My body can't take severe withdrawel anymore as I am 50 and have several medical problems that are lifelong. I have come up with and idea seemed to be working when I suffered an Addisons crisis and was hosptialized. I have no stress homones to help me battle withdrawel. I had worn my patch for 4 days instead of 3 and got down to the 17 hr half life of the drug before experiencing withdrawel,. I was into the 3rd day of sysmptoms when I collapsed and spent 5 days in the hospital. I would have made it now that I have some medications for nausea and can also use morphine as needed for pain,just for the week of withdrawel. My doctor thinks it will work, I am waiting to try again when I am stronger. Getting off the morphine was fairly easy, but this stuff is 30 times stronger remember! have someone stay with you and if things get out of hand, go to the hospital if nausea gets to severe or dehydration starts.

But as for 72 hours, i think there's some hopefull theory going on there.

rob

So until I have surgery. I've been given this Duragesic 25mcg patch to try. I have chronic asthma and I'm curently also taking 300mg of Theo-dur 2 X a day, provental (generic Albuterol) inhaler, the same for the nebulizer (for breathing treatments)for my asthma. Celebrex 200mg 2 X a day,Ultram 50mg 2 x a day as needed and Glucosamine Sulfate Complex (300mg-sulfate & 200mg HCI)for healthy joints, all for back muscle and joint pain.

I started the Duragesic 25mcg patch at 6 pm (09-28-00). I woke up from a sound sleep at 3:15 am (09-29-00), wheezing and shortness of breath. So I took a breathing treatment by using my nebulizer. Which helped control my breathing. The patch is still sticking now at 7:00 am.(13 hours hours after applying my first patch). I currently have a headache and stiffness in my upper back up into my neck. My lower back is hurting, but not as bad as it was, but bloated do to not starting my period yet. I feel drowsy and dizzy. Unsteady on my feet, walking. I'm 3 days late on starting my period. (I know I'm not pregnant!!) I am passing alot of gas and a liitle upset to the stomach, but have not vomited yet! But feel like it! My headache seems to be turning into a migraine and can't continue typing. What I need to do now is call my doctor or pharmacist to see if I should coninue with this drug, do to the side affects i am experiencing while typing this. I f they will get worst or decr

So until I have surgery. I've been given this Duragesic 25mcg patch to try. I have chronic asthma and I'm curently also taking 300mg of Theo-dur 2 X a day, provental (generic Albuterol) inhaler, the same for the nebulizer (for breathing treatments)for my asthma. Celebrex 200mg 2 X a day,Ultram 50mg 2 x a day as needed and Glucosamine Sulfate Complex (300mg-sulfate & 200mg HCI)for healthy joints, all for back muscle and joint pain.

I started the Duragesic 25mcg patch at 6 pm (09-28-00). I woke up from a sound sleep at 3:15 am (09-29-00), wheezing and shortness of breath. So I took a breathing treatment by using my nebulizer. Which helped control my breathing. The patch is still sticking now at 7:00 am.(13 hours hours after applying my first patch). I currently have a headache and stiffness in my upper back up into my neck. My lower back is hurting, but not as bad as it was, but bloated do to not starting my period yet. I feel drowsy and dizzy. Unsteady on my feet, walking. I'm 3 days late on starting my period. (I know I'm not pregnant!!) I am passing alot of gas and a liitle upset to the stomach, but have not vomited yet! But feel like it! My headache seems to be turning into a migraine and can't continue typing. What I need to do now is call my doctor or pharmacist to see if I should coninue with this drug, do to the side affects i am experiencing while typing this. I f they will get worst or decr

I need to know how to treat withdrawl symptoms of morphine!! Patient is having delusions and burning sensations. How long will this last, what can loved ones do, ie stay away or comfort?

How long do the symptoms last?

Please, please help fast!!!

Thanks

I have had numerous surgeries and was always able to withdraw from whatever was given to me. Am also in AA and have not drank for 13 years.

The duragesic gives me energy when a new one starts and after about 36 hours I get so physcially tired that I have to wait until it is time for a new patch.

I just cannot stand to be addicted and controlled by the duragesic, have made so many attemps to withdraw but have never gotten past 5 days.

Please, if anyone has any answers or can direct me to someone who does. My Doctor does not think I should be having these severe withdrawl symptons so his only answer is for me to stay on them.

100mcg-switching from 200mg a
day methadone for chronic pain

( the methadone was giving me
anxiety attacks ) the fentanyl was worse, hot flashes-cold
chills, I could not sleep,I
could not eat ( food literaly
tastsed like poison ) I became
increasingly nervous,by the third day my brain felt over-amped.I felt so bad that I
decided to take the patch off
for a couple of hours. (what I
didnt realize was that I was
actually in a state of withdrawal) I fell asleep and
woke up the next morning in a
state of extreme withdrawal.
I was nuaseated sick and in a
state of mental hell. I took
about 60-80mg of percodan and
2hrs later I was even worse.
I decided to try a nearby
hospital er. they made me put
the patch back on and gave me
4 yes 4mg of morphine. eight
hrs later still sick, I threw
up and decided to go home.
when I finally got back to my
pain doc he put me on oxycontin
but I continued to lapse into
withdrawal every 6 hrs. I needed 300-400mg of oxy just
to stay out of withdrawal.
it took me about 3weeks to
stablize. for the next 3months
I woke up every morning chilled
to the bone absolutly freezing

my doctor said it was psychological !! now my doctor
wants to drop my case because
the episode made him look bad!!
and he is being investigated.

somebody please help!!!
I cant belive this is happening

I need to find a pain doctor
that I can trust.

sincerely dk

Additionally, can anyone suggest a medicine that can be used to minimize the psycholigical discomfort that comes with withdrawl? i.e. would librium or xanax be options?

Thank you and God bless.
Kermit

I called Janssen at 1-800-JANSSEN (526-7736). I went through their automated answering options and requested to speak to a Customer Service Rep. Once I explained my problem, they federal expressed me a box of Johnson and Johnson Bioclusive transparent dressings to use as an additional adhesive to help secure the Duragesic patches. They sent me a box of 50 at no charge to me for either the dressings or for the shipping. The letter enclosed told me that all I needed to do was call them before I ran out of the dressings and they will send me more dressings as long as I need them.

I just started on Duragesic. I am on 1 to 2 25 patches every 72 hours in response to strong pain from Fibromyalgia and a bulging disc in my lower back. While I don't 'feel' the medication the way I did when I first started taking the oxycontin I was on prior to switching to Duragesic, I believe I'm getting more even relief. On the oxycontin (20 mg 3 times a day), I would wake up feeling pretty bad (sore, aching, headachy). Now, for the first time since being diagnosed with FMS, I wake up feeling almost normal (I still have acute pain in my back, but the FMS pain seems lessened). Overall, I seem to have more energy and less pain and I feel this way most of the day and night now. On Oxycontin, I would feel good starting about an hour after a dose. That relief would last for about 2 - 3 hours and then I would be on a rising scale of pain that would peak about 1-2 hours before my next dose of oxycontin. Then I would start feeling relief an hour after the next dose and the roller co

Thanks and I hope my information helps.

Leo

due to all the medications i take, oral narcotics had especially problematic side-effects. if i had already taken my antiviral meds for the day, and had to take an oxycodone, invariably i would hitch, and gag. sometimes, i would even throwup the antivirals, which is very bad [studies show microdoses of antivirals create drug-resistance sooner in the population of HIV].

plus, oxycodones make me crabby. not so, with the Duragesic patch. i have pain relief, clarity, and i'm not nearly as worried about addiction [i have a history of addiction to multiple substances]. it's not that kind of thing.

i have dealt successfully with addictions to stimulants, mostly, and no longer partake [or even desire them]. the problem is that many physicians wouldn't prescribe me anything, due to my past history of abuse. and i'm here to say that is just plain wrong. i have been managing pain successfully with my physician for two years. i know when i need to back off, and she knows that i am very conscious of addiction and that it's something i don't want.

please, Physicians-pain relief is so important to well-being. sometimes, addiction should even be a secondary consideration.

thank you
-durtro
grateful for the duragesic patch
and compassionate physicians who aren't afraid to be audited

Thanks PETE.

Thank you!
Dania

It does not cause me any constipation nor nausea and when I wake up, I do not have hardly any pain (like I used to). I highly recommend it to anyone who has failed on the IR meds and needs around the clock medication.

I am on the 50mcg patch and then I only need approx. 3-4 Norco tabs per 24-hours now instead of the 12-tabs that I was previously taking.

First Happy New Year 2000 and may it be kind to you all.

I have just been placed on the 25 Fentanyl patch.

Prior to this I had a dreadful run of various pain relieving drugs which have given me a dreadful time to put it mildly. I was on 'oxycodone' then 'prolodone' both of which I found intolerable causing great upset, excessive constipation, restlessness and constant nausea as I did with morphine 'MS Contin'. Though all three took the pain away or reduced it, they did so at one hell of a price.

I have actually asked my medics to take me off all three and never to be given them again - in fact I would refuse to take them if given them knowingly or otherwise. I would rather suffer the pain than be in constant fear of other debilitating factors which cause further pain and thereby establish a vicious cycle. This may sound silly but all I want is relief not added problems or substitutes of a nasty sort.

I have been put on other pain relieving drugs inclusive of 'Fortral'(pentazocine) which gives me short term relief, but find that it too causes nausea, sometimes nasty headaches, and I can never sleep and dare not shut my eyes with it. It gives me nightmares so consequently it is not very conducive to relax the system which is always compromised by all the various side effects of this and other medication.

Perhaps I am a hard case to crack concerning pain management and getting adequate relief without all the negative side effects of the medication the world has to offer. I have had pethadine in the past but have too suffered headaches, and taste of petrol like-symptoms and nausea from this too.

I have only been on the 'Fentanyl' patches for a month and though I still get the nausea it is not as bad as before and the constipation seems to have been reduced, though I still find pain breaking through I think I may be able to accommodate it at present, as I do have a high pain threshold for certain types of pain ( interestingly enough I have often wondered whether other people have been able to shut out certain types of pain and not others through force of habit and having to deal with it constantly assuming it does not get too high or peak?).

Pain is a strange phenomena as some of these medications may reduce the pain they seem to lay the foundations for other problems which in the end seem to exacerbate that which one is trying to get rid of. It is difficult no doubt for medical personnel and sufferer to find the combination to alleviate that which is so draining, i.e. the pain that any given individual may be suffering and the fear that some medicos have in prescribing to those who actually suffer pain.

I am hoping at long last that I may have started to get some real help that may lift me over the hurdles... I shall give it a fair chance and see what happens...

All the best to all of you who are trying to find a path to alleviate your suffering and the sharing you offer to others to help them over. Thanks too for the feedback you give to the doctors and others through sites such as this, which I hope, will help them too in their research and understanding.

Oh, I suffer from chronic back pain, which is extremely painful - the result of an old injury sustained from being the victim in a hit and run case - me on a bicycle and a drunk driver of a car slamming into me. Not a good mix.

However life goes on and I wish, as no doubt you do too, to live it as well as I can. Good wishes for the New Year 2000 and more - Chris.

PS My e-mail is not working at present so anyone writing directly to me will not reach me - I can send out but not receive. You can snail mail me at: c/o P.O. Box 1066, Nedlands, W.Australia 6909.

thanks,

holly