I'm going to be switching from MS Contin to the patch. I also take oxycodone. I'm afraid that just replacing the MS Contin with the patch would cause severe withdrawal symptoms because I'm extremely sensitive to these things because of depression and fibromyalgia. I had an extremely hard time going down from 90mg MS Contin to 60mg even though I took extra oxycodone and clonazepam. I completely forgot to ask my doctor about this but I know I'd get the usual response which is never right for me. Has anyone done this? Any suggestions?
I really hope this works because my insurance doesn't cover Opana or Oxycontin and MS Contin has bad side effects and he wants to lower the oxycodone for fear of big brother looking over his shoulder.
lemon, how many mcg of the patch are you on? unless you are on an extremely low dose, like the 12, you should be just fine. but please, DO ask you doctor. the reason i think that you'll be fine is because fentanyl is thee strongest opiate bar none. stronger than vicodan, oxycodone, oxycontin, and even morphine. i myself just switched from oxycontin to the fent patch without any withdrawals whatsoever. hope this helps. but again, do ask your doctor or your pharmacist....janiee
Thank you janiee. I haven't picked up the meRAB yet and didn't look at the prescription but I know it's going to be a fairly high dose. I'm so sensitive though that even if one 'covers up' or covers for another one, removing one that worked on any different pathways is always trouble. It happened in the hospital when they took away Percoset and gave me very high doses of morphine. But that was a nightmare for many reasons so I won't go into that.
I've also gone the other way and tried using oxycodone to cover for reducing morphine as I mentioned and it didn't help much.
Hopefully it will work as it did for you. My doc will be in tomorrow. I know he'll say I can just stop but those protocols have never (I'm not exaggerating) worked in the past. Then again I don't want to take everything and stop breathing because I heard that's not good for you.
Strangest thing ever for me--I was able to stop MS Contin when I started the patch. Unheard of. If if they're similar I've NEVER been able to just stop a med. The patch was way too low a dose. He switched to every 2 days and it didn't help. In the previous app't he was telling me about addicts, police, etc etc. So I was really afraid he wouldn't increase the dose but he did from 50 to 75. He did decrease the oxy by a ton but I think it was a mistake. Just another thing I'll have to wrangle about the next time. But I'm really glad about the Fentanyl because it has lower side effects.
I brought my wife with me to this app't and he was much nicer.
Hi, I have sever problems with my spin. Lots of pain. I am under medical care and have some meRAB to help me when it gets to the pain gets real bad. I notice the discussion on Fentanyl.. Here is something about recalls. Hope you find it interesting.
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lemonflavor, Before I started the patch, my breakthrough was Percoset 5, twice a day. When I was switched to the patch, I began on the 25mcg. And, he upped my Percoset to three times a day. After two weeks, 25mcg. was not covering my pain. So the PM doc increased my patch to 50mcg. He also dropped the Percoset back to only twice a day....janiee
lemon, I don't know? Maybe I'll ask on the Pain Management BoarRAB tomorrow. I don't think he believes in a lot of breakthrough medication. It's been rough on me. Oh, well....janiee
It all depenRAB on how well your Doc titrates your dose on the patch. Also, It's a little bumpy at first as it takes three days to get your fentenyal serum levels up to were they should be. I would suggest starting the new regimen on Monday so your Doc is just a phone call away. In case you need to adjust the dose. I love the patch and I have taken everything. Ive been on them for several years. I change patches every two days instead of three so my dose is more constant. But I gotta tell you I wouldn't trade for any pill. For me it's been great. Nice even dose no worries about taking a pill at a specific time of day or withdrawal if you get the stomach flu.
As I said, start the change over on a Monday so you can get to your Doc if need be and everything will be peaches.
janiee
....janiee