Fentanyl Can I Just Go Cold Turkey When Quitting (Page 8)
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My doctor has had me on the 100 fentanyl patch for 1 year now. He is going to take me off it. Can you just stop taking it with out side effects or withdrawals. Please tell me the proper way to get off this patch. Please help me, I have the doctor appointment tomorrow and want to know what to say. So far it sounds like his plan is just to take me off cold turkey. I am scared of withdrawals. I am a mom of 5 kids and need to be ok. Please help.

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I cannot do a gradual come down. I HAVE to go cold turkey. I have no choice. I did call my doctor and she told me to take two .5 zanex four times a day and four of my requip at night. I guess I can say it seemed to help some. I wasn't all night long twisted up in a pretzel and I do think I finally got some sleep. I'm hoping tonight will be the night everything will be better. I have tremors, my whole body feels like I have been hit by a train, and have very strong depression now. That could be due to alot of things (depression). I just lost my job, insurance, my 79 year old mother lives with me and I haven't been able to tend to her as I should be. The house is a pig sty and just reeks of sickness and despair. yuck. I have taken my last percocet so we shall see how things go with that. But, tomorrow will be better, right?

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DO NOT STOP TAKING THE PATCH WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR DR.i DID AND I COULD NOT FIRGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME,I WANTED TO DIE,I WAS SO SICK.I WENT TO MY FAMILY DR. AND SHE SAID I WAS HAVING HERION WITHDRAWS,I TOTALLY FREAKED OUT,i THEN HAD TO BE PUT ON A LOWER DOSAGE FOR A MONTH THEN I WAS FINE.

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Age 52 yrs. I lost my job which means I lost my insurance. I started out at 25mcg and moved up a few months later to 50 mcg then up to 75 mcg for at least 6 months. With insurance the patches cost me 85 dollars a month. I can't imagine how much without insurance. I have no choice but to go cold turkey. The withdrawals started yesterday. Last night was horrible. I think I may have gotten an hour of sleep during the whole night. It's like I am having muscle spasms...like restless leg syndrome only all over my body. No way could I stay still. I couldn't lie still because my whole body was going nuts. My restless leg syndrome was on overdrive! I take 1mg Requip for the restless leg. I take mg of mobic and mg Zanalfex for the muscle spasms. I also take Percocet 5 times a day. When the meds I have now run out I will have to do withdrawals with them also. I will worry about that when that time comes. But for now what can I do to ease the withdrawals? I cannot do the tapering down or go to rehab....I have no money or job. I am actually going straight from 75 mcg to nothing. Any suggestions on how to ease the twisting and contorting and spasms AND the RLS on overdrive? Today I plan on trying to be extremely active even though I am exhausted.

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That is correct, Fentanyl is over 80 times stronger than Morphine, so after taking it for so long, a sudden cessation could result in withdrawal effects, some of which can be dangerous.

The dose should gradually be lowered and medical support given, to minimize the withdrawal effects and dangers.


https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Fentanyl/­

Are there any other questions or comments?

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No, it is not safe to go cold turkey. I have had a doctor tell me that no one has ever died from withdrawal. Fentanyl withdrawal can slow or even stop your breathing. I have been on a 350 mcg dose of fentanyl patcheds every 48 hours for 10+ years. I was in a serious car accident w/ligament & tendon injury, then they thought chronic pain/arthritis/fibromyalgia. I was told by 2 pain management Dr.'s that some of my pain could be exasperated by the pain meds (I'm also on oxycodone for break through pain) along with valium.,muscle relaxers, trazadone to make me sleep, and a few other meds. to help me cope with all of this. I was told I needed to get off the fentanyl to see if my pain got better. I was told there were 3 options-go into a hospital for detox-then 30 days inpatient which was 2 1/2 hours away from my home, taper down over several months or try a medication named suboxen. My 1st choice was suboxen which sounded the most convenient choice. My primary care doctor had just been trained for this and was one of only a handful of dr's in our state that does it. I tried the suboxen which i was told was supposed to take away the worse of the withdrawals and only leave you with flu like symptoms-but you have to be in withdrawals to start it. It might be a blessing for some people but it definitely was not for me. It was the worst night of my life!! It had no effect at all on me. My poor husband! He had no warning! I awoke him screaming in agony, my body was contorted into positions you would see in the exorcist. During some of the night I knew what is going on but for other parts I was not very lucid and I did not make sense to myself or others. I was bruised from head to toe the next day from convulsing on the floor of the er and the back seat of our car. My dr started me on the routine dose, then she tried having me take several days worth of doses all at once and when that didn't help she sent me to the hospital. They didn't have a bed in the local hospital so they gave me injections of fentanyl and put new patches on me, gave me something for anxiety and sent me home. So I started all over-My dr wanted me to taper my whole does in 2 weeks even when the pain management specialists I had consults with said it needed to take months. I stood my ground and and told my primary dr that if I was going to succeed then I would have to do it over a longer period of time. I was able to taper 100mcg in the 1st week (keep in mind I had enough Fentanyl on board and still feeling lousy from my suboxin incident that I did not rreally notice withdrawals) The rest of it I did in 50 mcg increments that left me feeling like I was coming down with something but not sick until I got to 50. 5 days ago I dropped down another 25mcg leaving 25 left to go and I have been having withdrawal symptons. The dr,'s warned me this would occur from 50mcg on down. I just didn't expect it to take so long. I thought 3-5 days would do it. Yesterday was a better day but today has sent me right back down hill. For me it is the body pain (if I lightly touch my femurs it makes me vomit) I hope this gets betters soon and is a major factor in why the pain has not gotten better. My mother-in-law has ran a retirement home for over 30 year and she just put this into perspective for me-she has end stage cancer patients that were on 50mcg! Puts things in perspective!
Please Bridget do not attept to do this cold turkey!! Do not be afraid to take a lead role in your patient care and do not just accept what your doctor is telling you to do. Do what is right for you and if that doesn't work don't be afraid to try something else until it feels and works right for you. This will be your success!

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