melatonin

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Post Edited (JayBespoke) : 11/7/2011 12:15:43 PM (GMT-7)

Hi Jay, this is the patch I was on. It took a little while to fully build up in my system but it has some sort of blockers in it to stop addiction so if or when you need to come off it, its not a problem. The negative of the blockers is if you need BT meds like endone etc, they are blocked from working!!! I even found myself spinning out a bit on codeine.. But for that every day background pain it was good.

I managed to fully work and drive on it too.

Hope it helps.

One of my friends forewarned me that in some people it can have a neurological side effect of depression??? Anyway, didn't affect me that way but be weary of that one.

Glad you finally got a PM doctor, they made a great difference to me.

Best wishes for the new year, golitho

golitho - Just been doing some research on this opiate-blocking with Butrans patches, apparantely it's not something added but a natural effect of Buprenorphine, it binds so strongly to the opioid receptors that other opiate drugs don't get chance to bind to as many receptors. I guess this effect is more pronounced at higher doses, and I guess Tramadol is less susceptible to this because of it's low u-opioid affinity - Tramadol doesn't metabolise to morphine like many opioids.

I guess codeine doesn't compete for many receptors either because it's relatively weak - interesting thought about Oxycodone though. On the plus side, butrans patches are difficult to become addicted too and rarely cause withdrawal, apparently.

take care

Yeah heat can increase your absorbancy. I found the hot Aussie summer would make me spin occassionally. I kept havng cool showers to try and keep my body temp down.

But its amazing how you do adjust to it.

I found both patches worked equally well, but I developed migraines while on the fentenyl. Could have been coincidental?

I was severly stressed, moving house, throwing a party, overseas visitors etc...

All that snow I didn't think you'rd be getting too hot?

Best regards Golitho

the codiene will not work in the presence of even a very low dose of buprenorphine. codiene is a full opioid agonist unlike tramadol. one good breakthrough pain option while using the patch is the sublingual suboxone or subutex (buprenorphine), i think it comes in 2mg and 8mg. buprenorphine is a mixed opioid agonist/antagonist but it is still very potent; 0.3mg = 10mg of morphine

I will be very interested to hear how the melatonin goes for you... if you do in fact get it.

I am so darn fatigued but sleep is something that escapes me more often than not and I dread going to bed most nights. Falling asleep is just like a second job and the amount of times I awake during the night .... well, let's just say it's not pleasant.

I am particularly interested as melatonin was suggested to me by my doc at my last visit. He said they're relatively new (so I'm assuming that means they're relatively new to aus?) which meant he didn't have any decent patient feedback. As I have kids at home (summer holidays) I needed a solution that WOULD work, not something that MIGHT work, so he prescribed temazapam. I admit my sleep has improved a little, but nowhere near where it needs to be, and I know my doc has said this drug is to be very temporary (6 - 8 weeks).

Hi Everyone!

New Member; just reading this thread because my Dr prescribed me these patches as a possible change over for Vicodin.  I'm on 2 ES V 4 x a day, which is a lot because I've been taking them for years because of ruptured disks, spinal stenosis and sciatica.  He was (is) hoping to see if the patches work instead of the V.  I have taken Oxy's and came off them really quick; although the worked awesome for pain, I felt that addiction coming on and had about a 7 day rehab just for being on them for about 4 months.  Percocet doesn't really work either so he never prescribes those.

I just mentioned this because I'm a little concerned reading the post that I'm starting on 15mcg patches, so that seems a little strong to start - didn't even know they made 5's.  They were going to go 10 but the dr said no, 15s.  Waiting on them to come in at the drug store today; I will try to see how they work after 2-4 days.  My general pain is all the time, not high very low...but then in the afternoons and first in the morning it's intense.

He advised me to keep taking the Vs while on the patches, he actually said they shouldn't cause any disiness - from your postings I can see the BT patches themselves may give me some disiness.  I'm kind of prone to that with just the V's.  I guess anything like Oxy's or BT (morphine's) works well for me because I've never had them.  My concern is that I recently had surgery and I had told them that the stronger stuff knocks me out - and it did - they had trouble waking me from what they had given me (I guess assuming I needed a lot to be knocked out although anethesthia is different) - from a recent surgery that I was only under for about 45 mins for.

Look forward to more postings!

Post Edited (JohninVA) : 3/3/2011 9:30:09 AM (GMT-7)

Have you tried physical therapy?

Jay, you doing okay...worried about you...

Hey there Tink,
hope you don't mind if I ask you to start a new thread and introduce your self a little,
best place for your post might be in the Chronic Pain Forum, as a lot more people
use the patches and know how to make them stick better ect...
nice to meet you but sure wish it was under better circumstanses than chronic pain.
this is a good forum you found and we usually have chronic pain chat nights on Thursday
nights...my CP (chronic Pain) was caused by a car accident many years ago, doc at the
time said I had sprained the whole left side of my spine...but enough about me...
yes there is a connection with heat and some patches...but if you ask this in the CP forum you might get a better response..
many well wishes and keep us posted on how your doing we do care...

Butran Patch is addictive and you will have withdrawals for about 2 weeks after use was on it a year