Fentanyl troubles - any ideas?

[NormsMyName]

Hey all, I will be 46 on Friday..I hope...haha
I have been tapering off of Fentanyl patches (100mcg) for about a year now. I never had one single problem until I got to the 25mcg patches. Of course, Duragesic has stopped production of the 25mcg patches so I am right now suffering severe chest pains on the generic patches. I have tried both sets (small slender strip and the larger gel-filled type) and both make my chest hurt to high heaven. Right now I can't sleep because of the nagging pain in my chest.

I was at the hospital yesterday with the chest pains and had x-rays, EKG and blood work to make sure I was NOT having a heart attack and the doctors all said I was %100 on paper, plastic and chemical so I am fairly confident the pain is due somehow to the Fentanyl and some sort of withdrawals.

I am trying to get to doctor to write me another prescription for 2x12mcg Duragesic but my pharmacy will not have it until next Monday or Tuesday so I am still left to suffer.

Does anyone know of anything I can take (I also have but rarely use Lortab 10/500 tabs unless my leg and neck (I had a broken neck and back repaired with a 3-level anterior/posterior lumbar fusion and a 3-level fusion in my neck) get really bad when the weather changes and I am stuck in bed.

When I talk with my doctor tomorrow I will ask about the check pain and a remedy but maybe someone with experience has an idea as well.

I did enjoy the relief the Duragesic patches gave me, I just could not stand the severe constipation, sweats, hot spells, dizzy spells, lethargy and several other side-effects I would occasionally get. The worst was constipation and not being able to go for a week or more and getting sick so bad. I took many MANY different OTC and prescription meds to try and remedy the constipation but had no luck.

Now that I am down to 25 I can go about every 3-5 days and am looking forward to being somewhat normal in this area as soon as I am off of this stuff.

I have enjoyed reading all of the other posts about the problems/remedies/successes folks have had with Fentanyl but just wanted to open something up on my current problem so I can find a little assurance and help getting through this time I am having.

Thanks,

Norm

[Jacqui805]

I will start by saying that I can relate to EVERY word you said...and I was on 200 mcg's for four years.  So, Hi.  

The chest pains you're experiencing, is w/d related.  I know it all too well, I went through it too..and I went to the ER because, I was concerned that I might be having a heart attack too....and mine was on the left side...It was awful....I AM glad you got it checked out though first, like I did.  Unfortunately, all the w/d s/s just need to go away on their own...and I'd like to say, that since you don't have the patches right now, I'm not sure I'd go back up to the 25's myself...you're already on your way to being off, and going on the 25's at this point, probably won't even take away the symptoms.


I also experienced the other s/s you mentioned while taking the med...but I was able to deal with the constipation somewhat by taking Docusate Sodium......the sweats were so bad, just so bad.....so was being hot all the time....I hated that....I also experienced lethargy and, depression....now that I'm off, things are way better, and I find, that although I thought my mind was working at the time, I have amnesia for alot of the time...family will bring up things that happened, and I have no recollection for the events...it's a very powerful drug, not without benefits, but there's a high price to pay for them....  

I weaned off the med, coming down by 25 mcg's each month, I had been having minor w/d s/s all along on the med though, like after two days on the patches....and when I weaned, by the time I got down to about 50 mcg's, I started to have them more and more...then came the 25's...I went into full-blown w/d.  After two weeks of it, I just stopped it finally, because they were not helping anyway...so staying on them another two weeks and going to the 12.5's was not going to help either.  It was very rough for a while, very rough....BUT I made it with the support of people here, and a strong will to succeed.  I lived through it, despite feeling like I wasn't gonna, or that I didn't want to sometimes....you can get off of them and be ok, you really can...if you'd like to talk more, you can private message (PM) anytime, ok?

Jacqui

[GoingToMakeIt]

Good job on the taper and good luck. Fentanyl is tough to kick. Chest pain is quite common.