I am allergic to almost all opioid pain medications and am in severe chronic pain. It has been controlled recently quite well on 100 mcg duragesic patches. The cause of my pain is nerve pain, and all other alternatives have been tried, and I even had a neurostimulator implanted, which was a failure because the battery broke, and leaked unknown substances into my hip, causing more pain, where I had to go up to the 100 patch. My new doctor said that I need to get off of the patch, and I cannot spend months in agony without any pain relief besides aspirin, which is the only other pain reliever which I am not allergic to Tylenol doesn't work on me, and I've tried every other drug available. My new family doctor wants me off of the patch, so I removed it immediately. I can't face months of supervised withdrawal, as my pain is so severe, that months of getting off of this drug would be slow torture. I have decided to go cold turkey, and just take aspirin. How long will it take to fully detox, so that I can just live with the pain as my doctor says I need to do. There is nothing, no surgery or other medications that have not been tried. I am allergic to antipsysochotic and antidepressant meds as well, and am currently on valium and buspar (which are about the only drugs I can tolerate besides the duragesic., which I don't intend to quit, as they help with muscle issues and anxiety. I never wanted to be in narcotics to begin with, and held off since 1981 when my pain began. It worsened greatly in my feet in October, and I was bedridden and unable to walk. First, they tried dilaudid, which made me violently ill because of my allergy to it, and required 8 other medications just to be able to take it. Once I became opioid dependent, I was put on the duragesic, which was a miracle since I didn't have to take any other drugs with it except laxatives and had no hives or have to live on multiple drugs as well. I have just removed the patches (I had the doc prescribe them in more patches in smaller doses, so if I had some better pain days, I could remove one or two. So what can I expect from quitting cold turkey, besides the pain coming back? How long will it take to completely detox if I don't put on any other patches, and just go back to aspirin? Will detox itself add to my pain, or just cause other unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. I want this drug out of my body asap. Would drinking lots of water help. assuming I can get it down me? When I am in extreme pain as I was before starting narcotics, I was unable to eat or drink because the pain was so intense. All I could do was lie in bed and scream and cry in pain until I wore myself out enough to sleep for a short time until the pain woke me again? I desperately need to get off of this narcotic, and any others (which have unbearable side effects, (this was the only one that I could tolerate). MY pain doctor quit on me the day I had the leaking battery removed from my hip, and I am currently getting prescriptions from my psychiatrist, who has known me for 24 years, and knows my inability to handle practically any medication, for anything. How long will it be before the withdrawal symptoms are gone, and I am just back to my normal pain and bedridden status? I know my psychiatrist is against even reducing the duragesic (he wants to increase it), so no help there. I need to do this on my own and as quickly as possible. I can't get a doctor to check me into a detox clinic, because every doctor but the one I saw today says I need the duragesic to function at all, which may be true, but I refuse to be called a drug addict because I am in pain. Can someone please tell me what to expect, and how long it will take? I expect to be totally miserable, but I am pretty much there already, except for the small relief I get from the patch, which allows me to get out of bed (with help). and sit up in a wheelchair for a short time, and sometimes go hours without thinking about the pain. I have lost 50 pounds on the narcotics, and am down to 109 pounds. I mainly can't eat because I am on the lowest dose of duragesic that allows me to barely function. Without it, I will be able to do nothing for myself, but it should be worth it if I can get off the patch fast. Thanks for your help.
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Q: How do I go off Duragesic Cold Turkey? What can I expect and how long will it take?
Hi... I am new here, but I was on 100mcg and when I went off it, I was told I had to step down in dosages to help with the withdrawl. For me I was extremely wiped out yet had many sleepless nights and felt like all the nerves in my body were firing all at once...kinda a pins and needles effect. Just be careful stopping from that high a dose cold turkey! Good luck!
Hi, I really do feel for you. I too suffer from neuropathy in my right leg and chronic pain in my back from a misplaced epidural in 1991. I take the durogesic fentanyl patch and have been on it for 6-7 years. I also have been fitted with a spinal cord stimulator for the nerve pain which does take the edge off it. Well I thought it did until i have come down from the 75mcg patch to a 50 as I am also trying to get off it. I have considered going cold turkey but have already suffered severe withdrawal symptoms, including being completely spaced out, slurred speech, unable to think straight and feeling giddy. I am getting a lot more nerve pain since reducing the patch but I am determined to get off it now, mostly due to the severe constipation it causes which i absolutely hate. I am reducing at a rate of weekly reductions and my hubby has been cutting the patch to make it smaller at it won't leak and i have been told by my pm. doc that i can use this method. I am in a lot more pain now and feel very tired so it obviously does reduce the pain but i am hoping that the pain off it was less than the pain on it as they say that opiods can actually make the pain worse after a while. I am going to persevere and try my damndest to get rid of the patch once and for all. I also take Pregabalin for the nerve pain combined with Amitryptyline whch seem to work quite well together. I also have morphine sulphate for break through pain but am trying to avoid this as this also makes the constipation worse. I wish you all the luck in the world and my heartfelt sympathy for this 'cripplingly' painful disease. By the way I also went cold turkey two years ago when the scs was fitted after the docs took the patch off in theatre and didn't replace it. My hubby noticed after i went into w/d the next morning that i wasn't wearing one. I couldn't stop shaking or rocking and the pain was agonising all through my body, it wasn't something i wanted to repeat.
I cut down from 100 to 25, and surprisingly, the only thing that happened was that the pain became unbearable. I stepped back up to 50, and have been on that since. Yes, the pain is worse, but at least I have some room to increase in case I need surgery. My most severe pain is a result of my neurostimulator battery bursting after the vendor shocked me so severely that it burst the battery inside of me. It took 37 days to get it removed, as my pain doctor quit on me, and the surgeon wouldn't remove the battery until I found a doctor who would do my pain control. We didn't realize that the battery had actually burst until it was removed, and there is significant damage to my hip because of the leakage. The NS worked like gangbusters when I had the trial, but it never reached my feet after the implant. I went off Dilaudid cold turkey during the trial, and didn't even miss it, until the electrodes were removed. I think I am one of those lucky ones who has no significant withdrawal symptoms from narcotics. could get rid of the pain any other way, or even get it to where it is now, where I can barely function, I would be able to get off the patch easily. If the stimulator had worked as well as it did during the trial, I would be off of the patch, but made things so much worse, that I doubt I will ever be getting off the patch. I am either outright allergic to the drugs you mention, or their side effects are so severe that I can't tolerate them, and they also don't work for me at all. I suspect that I will be on the patch, even if it's just at the lowest dose, so that I can keep my opioid tolerance to be able to take duragesic again if I need it. Becoming dependent on opioids, was a lot more difficult than dropping the patch dose, because of my allergies. That was my hell time with drugs, as I had to take an additional 8 medications to keep the side effects down while taking drugs that I was allergic to. Fortunately, I have no side effects from the patch, except constipation, and I can keep that at bay with laxatives. Heaven help me if I become allergic to the patch, because I don't know if there is anything else I can take without itching and swelling, and that just adds torment to the pain. Good luck if you do decide to reduce the dose. We suffer with so much pain, and I would hate to think of you suffering so much additional stuff in addition to the pain. My new doctor quit on me, and the doctor who prescribes the patch is totally against my going off of it no matter what. He said it's okay to reduce it whenever I want, but not to go off if it entirely. I think I agree with him, because of the allergies. Hang in there, and best of luck with your stimulator and getting off the patch if you need to. I know I would be hesitant to reduce my dose if I had the symptoms you mention. I wouldn't last a day. As it is, I at least found out that I don't suffer the severe withdrawal symptoms like most people who go cold turkey, which is a relief in itself. Thanks for your reply. It is very helpful to know about your experience, but also very sad that you have to suffer so much pain.
You have had such an awful time that I can't imagine the pain and discomfort you are going through. I have had the scs implanted twice. The first time it was in for a couple of months and then the lead broke and i had to have it replaced, which is hideous in itself, don't you think? I had it repaired and then they went a second time which I was horrified about. The second time I had it repaired I got an infection and this caused me severe problems with my bladder, basically it wouldn't work. I was rushed to hospital and after a few days the scs was taken out so I could have an MRI scan. My pm. consultant was furious about this and said that i should have got his permission to remove it as it was his equipment etc. Once the MRI showed the problem with stability to my spine I had the double fusion on disc L4 & 5. It is since then that I have been on the patch. I have continued to reduce down and am now down to 50 but I am seriously struggling with the pain now and I am not sure whether I will be able to reduce it any more even though I really would like to get off it altogether. It is no good though if you can't function though is it. I have met a wonderful friend on the pain support website and we compare notes and have a great relationship and even meet up once a year or maybe once every 2 years. It is wonderful to have someone to talk to who understands what you are going through. I have had back trouble since I was 23 and am now nearly 42. My knee went last year through wear and tear of leaning on that side so I had to have damaged cartilage removed from my good leg which has made things much more difficult. It is hard to get back to an even keel and I have so many flare ups I have lost count. If you ever want someone to talk to, you can email me. if you are interested then contact me at lorrainegreenslade@hotmail.com. Take care and thank you for your kind thoughts.
Boy, I'm afraid I don't have anything to look forward to. I am on the Fentanyl Patch 75 mcq and have been for quite some time. I am going for a psyach. evaluation on March 9th, and then I am to have the spine stimulator placed at some point in time. My concern is getting off of the Fentanyl patch. I have been doing research and I have only read on article so far that sounded as if it could be of any help to those of us who are dependent on this drug for pain relief. It's called Waismann Method. I don't know anyone who had this done or if it is sucessfull or anything about it except what I read in the one article. If anyone else can find out anything then please feel free to post something and maybe someone will get some help and not have to go thru a lot of terrible withdrawal to get off of this patch. I also have Parkinsons' disease and I have forgotten to replace my patch before. I can tell you by the time I finally remembered to put it back on I was sweating and not feeling well at all. Going cold turkey is not the way to go. Everyone needs to be under a drs. care/or in a hospital to get off of this drug. I believe anyone should be allowed to get off of this drug as in this Waismann Method. It should not be painful or a long drawn out affair if not necessary.
Take care and hope things get better for you.
i am currently on a 12mcg duragesic patch the doctor is reducing me doen how long will it take till i am completly off of this
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I don't feel any worse today than I did yesterday, and even the sweating stopped. I actually slept better, only waking up every four hours to take my other medications. I rarely can sleep 4 hours at a time so it was a plus for me.. The pain in my feet and hip is worse and my stomach hurts from the aspirin, but no awful monster feelings yet. It's just the pain from my polyneuropathy and my hip burn that are getting worse, more like they were before I started the pain meds. Since I have to live with this pain, I will just do it, and so far, this is nothing. I have to keep setting alarms every four hours which is the most annoying thing. That, and the bed pan, as with this much pain, in my feet I can't walk to the bathroom, and my husband is not being supportive because he wants me to stay on the patch.
I have another question. Since I am so allergic to narcotics, except this duragesic, and I get off of it, what happen the next time I need pain medications? I can cancel the cancer surgery next week, but I can't put it off forever. Since I can't take any other narcotics because of my severe allergies, and I can't go back on duragesic because you must be opioid dependent in order to take it, just what do I do? I had gallbladder surgery once (before the laparoscope, back in the days when they cut an 8 inch hole), and because I am so allergic, got no pain meds at all after surgery, because the doctor wouldn't give me narcotics (understandably, but you would think
he would have figured out something), and that was pure hell to be cut open like that and not even be allowed an aspirin ( because they were worried about bleeding.).
My medical conditions require frequent surgeries. How do I get through them with no pain meds, as taking the ones I am allergic to can and have added days to my hospital stays?
Since I've had worse times getting off of prednisone, than getting if this patch so far, I don't see a need to taper. If I have to live with this pain for the rest of my life, why torture myself having it come back slowly, when I can have it come back all at once, in a few days, and be done with it? Plus, I'm not having any symptoms, except the increased pain, than I normally have. So far, this is a piece of cake. When does the bad stuff start to happen?
Thanks for answering.