ever since
I've been on morphine until it suddenly stopped working. My doctors then decided
to put me on Fentanyl. That was 7 days ago. It caused constipation, sweating,
and I was just sooo tired all the time so I decided to try a day without a patch.
The first day was okay so I decided that I should just stop taking it, since
it didn't completely kill the pain but gave me these uncomfortable side effects instead.
In the night after day 2 I went to bed, turned my lights off and closed my eyes.
After about 15 minutes I felt this annoying feeling in my legs and arms that FORCED me
to move them, so I had no choice but to get out of bed and walk around the house for
almost an hour. When I went back to bed I thought it'd be over and was looking forward to
a relaxing sleep. But it started again and sleep was not an option.

My question is:

Is that normal? Because I've only had 50 uG patches (I'm only 21, they said
it's better to give me a lower dose) and only for one week.
I can't imagine that these are already withdrawals, are they? I don't really
want to continue with these patches because if these things happen after
one week, I don't want to know how horrible it would be to get off Fentanyl
after taking it for multiple months or even a year...

Greetings from Germany,
Toby

[TheLightSeeker]

Hi Toby.
Herzlich willkommen!
Your negative reaction to fentanyl is consistent with the known side effects
of this drug.
The one thing which may have exasperated the reaction is increased heat,
which increases the release of the medication in your body and much faster.
Because fentanyl is a very strong narcotic-100 x stronger than morphine- your patch is only 50 ug , but likely strong enough to give you some withdrawal symptoms, even if you only took it for a short time.

If you really cannot tolerate it, it is always wise to discontinue its use early on, rather than later, however, it is suggested that you consult your treating doctor first.
Your treating doctor should be able to determine, whether you were experiencing normal initial  reactions, or if the symptoms constitute side-effects serious enough to justify the fentanyl patch discontinuation.

Since you didn't discuss this with your doctor, you may want to let him/her know now and also mention the fact that it was not as effective in managing your pain symptoms.

Best wishes,
Niko