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Opioids Mylan patches revisited

Painiac512

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
29
Location
About 30 miles north of Austin, TX
Okay, after many moons on and off Opana, I finally got busted abusing my script. It was my own fault, of course. But that's a story for a different thread.

He finally, after much begging, pleading and promising, agreed to put me on the 50mcg Fentanyl patch, specifically Mylan brand (apparently difficult to abuse and have the lowest amount of actual fentanyl inside). Naturally, I have set about reading and researching just how I can abuse these/use these to their fullest potential...

So far, it seems consistent that the transdermal ROA shows about 90% bioavailability. This is quite good. Three factors can be controlled by the user to increase the rate at which the drug is absorbed. These are, in order of both importance and ease of application/control: heat, local skin pH at time of application, and possibly vaso-dilation by chemical means.

The last one isn't conclusively tested to be true; it simply stands to reason that if skin capillaries can be expanded their surface area, through which the drug must pass, is both increased while its density is decreased (making for greater permeability). Lots of vasodilator drugs out there, and most of them safe in many circumstances. One could even do a local vasodilation at the site of the patch placement by application of ...HEAT! What a segue for the next paragraph!

The first one is universally true for all transdermal drugs; there's huge amounts of research not to mention the bold warnings included with the drug regarding just how heat can lead to a fatal overdose. Heat can be controlled by local radiant sources (hot water, heating pad, The Sun). It can also be internally produced, via a fever or perhaps a pyrogenic drug. Let's say, endotoxin maybe? Not really. That's a bad one. Still, there's hundreds, maybe even thousands, of medications that will cause a mild fever in most patients. Chances are, at least one of them might be safe for your system and just put you at a toasty 100F. Now, giving yourself an intentional fever just to get your fentanyl in your body faster is probably on the side of Most Stupid, perhaps even a candidate for a future Darwin Award.

The second one, though, is just plain interesting. My wife, who is a biologist and studies actively as she teaches, confirms that biological membranes, both animal and plant, of pretty much all kinds (mucus, buccousal, etc.) will have a 'sweet spot' pH level for any specific chemical to be most transparent to. This would obviously be different for each chemical, and very probably a little different for each individual (though I suspect not by much, as we are all pretty close to identical--chemically at least). I read much consistently worded reports that a thin film of plain soap (not body wash, or any other such shit) remaining on the dried skin prior to application also produced faster absorbtion. Soap is generally very high pH (around 10 for non pH-balanced products is typical). Human skin is fairly neutral, averaging around 5.5 for my ethnicity, but fluctuating values of 4.5 to 6 can be found throughout the species.

So, here's my plan. I'm going to go have a nice, hot shower wherein I'll debride some patch of healthy looking skin while washing all over with this bar of Dial, which has a pH of about 11 from the look of the test strip. I'll take the pyrogen (not saying which one--pick your own!) right now so as to get some immediate effect when I finally apply the patch, in about an hour. After carefully ensuring that there's soap on the skin, I'm going to read a few chapters of a decent novel while I air dry. I leave the visuals to your imaginations, good readers. Be kind.

Once prepared and soapy-dry skinned, I'll apply the patch as directed, 'ironing' it for a good 60 seconds to ensure decent adhesion to an uncertain surface. Then, I plan to remove the other soapy residue. It won't affect skin pH beyond its immediate topical application anyway. Plus, it's going to get in the way of the next step: sealing the little bastard down.

A couple of years ago, an orthoscopic surgery of my hip introduced skin-borne bacteria into the site of the surgery. Four months later, I had an amazing abscess. The thing hurt for quite some time before I thought there was anything wrong other than a still-injured hip (both from the accident and surgery). It was when I had taken a major dose of Opana (about 160mg) and still felt huge pain that I noticed it was a bigger problem. They drained over 2 liters of necrotic material and removed my gluteus minimus, as well as a piece of the gluteus maximus. Just one side, at least. My recovery was aided by the Ever-Cursed WoundVac. That damn machine permitted the wound to close and heal about twice as fast as if it were done naturally. I hated it because it was a constant, sucking PAIN IN MY ASS for three and a half months. And every other day, the dressing had to be changed, which left me with hundreds of sheets of vacuum-tight super-adhesive plastic bandages with which I can cut and 'seal' in the patch. These have two benefits for me. First, they're particularly good at holding in perspiration. I noticed this every time it was changed on my butt. They're a lot like the 'Tega-derm' bandages. Second, by preventing any respiration they're going to help maintain that artificial skin pH I created with the soap. At least that's the plan.

Also, I'm going to try vasodilator drugs. I've got a few here. Again, no names! These were prescribed to me, so I do know how they work on ME at least. That doesn't mean I know what they'll do to you though! Maybe for safety this particular component could be done via ultra-short acting vasodilators, like nitroglycerin or something. That way normal blood pressure would resume in like 30 minutes or so (in most circumstances), and capillary diameter would return to normal as well. I have nitro here, also medically (I take Xyrem for narcolepsy; Xyrem creates a dopamine rush at the end of its metabolism, which in most patients results in a temporary increase in blood pressure; my BP is okay, usually, but the Xyrem/dopamine combo really does create an event that needs treatment with something like nitroglycerin from time to time).

Finally, I'm going to use local heat via an electric heating pad. This I'll do as long as I can tolerate it. There's no very good information of just how much acceleration heat will create. Nothing consistent at least.

I know much of this has been discussed and shouted about in many other threads. I hoped to make this one at least somewhat novel by incorporating as much information as I could and as many theories as I dared. I'll report back later my experiences with all these things combined. I've also got a great summary to blurt out about my recent experience with BuTrans...but that's going to be a long post.

Maybe a REALLY long post.

Painiac
 
Thanks for that, Capt. Heroin! I certainly appreciate your kindness.

As far as pain goes, I've lived with it for a while now. Drugs help. Some help a lot more than others. But I've also learned this sort of 'Jedi Mind Trick' that works pretty well. First, you have to accept ALL the pain you're feeling. It's not easy; you have to override your instincts and just let the pain fill you up entirely. Then, you picture the pain in your mind. For me, the image of lances of fire radiating from a central location is pretty potent. I can keep the visual representation of my pain clearly in my mind. Then I try to isolate the pain. I do this by picturing a circle enveloping the lances. Then I expand the circle to a sphere, adding 'armor' whenever I see the pain lances trying to penetrate their confinement. Once complete, I can usually keep it under control until something disturbs the meditation. It does not 'kill' the pain. The process just sort of acknowledges the pain and put it secondary to existence. That's why it is so important to accept all of the pain entirely; failure to do that and a niggling crack will appear in the armed sphere.

A variation to this technique that doesn't work as well for me (but probably will for others) is to continue with the sensory inventory after you 'see' your pain. In my instance, once I've decided on an icon for the pain and am entirely comfortable with how it represents it, I keep it. Next, the patient will move to 'hear' the pain in his mind, possibly even using his/her voice to lend material to the process. Again, the sound decided upon must be the best choice for you. You have to have confidence that your sonic ambassador is the clear representation of how you could express the pain in sound--you get the picture.

The technique moves forward through the remaining senses, taste and smell. You already know how the pain feels, so you now have an understanding of your particular pain on all five of your sensory inputs.

The meditation exercise continues with the patient exploring his new 'avatars of pain'. Once he/she is confident in all of them as personal representatives of their pain, they are supposed to be able to 'ignore' it. This is where my failure in this meditation always occurs. But, I can see how it MIGHT work for others. And I do think that exploring pain, particularly when it's chronic and unlikely to ever improve, is key to preventing fear of this pain. I think anyone who's ever experienced long-term pain of any kind (more than a few months), can tell you how fear makes your pain WAAAY much worse. Aside from the obvious psychological reasons, fear makes you produce adrenaline. Adrenaline isn't good for pain, with the possible exception of the mixture of epinephrine and lidocaine used for local anesthesia.

I can honestly say that on the 1-10 pain scale, unmedicated I am almost always at 7. Some rare days it's a 6 in the morning, but by afternoon it's always sitting up there. Medicated, I can say a 3 is the worst I experience. I equate a 1, or almost no pain, to the same amount of discomfort you experience with holding a lighter under your hand for one second. Each second generally ups the number...see how the disgusting math works? My worst pain experiences have always caused me to pass out. Dislocation of the newly resurfaced hip was sufficient to hit that 10. So were the dressing changes for the first 2 months with the wound-vac. Those dressings are rough. They are composed of a carbon-impregnated sponge-like material that is trimmed into small pieces. The nurse counts the pieces, as each must be recovered on the next dressing change. Since the abscess removal involved a 'tunnel' across my lower back, the sponge pieces were initially 40. They are 'gently' packed into the wound after the old pieces are removed, the wound irrigated heavily with saline (no one uses alcohol or peroxide anymore--too toxic to the living skin). The first time they put the bandage on, the nurse must have hated me. Each touch on the open wound stung harshly. They accumulated, those stings. The first dressing application took a lot longer, as the nurse had never seen the wound itself and had to explore it in order to put the sponges in properly. If there weren't enough of the pieces, the vacuum might not reach all the wound cavity and potentially increase the amount of time needed for healing. I did wish fervently that the sponges could be softened or made of somewhat less scratchy material. They feel very much like steel wool.

Anyway, I'm forty years old and get to live the rest of my life in at least 'some' pain. It's a nice lesson in a way. I've learned a lot and have a very expensive piece of cobalt/chromium I can sell if I ever really need the money. I'll have to do without the leg again, of course.

By the way, since I've really veered off topic here, let me go a little more wild. If you work, and have personal health insurance, AND live in Texas, AAAND get hurt at work...it is in your very best interest to LIE to the doctor and insist you got hurt at home. The Texas Worker's Compensation System is the biggest joke ever to come from this state....and we produced both Bush the Lesser AND Kinky Friedman (I did vote for Kinky...I liked his attitude). Your employer can't legally recommend this, but I can privately guarantee you they'll be grateful forever if you keep TWC completely OUT of it all. Let me know if you really want to know the hell of TWC.

G'nite kids.


Painiac
 
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