Fentanyl Patch Withdrawal Symptoms And Duration (Page 10)

i have post surgical lower back pain. was in 50 mcg patch and had side effects and so decided to wean off. i finished with the 12 mcg patch a week ago and am still suffering from periodic nausea, irritability, daily joint and muscle pain, but the worst is the consistent restless legs. it is driving me crazy. my doctor says that is not withdrawal. is he right? i don't think so. if it is withdrawal, what can i do about it and how long will it last? i am going crazy.

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I am a week off of fentanyl and I had just about every WD symptom. I used Tylenol with codeine and clonidine to deal with withdrawal and am almost done tapering off that. Remember to drink plenty of water and try to go for walks. And do not underestimate the power of a hot shower for the body aches! It can be done with faith and will power. I wish I had read all the nasty stuff about fent before I went on the patches.

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Also....if u can get a full body massage somewhere, get one. It helps tremendously with the body aches and helps to loosen the toxins. Just remember to drink water afterwards to flush everything out. I'm lucky enough to have a massage school right down the street from me that is open to the public. So if u can't afford one at a spa, check out local massage schools. The students need practice hours and many are open to the public for little or no money.

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Yvonne I just saw ur post I just came off fentanyl 150mch every 2 days no w/d .. every I mean very slight stomach cramps .. I just too a 25 mg benadryl every 12 hrs no problem

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Yvonne sent u a reply if u want u can get me at my e mail r here .. its really easy to come off fentynal like I said I was doing 150 mch every 2 days for 4 yrs and stopped c/t just using benadryl

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I dont know why so much trouble coming off fentanyl I was on fentanyl for 3yrs 150mch every 2 days I stopped cold turkey 8 days ago no withdraw r side effects . How I did it instead of changing my patch when I was suppose to that evening I left it on and took a 25 mg benadryl next moring took another benadryl left the same patch on for 3 more days taking benadryl twice a day no withdrawls r side effects just slight I mean slight stomach cramps first 2 days and that could have been the flu .. u want to know more msg me back .. but im telling u just take benadryl

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Posters,

I know this is an old post but Elavil is one of the AD's (antidepressants) used to aid sleep but can for some cause horrific cardiac outcomes--it will not do squat for someone coming off Fentanyl. It is not in the case of a poster who mentioned it being used for depression but to aid in sleep.

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Posters,

There is a huge difference in brand versus generic Fentanyl patches: The FDA allows on opioids up to 47% LESS opioid concentration on all forms of pain management drugs.

100 mcg/hour brand is 16.7 mg. Fentanyl
75 mcg/hour brand is 12.8 mg. Fentanyl

Watson 100 mcg/hour generic is 10 mg. Fentanyl (almost 7 mg. less)
Mallinkroft 100 mcg/hour generic is 11 mg Fentanyl (almost 6 mg. less)

A 75 mcg/hour brand is STRONGER then generic on all brands.

Know this if and when you decrease I am nearing death with radically horrible diagnoses including P450 (ultra rapid opioid metabolizer) due to what the government is doing. I had Dr. Famous in California and 10 months go 30 out of state rare pain patients were booted or given the choice of going on such low dosages that according to Dr. Famous' research one would die. There are no choices.

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Make sure you listen to the proper authorities and consider things carefully (and also careful with you wording and grammar, everyone). I pray that everybody who needs to will find the faith.

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U mat have already had RLS but the Fentnayl kept ir in remission. Now with no Fent. the RLS is untreated. Sinamet will help.

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Sinnimet is another AD and it is useless.

If you have intractable pain have a GP refer you back to a pain specialist.

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Stephen and Hop,

Odd is it not you are not posting.

If you were really tolerant to this medication then you had to have severe physical withdrawal. I know of no emotional event or love in your heart that can prevent it. Further benadryl has no magic power to reduce this horror, it is a transition and withdrawal becomes WORSE. The first three days is horror and as I've posted and I did this prior to major surgery in 2001. 25 mcg/hour every 7 to 10 days had me on the floor.

Well...

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Try the Tegaderm water proof dressings they use to keep air and moisture out. They reall work for me and I'm a SWEATER. You can go swimming with this things when applied appropriately. Most Dr.s or tech will give you a few. Hope this works!

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Hi, I know this is an old thread but im going through the withdrawal of Fentanyl myself. I have chronic health issues with severe pain. I've been on 62mcg of the Durogesic patch for about 8 yrs. At first the pain relief was a Godsend. I went from being unable to walk to being up and around a little, doing some almost normal things. I also have oxycontin 10mg when needed. I had been on the medication rollercoaster for a few yrs with specialists trying to control my pain before one specialist put me on the fentanyl. 8 yrs later and I've well and truly had enough. Obviously my pain is not controlled due to being tolerant of the dose I'm on and I'm sick of my life being ruled by medication. I have had a few instances where my prescribing Dr has gone away without leaving my scripts and I've had to jump through hoops to get another Dr to write an emergency script. [ I'm in Australia and they will mostly do that] 3 weeks ago I started tapering my patches. I'm on a 50mcg and a 12mcg every 48hrs. Instead of taking the 12mcg off I have cut my 50mcg patch a little each time. This way I can taper slowly. I have been having hot flushes from menopause so the patches weren't lasting 48hrs, and then I started having flushes from the patches. I know because the flushes are different. I also have chronic insomnia. Getting only 3 ish hrs per night sleep. My family says I look like I've aged 20 yrs in the last 8 and I know that's how I look. Hair, skin, everything is affected. I have wanted to get off them for yrs but my Dr wont allow it due to my conditions so I decided to regain some sense of normalcy albeit in pain and wean myself off. I have in 3 weeks gone down about 25mcg and so far doing ok. I still cant sleep and am having flushes and of course some withdrawals too but I'm trying to be strong and I am not turning back now. My pain level is high and Im having a hard time getting around but I still feel better knowing Ill be patch free in a couple of months. I have to do it slowly. Ive had the withdrawals before from trying to come off too fast and it was hell. I don't ever want to feel like that again. I was going to cut the patch at the same place for a week before stepping down a bit more but each time I cut one I cant help myself and I take a little more off each change. I am so angry that when I was put on this medication I was Never told how strong it was or how bad it is to come off. My Dr says I will need to have it for the rest of my life due to my health probs but Im not staying on a day longer than I have to. It really needs to be thoroughly investigated by the patients before you start it. The leaflet info does not tell you how potent or how awful it is to get off. I would never recommend it to anyone. It has been a journey of hell being on this stuff. Pain relief was never great anyway, and despite Dr advice I wouldn't go up in dosage. If I did how far would I have to keep going! Im only 47 and I want my life back.
I really hope those here have had success weaning off. No one should ever go cold turkey. You're body can go into shock and you could die. I know people say that you cant but I have seen it myself. Anyway Im hoping to be off all pain meds in 2 months ish. What then I don't know but at least Ill be me.

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I came off fentanyl patches Duro Gesic 100mcg over 2.5 year cutting about 1mm strip from the patches each week It was a very unpleasant fear filled time 9with RLS restless leg syndrome being the worst - I could not rest when in pain, had to keep walking all night with the pain increasing). When I got down to about 25mcg I swapped to Kapanol 100mg and tapered from there. When I got down to 7mg / day I was in severe pain again and could not get off the bed except for very short periods. Now back on 10mg Kapanol twice daily. I never want to go back onto Fentanyl unless I am terminal. Make sure you have the patches with the fentanyl mixed in with the adhesive when you cut - if the fentanyl is stored in a reservoir and the patch is cut you may get an overdose. It takes a long period of suffering but it is worth being free of the fear of being enslaved.

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Don't let Anyone tell u that the leg issues are not from wd that is the biggest part of wd that everyone I know has for at least minimum of 5 nights

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I have learned over the last few years on how you wean yourself off of opiotes I am currently on a 75 mcg fetanyl patch I have 2 herniated disc, degenerated disc disease, and scoliosis, and I've been burned 30% of body, if you have just finished with the 12.5 mcg patch this is what you need to do get you 25 hydrocodones #10s.take 3 the first 3 days 2 for 4 days , 1 aday until gone :)

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Thought id post an update. Im a month in today (seems longer). Im doing really well considering how bad I know it can be. I have the waterproof patches but have never needed them. My problem with the hot flushes was that it caused the patches to release fentanyl too quickly do the patches weren't lasting 48hrs. I am now down by almost half of the 50mcg patch. Still have the 12mcg on. Have been feeling ok except I seem to have gotten so far and now withdrawals have ramped up a lot. I feel weak, so fatigued yet cant sleep. No restless legs but anxious feeling comes and goes from my whole body usually with a hot flush, the odd stomach cramps and a bit of nausea. Flushes have decreased since I started though some days worse than others. Im hoping to be durogesic free by the beginning of March. That will be 3 months of tapering. Long enough I hope. I need to take it slowly. My body has a mind of its own and im not going to fail. I figure better to go slow than end up not getting off them. I have decreased the oxycontin too. Only use it when I absolutely have to so I dont end up withdrawing from it too. I don't know how someone can get off 150mcg without any withdrawals unless it was only a short term use. Im not using anything other than the odd 10mg oxycontin. Maybe one or two every couple of days. The only other thing I've had is pain and plenty of it. Back, neck, broken discs and nerve damage, muscle and tendon damage and arthritis, tendinitis pain in hips, jaw, hands, knees, shoulders. ..on n on. Also pain from fibromyalgia and myofacial and neuralgia. I find im not eating much either. But doing ok..better than I thought so far. Dont have a plan on what im going to do about my pain once im off the patches but ill deal with it somehow. Here's to better tomorrow's!

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00mg/hour for 3 months and I titrate down from 100 to 75 for 4 weeks, then 79 for 4 weeks, then 50 for 4 weeks, then 25 for 4 weeks and finally 12.5 for 4 weeks, then every& other day, every third day, every fourth day, then every fifth day. Then I suffer the leg movements, cold sweats, bot fashes, anxiety etc for months and I cant be cause it is so hard to get off of. Dont takè ït unless you hmyave no other choice. Dilauded (synthetic morphine, often said that its 60 times stronger than morphìne) has really helped me! Good Luck! See pain medicine doctor, they have helped me so much!

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Hi I was on the patch for 15 years at 75mcg every 2 days. I suffered a bad work accident that left me in a lot of raw nerve pain in my legs. I was sent to a pain assessment clinic and was introduced to fentanyl. I must say that it helped and normalized my life as much as a drug like this can. In those years I didn't feel I had to increase dosage until recently I started feeling what I now know as withdrawal symptoms the yawning, tearing of eyes and of course rls. I knew it was time to quit or become a slave to fentanyl. I see that a lot of people take the weening off approach but couldn't se what amounts prolonging the suffering so I prepared and went off fentanyl cold turkey. With help I found online I got through those early days with about medium flew symptoms for about a week and a bit light headedness for another week. Now 2.5 months in I feel great but the rls plagues me every night only getting naps when exhaustion wins over. Has anyone fought through this withdrawal or is it with me permanently? Sorry for the long post.

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I have dealt with chronic back pain for 35 yrs and then hAd to have a total knee replacement surgery last August. I've been on morphine dilaudid lortabs OxyContin and oxycodone but I have Never had as much of a problem getting off of any med as I'm having with the fentynal patches. I'm now down to 12 mcg and trying very hard to stop these. My advice to anyone out there is to try anything else - legal that is - before resorting to fentanyl patches. They are sooo hard to stop. I've come off of 8 mg of dilaudid 3 x a day cold turkey and it was nothing in comparison. I wish I had never used this drug and never will again. Good luck to all in your attempts to stop using it.

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