fentanyl. what are good breakthough medicines

I don't understand how that controlled the pain with that roller coaster ride of the pain being up & down in pain relief. Usually if you lower the dosage of the patch then you will have more pain, I don't think I would recommend this, lol. It may have worked for you but I cannot wrap my brain around it....Susie

That is definitely unusual...I can't say I have ever read about anyone on this board in the years I've been here being prescribed Fentanyl in that way.

Glad it worked for you!

Spinal Soldier: I can't believe how many pain meds you are on at one time. MSContin + dilaudid + oxycodone + soma and klonopin would knock me out in no time. Your tolerance must be sky high...

I'm 34 and I believe we are pretty young... Especially when you realize we still have 40 - 50 good years still left in us (God willing) and we will more than likely be in pain for them. With patches there is less potential for abuse, I think some doctors believe the younger you are the higher your chances of abusing your medication.

Also depending on the pill, there can be a risk of problems with liver or kidney function after extended use.

I hope you find something that works!

straydog said...
IH8Pain, there is still room to increase the Fentanyl. The next increase is 75mcg, that may be the dose that helps or you may have to go even higher. Rather than Fentanyl not working for you,you may not be on the correct dose for you. Pain meds are not a one size fit all situation. The drs tend to start the patients at the lowest dose & increase as they go along. What may work for me may not touch your pain. You are considered young by a dr & they do take this into consideration. How long have you been on this dose? When do you see the dr again? If you have an appt coming up pretty soon that would be the time to let him know what is going on.

Keep us posted......Susie

I would rather not increase my dose for a few reasons ;

1) they are always falling off even with medical tape, tegaderm patches or whatever. I have oily skin, and sweat a lot which causes them not to stick at all. ( I can not afford things to help the patches stick, since I can't work I can't afford those things)
2) their are too many ups and downs. They work a little sometimes , only a bit, and others not at all.( I wouldn't have to worry about this with pillls)
3) truth be told I hate wearing patches personally and would rather just take a pill . I can't get used t wearing them and don't want to.

If I told my doc that i just dislike wearing them and would rather take a pill do you think he would say something " well too bad I don't care if they annoy you , drive you crazy and find them unsightly" ? Or do think he might accept that and say OK we can try a pill. Basically I would rather be on something, in pill form, that is equivalent to 50 mcgs of fentanyl..would that be MS Cotin , Opana or Dilauded?

I really do not know how your dr will react when you tell him you dislike the patches. He may or may not switch you to something else. All you can do is ask him to switch you to an ER release pain med with something for BT pain. Keep in mind that most drs do not rx a strong medication for BT pain. It is for when the pain spikes.

Let us know how your appt goes....Susie

Oh, and you mentioned that Oxycodone gave you relief in the past (moreso than Fentanyl) so perhaps you could try extended release oxycodone (Oxycontin). Or have you tried that in the past with unfavorable results?

Maybe you can tell your doc you appreciate the longer lasting pain relief but you felt better (pain wise) on Oxycodone. That may be a better way to approach the situation?

QT_Pye78 said...
Oh, and you mentioned that Oxycodone gave you relief in the past (moreso than Fentanyl) so perhaps you could try extended release oxycodone (Oxycontin). Or have you tried that in the past with unfavorable results. That may be a better way to approach the situation?

Nope never tried it so I might bring oxycontin up. Thanks

We do get mixed reviews here about asking for a specific medication. I personally would not ask for a pain medication by name. You are right about it sending up a red flag with a dr. You could try letting him know you joined an online forum & you noticed people being on ER meds & give the names of those meds & ask him what he thought abut trying any of them. Basically, you need to put the ball in his court where it looks like you are asking his opinion of the meds & what his experience is when it comes t rxing these to a patient.

Let us know how our appt turns out. Take care....Susie

People will take a drug holiday & go off of their pain meds so the pain receptors can be reset.

Susie

IH8Pain said...

Poweredbylove said...


Best of luck. You may want to find a new pharmacy that has different generics for the patch.

Thanks Poweredbylove and everyone else for being so nice

Yeah I'm thinking of switching pharmacies because the pharmacy I go to seems to have terribly ineffective generics, its like they get the cheapest, least effective medicines they can find or something, lol.

If these patches also do not work so well for me are their any generics that you, or anyone , can suggest? Because I am at the stage of my pain atm where I am like " OK that's it I've had it. I want my pain fixed and I want it fixed now, so that I can get back to a normal life or at least not a life where I'm completely bed-ridden like I am now. I'm sick of seeing so many doctors, I'm sick of all of the medications, I'm sick of the merry-go-round...I want off where all my friends are waving for me to come join them in their normal lives. Help!!!) Did any of you ever go threw this stage, or is it just me , lol?

Btw sometimes my pain gets really bad and I disappear for awhile from this forum to rest, heal and be in pain. So if you don't hear from me it just means I'm in too much agony to even go on the computer. I'm sure some of you know what I mean, do you?

Anyway ttys

hi, it's my first post so please forgive any mistakes. I can totally relate! I am blessed with a wonderful PM Dr, but that wasn't always the case. I spent years completely bedridden, I was a gymnastics coach, in my mid 30's, plus I look young for my age & was in good shape, I spent 4 years in excruciating pain before I was diagnosed. ....the first time, with ovarian cancer with complications & only because I begged Dr to take it out because I literally could not stand up, I was crawling to the bathroom. Now over 10 yrs later I'm back where I started with the abdominal pain, along with 2 discs out in the back & neck each, etc etc. My PM Dr is both brilliant & empathetic, I have total faith in him. He has told me I will never be pain free, the goal is to have a decent quality of life. First step is finding a great Dr! Takes many years sometimes. Every medication affects every person differently, but I wanted to tell you my experience with Opana. I took the long acting version & short for BT. It worked well for me for years, then in 2012 I think, the manufacturer changed the formula. Opana was built around the Timer-X system (same when formula changed for oxycontin) but they STARTED with the formula, so when they changed it to make it abuse proof it didn't make sense, what actually happened was their patent was up so they reformulated, too quickly, to keep it. The first pill I took burned from the time I swallowed it until it left my body, & I've never been the same since. I couldn't stop taking it abruptly, so I tried to figure another way to get it in my body. I was living in FL at the time & driving home to see my Dr once a month, so I had no recourse. People were crushing this pill with a DRILL, I actually stood on the pill at 1 point because I couldn't believe how hard it was!!!! No wonder people were passing it intact! I ended up putting it in a Afrin bottle & that dissolved it, then squirting it up my nose, a nightmare for me because I have a phobia of putting things in my nose. It's VERY expensive, it was $900 a month, I was self employed, no insurance & received it from the manufacturer for free, but I'm not sure what is currently going on with it. It was a excellent painkiller, but I don't think anyone could tolerate the new formulation & I think it lost popularity with some drs. I would research that medication seriously before bringing it up to your Dr. I finally got insurance, medicaid, and my dr recently switched me from MS Contin 30mg 3x a day to fentanyl 25, he told me he was starting me at the lowest dosage, but expected to have to increase dosage or apply more often, which brought me here! Maybe because of the heat? Mine starts decreasing in effectiveness until I steadily get more ill by the 3rd day. I need to know if insurance will pay for every 48 hrs. Also, I've taken Dilaudid as Bt med, & after 3 months I've developed a tolerance for it & it no longer works. Tolerance develops always, but I've been taking oxycodone 5 mg 4x a day for a couple of years now with no problems. My dr saves Dilaudid for surgeries/post op pain. Others have DEFINITELY been there, I wanted to die because I was in so much pain all the time & could never go back to work, which incidentally I'd been doing since I was 6, so I lost my identity as well, & frankly, I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't had a son that I just couldn't abandon & hurt by killing myself. But today I have 2 gorgeous grand babies, under the age of 4, that I'm raising with my son (real mom abandoned them). Do I have pain & real bad days, absolutely! Like now getting ill every 3rd day & being in pain every 2nd, & even when things aren't fluctuating, but my Dr knows what's going on in my personal life & I know he will do everything he can to help me. The good days are so worth the bad ones!!!! I pray you get to that place! I was an Elite gymnast, I'm no stranger to pain, but CHRONIC pain wears you down mentally, physically, & spiritually. Just hang in there, and you will get to a better place! Best of luck to you :)

IH8Pain said...
I'm on 50 mcgs now and still not getting much relief, if at all. Doesn't fentanyl work for everyone ? Or does everyone respond differently to different pain medicines, so where one pain medicine will work for one person but not another? I'm told that fentanyl is 100 times more powerful then morphine, well if that where true why do I get more pain relief from oxycodone , not much though, then fentanyl? Thanks for replies everyone, you guys are great support and helpful! . Sorry I haven't gotten back but I have been in too much pain to write so sorry for the bump. I didn't want to start a new thread on fentanyl when I already have one. Hope that's OK mods.

Oh and my doctor told me that he doesn't want me on pills because I'm still young except I'm not I'm 31! That didn't make any sense to me do pills cause more damage to the body then patches do or something? He's obsessed with patches because he had me on the butrans patch awhile back but I told him it didn't work at all. Then I was on oxycodone but I told him it wasn't long lasting enough for my round-the-clock pain.

It sounds like your Dr is simply afraid that you will become addicted, rather than tolerant, on pills. Statistically younger people are more prone to addiction, and you know how drs love their statistics! I once got a dr to admit "most drs won't wipe their a** without a textbook telling them to". However some pills can be hard on the body long term and even do real damage. Basically anything with Tylenol, ibuprofen, & NSAIDS will hurt you long term.

Members please do not post any further here since this is an older thread. Lets give peacelovehope a chance to make her intro post.

Thanks for your cooperation.