Opioids so I've gotten myself into a bit of a pickle....

[mt313]

I'm in Canada.

I'm prescribed 50mcg of fentanyl every 48 hrs.. and well, for the last 4 weeks I've been puttin on a new patch every day, I usually get 3 months worth prescribed and the pharmacy has been giving me 1 month worth at a time until just recently.....

SO I have a big problem, I'm week 6 into the prescription and I have arpox 18days of Fent left... my Doctor won't give me an earlier prescription... I think the earliest I can one from him is Nov 12th.... I have no Idea where to procure these from another source, and have been through a withdrawal last year around this time last year and do not want to relive that EVER AGAIN!

been taking Fentanyl for about 3 year now and it actually helps with my condition, however I have my days that an extra here or there (or everyday and of late) another is needed.

any suggestions or help?

any and all help would be appreciated...


Thanks,
MT

 

[uno22]

what kind of answer are you looking for?

you can:

-talk to your doctor and see what happens

-try to obtain other opiates to hold you over

-try to obtain suboxone to hold you over

-take less fentanyl

thats basically it

good luck with it though

 

[opi8]

Agree with uno22, your best bet is to try and use half or a quarter of a patch per day, make it last as long as possible.

Apart from that, find some opiates off the street until your next script and try to moderate your usage next time.

I'm also interested in what you expected to gain from starting this thread?

 

[piebald]

isnt codeine over the counter in canada?? taper yourself by cutting the patches and DONT try to buy fentanyl off the street...this is a minor crisis

 

[ykm420]

Well, unless I read it wrong, you're saying you put a new patch on everyday. Only wearing it. Being they're 72hour patches, the old ones will still have medicine inside of them. When you run out, you can cut it up into pieces accordingly, and put them against your gums. I had a very nasty fentanyl habit about 4 months ago. I was doing 100mcg/day in my mouth, just cutting the patch in half, wearing it against my gums till I couldn't taste it anymore, then putting the other half in. I didn't have a script and it ended up drying out when I was at my heaviest.. My god. Opana withdraws are absolute hell, but fentanyl lasts so much long, it's terrible.

 

[MartinFn]

I know that wearing 1 patch for 3 days, or half a patch for 2 days, things like that, would be very difficult for you. Taperring down and buy OTC codeine, i don't think it's an issue, cause of your tolerance. You have been on fent for 3 years, right? So, well, one option is to speak to your Dr and tell him that the 50's don't work for you and you need to up your dose, like 75 for 48 hours.(cause going from 50 to 100 is rather difficult). Depence on his/her understandable, you could say that you ran off your script..I don't know if that works, but..another option is going as slow as you can (but maybe it would be very difficult from going 50 aday/50 three days, very hard, i fuck know, so you have to go back to 2 days, and either buy from the streets, or if you can find a dr to prescribe you till your next visit to your dr..I know that it's not easy, and some things that have been written in the above posts (like use the patch buccal after you wear it for 72 hours, well, yeah, fent is strong but for someone who has been 3 years on it..but well, maybe it works, ihope so..). The point is don't get sad and think there's no way, i'm sure you'll find a way..And if you can't (finally) find a solution, there's suboxone as had been said. Man, i understand you cause i've been to case like yours,it's surely fuckin sucks, but don't worry and get depressed, there are ways to not going W/D. I wish you the best, mate, heads up..


MartinFn

 

[Silent_Mono]

3 years and only being at 50mcg is good going, why are you on them for 48 hours, they are 72 hour patches, also why are you changing them daily? They take 6-8 hours to work and then they dispense it all into you over 72 hours so you're taking them off unnecessarily.

I've been in a similar situation and i found that a patch will last for 5/6 days if i need it to, you will get the odd patch of feeling shitty but not full on withdrawals, the best thing you can do is wear one until you're starting to feel bad for more than an hour at a time and then switch it and hope it strings you out, otherwise you're going to be screwed.

ETA. do you not have any breakthrough painkillers, i've got oxycodone 10mg with my 75mcg patches and i've used them to string me out when i've gone through patches too quickly before now, if the worst comes to it, go to your doc and say they're not working and you need something for breakthrough pain and see if they will prescribe you something.

I don't know what canada is like, but in the UK it's normal for oxycodone to be used for breakthrough pain with fentanyl.

 

[Acidtek]

Please listen to theese post mt313, they are all spot on and have given you all the advice possible! Hope things work out for you mate, AT

 

[SPC123]

First of all, don't try to score on the street. I have been on oxycodone for a long time now and am currently tapering. I have run out early plenty of times and yeah, it sucked. But in my mind, as long as I stick to what my doc gives me, I am completely within the law. IDK. Once you start buying your drugs off the street where does it end? Is that really a door you want to open? To me, turning to the streets for pharms is a very serious line you don't want to cross. How long before you find out that you can score heroin far cheaper than your fent patches? It's a dark road. I'm addicted to oxycodone, I admit it. But even the fear of withdrawal (which I've been through several times and am currently in day 2 of - refill tomorrow!) isn't strong enough to convince me to go down that road.

On another note, I am also in Canada. You can get codeine OTC but it's only 30 x 8/325 and you have to sign a slip and get your name entered into a computer. The different pharms aren't linked (yet) but I am pretty sure each individual company links all their locations. So say you hit up 5 pharms, that's 150 x 8/325 codeine. You CWE that and even if you get 100% of the codeine out you end up with 1200mg of codeine. Now I've never done codeine recreationally, and I find it so useless at script'd doses that I had them add a codeine allergy to my medical charts so I can be sure to always get something stronger (of course now they always want to go with tramadol, POS drug). My point is, how much relief is 1200mg of codeine really going to give this guy? Sure it's OTC in Canada, but really it's OTPC, or over the PHARMACISTS counter, so it's still controlled, just not as strictly. And while you might get those same pharms to give you another bottle of the stuff in a week or so, good luck getting them to float you for a month without telling you "no, if your pain is that bad go talk to a doctor".

Finally, and perhaps one day you'll come to this conclusion on your own, but feeling normal all of the time is better than being high 75% of the time and either asleep or feeling like shit or worrying how you're going to score the other 25% of the time. It's just not worth it. I talked to my folks. My mom is going to take my percs for me, and give them to me a day at a time, as the bottle directs, until I can get off this shit. If you have someone in your life who you can trust to hold your meds and protect you from yourself, go for it.

 

[mt313]

one thing I did forget to mention is that I have been abusing them by rubbing an area of my skin raw and placing the patch on the raw part..... something that I've been trying to get away from.....

I have been trying to get something for the breakthrough pain, but it was hard enough to get my doc to even prescribe what I currently have.

why are you on them for 48 hours, they are 72 hour patches, also why are you changing them daily?

I had a cronic pain Dr. change my frequency from 72hrs to 48hr. I was taking in all the medication with in a 48hr average, and feeling like shit the 3rd day. this is quite common....



my original Idea was to cut the patches I have left and tough it out as far as the cravings go.... I was trying to seek the advise of the professionals on this board and see if there was something I may have missed.....



Thanks you all for your suggestions!


MT

 

[Silent_Mono]

Rubbing won't make much difference, I tried almost skinning myself and sticking one on and it made no difference.
Why are you taking them off after a day though? They're definitely still releasing then, durogesics/duragesics DO release for 3 full days but even the shit cheap patches release for a minimum of 48 hours because it takes 16-24 hours for half of the dose to come out of your system once you take the patch off.
Do you have any old patches? If so sick one on and then put a tegaderm over the top to hold it, all of the 25 hour patches will still contain a lot and the once you take it off, put it inside you cheek.

Read the package and see how much it contains and then work out how much is needed for 72 hours, usually the patch contains 150% - 200% of the required ampunt.

 

[mt313]

Rubbing won't make much difference, I tried almost skinning myself and sticking one on and it made no difference.
Why are you taking them off after a day though? They're definitely still releasing then, durogesics/duragesics DO release for 3 full days but even the shit cheap patches release for a minimum of 48 hours because it takes 16-24 hours for half of the dose to come out of your system once you take the patch off.
Do you have any old patches? If so sick one on and then put a tegaderm over the top to hold it, all of the 25 hour patches will still contain a lot and the once you take it off, put it inside you cheek.

Read the package and see how much it contains and then work out how much is needed for 72 hours, usually the patch contains 150% - 200% of the required ampunt.

I usually leave them on for about 4 days... I'll try the cheek... anything to strech out my diminishing supply.


Thanks

 

[MartinFn]

Wish you luck, mate..I'm sure that if you are used to stick it in a raw area of your body, you're an "expert"(and i didn't find that this trick doesn't work like a body before mentioned..So go as slow as you can, strech out your supply, and just a last advice: CYP3A4 inhibitors..Good luck


MartinFn