Question about Fentanyl/Durogesic patches

Specialties Pain

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Fentanyl patch and relief of osteo pain

Has anyone had any experience with the use of the Durogesic/ Fentanyl patches for people who suffer from chronic osteoporosis pain?

I would appreciate any information and thoughts that any one may have on the success. I am enquiring regarding this to perhaps help the quality of life of a lady who has chronic osteo in her back and has difficulty with allergies and swallowing tablets. She has been on fosamax for 18 month or so but her quality of life recently has really deteriated due to the increased pain levels.

Thank you in advance for suggestions

Tookie

Specializes in ICU.
LOL's lots of laughs

BID you get medicine twice a day

TID you get medicine three times a day

I'm guessng you aren't in the health care profession and if you are your a newbie

Hope this helps

It's a language thing for us BID = bd TID = TDS

Don't even start me on how many time sI have had to look up drug names!!! :chuckle

It's a language thing for us BID = bd TID = TDS

Don't even start me on how many time sI have had to look up drug names!!! :chuckle

I think we should get together and make a universal language in nurseing

I get so confused sometimes trying to figure it alll out here we have RSW you all take about crns and such maybe we should start an abbreviation dictionary

Where are you folks at that patients do so well with Duragesic?

I've found them virtually useless for chronic non-malignant pain.

Cancer pain does fairly well with them, especially Lung.

I write fewer Duragesic patches than any other schedule II out there.

Now the Actiq trans-mucosals... THEY'RE AWESOME!

-Dave

I have the unfortunate pleasure of being an RN who has to personally use both Duragesic and Actiq. I'll keep the dosage to myself; suffice to say it would put you to sleep for weeks.

I had ulcerative colitis which went to toxic megacolon, and had the J-pouch surgery, then had some complications, and almost before I knew it I had undergone five laparotomies in 23 months, all through the same vertical incision. The best explanation they can give me for 'why does it still hurt?' is that the muscle and fascia are stretched and sutured in such a way to irritate the nerves. I went to a pain mgmt specialist who put me on OxyContin; we got up to 120mg a day of it before I figured out I wasn't digesting the stuff. It was coming out whole in the toilet. I changed MDs and now I use the above meds, both of which bypass the upper gastric tract (except, of course, for the mucous membranes of the mouth).

I had problems with the patches sticking at first, too. I've learned that I have to put them on my back, preferably my lower back, away from my waist. I can't put them on my chest or my arms because the movement loosens them up too much. I also rub the edges and press them down all around for at least 90 seconds. I also got under-dosed at first, and I change my patches q48 instead of q72; I think my skin is warmer than most and the change to q48 actually helped quite a bit. Maybe you could consider that.

The Actiq are indeed wonderful, but they are simply out of most people's price range. If you don't know how much the things cost, you really should find out. If I were not on an insurance plan that paid for them -- and I had to get a special waiver for it -- the Actiq I take would cost $2800 a month, and I think I'm underestimating it. Cephalon does have a program to send it at no cost to patients with malignant pain, but they won't talk to you if you're non-malignant. You can check the retail price at walgreens.com, although the last time I looked it was out of date with the new quantities per box. There's only one pharmacy in my part of the state that will carry Actiq, and they absolutely refuse to dispense single units -- boxes only.

Please feel free to email me privately if you'd like to discuss more. I'm just now coming out of the dark and starting to function again, and it's helpful to me to talk about my good and bad experiences with pain management. And for everybody else, I know there are drug seekers out there, but many of us just hurt and want some relief. Good luck to all of us!!

what would happen if someone would eat the contence offf 10 50mg durogesic patches? would that be leathal couse we had a patient who "tricked" us into beliving he was using them but he was only saving them for a suicide we found out later. But question is would he have made it if he would have swallowed it? Luckely a leaninglady found them in time.

The gel in Duragesic is isopropyl alcohol, and there's only 0.3ml of it in each patch. Fentanyl doesn't absorb well in the GI tract anyway. I would think putting that rubbing alcohol on one's tongue would be extremely unpleasant.

And it's 'Duragesic', not 'Durogesic', and the patches are in micrograms (mcg), not milligrams (mg). I too wonder why the question was asked in this manner.

The only problems I've come across is for those patients allergic to tape/adhesive. You can get some pretty nasty reactions from the delivery system if one is sensitive to tape products.

Duragesic patches Rock !! We use them alot on our geriatric patients. We use them OA , long term pain control , palliative etc. There great for the patients that don't take meds well. I've found that they are generally lethargic for the first week until there system gets used to it. I wish all meds were given through a patch :rotfl:

my husband has just recently been commenced on durogesic patches for chronic back pain. out GP has been vague regarding the long-term side effects of the patches. we are worried as you can only stay on them short-term as to what is next on the list of pain relief. he is only forty and we would like to know what the effects will be on his body in later life is he stays on them long-term.

has anyone come up against this.

I am a chronic non-malignant pain patient (severe abdominal adhesions and numerous bowel obstructions) and have been using the fentanyl patch for a little over a year. It has been a Godsend for me and is the only reason I'm even walking around any more.

Regarding disposal: I get very paranoid that my dogs or nieces/nephews might accidentally get hold of one, so I cut the patch, wash it out, put the remnants in its original foil wrap, and into the trash it goes. I found out the hard way that old patches have a tendency to clog the toilet pipes. :-)

Regarding sticking issues: The bioclusive covers just chew up my skin, so I use tegaderm elbow/knee bandages as covers and write the date and time on the padded area. It is extremely rare for one to come off since I began that method.

By the way, the patch also comes in a 12.5 mcg dose. Not always easy to find, but it is manufactured. I can't remember if mylan and sandoz also have the generic equivalent in that dosage, but that might work better for your more opiate naive geriatric patients to start with instead of the 25 mcg patch.

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