Fentanyl patch or methadone

I have been using the fentanyl patch for over ten years now with mixed views.Excerising or doing anything that makes you sweat gives you a charge of drugs then the patch get loose and you start getting withdrawal. It is good in winter if you sit around and watch the tube, do not get it wet. Showering on evey third day seems to work out best for me. When applying a new patch I like to scrub the new site with isoalcohol, this dries the area out letting it stick better. I' m getting sick of the dose fluctuations and cautions I need to take for a consistent dose over the three days. Now I've been hereing of methadone's for pain relief with excellent results. Up here in Canada it is a relatively new treatment and finding a doctor that prescribes it and monitors you correctly requires a trip to a methadone clinic.

I have arranged to start methadone in the next few weeks. Some complications due to my family Doctor retiring has slowed some things up but we have a new family doc that will continue my case.Then my drug plan was cancelled, so till things are straightened out in that regard it will be cash.

Anyway has anyone here tried switching from the patch to methadone wafers or pills and what was it like.

Beneficial I hope?
Backman

Welcome to the forum. I understand the fluctuations deal but if fents giving you otherwise good pain control thats where I would stay trying to figure out how to best reduce those highs and lows and keep it on. We have numerous folks here on fent who are active and manage well.

If you take Susie's advice and do that forum search your going to find many of those posts are my battle scarred life on methadone. Almost 14 years and yes it was a wonderful thing in the beginning, once a day dosing, less than $20 a month, tons of energy and I thought this was a pill sent directly from heaven. As the years wore on I gained tons of weight, had a nonexistent desire to be touched an that's a relationship ender by the way, floated through years with virtually no emotional changes, didn't care about nothing, no joy, no anger, no pleasure, no nothing, life in a painfree bubble without stress of life's normal ups and downs. Sounds nice but not for my kids or family. Did I mention you can fall asleep at the drop of a hat? Sitting at a red light, standing at the sink doing dishes, never saw an entire movie in 14 years, all that energy is great until you stop for 5 minutes. Had severe hearing loss and they attributed it to spinal meningitis from my twenties saying it was progressive in nature and I guess some of it is but ditched one of the hearing aids after I finally got the methadone cleared from my system in the two horrific years it took me only after I had preop ekg and at 54 had issues caused directly from long term methadone use.

I won't get into the battle of getting off and the many times I attempted switching meds they're aall here archived at HW and I can't say it's pleasant reading. Thanks to a awesome PM Dr who literally allowed me control to his pen and writing hand, these folks here and a family who understood I got off and onto another opiate for pain control. It took only more than a year. A very miserable year where there were days I was in a state of complete wishing the end of my life. I didn't cold turkey and I had every med at my disposal to help but the point is nothing will. Methadone is stored in your bones so imagine that pulling out, it hits on brain receptors no other drug but darvocet hits on and its been banned, there's no replacing it only substitution.

No matter what the reason your on it you will always have opiate dependant on your medical records thats the law here in the states, has to be in red warning OR and ER and trauma center that you can not be treated like other patients and you wont be.

You have to do what you think is best but I have to urge you to know what your getting into, do your homework, research and read what others have to say that have been on it long term for pain and not addiction because for a heroin addict it's a good trade.

Good luck to you

I too vote for Fent. Since you 've been on it for so long & are very familiar with its pros & cons why not work with it to ensure the best result possible for you? I've never tried Methadone, why would you want the problems, especially the everlasting stigma?

It seems your complaint is the fluctuations? This can be pretty much be controlled with surgical tape.

Not a difficult decision IMO, choose the devil you know.

Backman, I don't know how they do things in Canada, but here in the states its rare to find a GP that will rx pain meds to a chronic pain patient. That is why so many of us are under the care of a pain mgt dr. There are rules & guidelines the drs work under because of the DE & a GP is just not staffed or equipped to handle chronic pain patients. You probably would do better to ask him to refer you to a PM dr. What kind of dr has been rxing the Fentanyl patches you are using?

Good luck.

Laura if you had ever seen a baby born addicted to methadone you would have understood all the hoopla!! It's not a sight you want to see as a caregiver much less a new Mom. You were very smart staying really low and that was the key in you or your baby not suffering greatly. OB Dr's have to make difficult decisions about what's going to be best for Mom and remember they are your Dr not the baby's after its born so they don't always see the results of methadone w/d in the NICU.

Backman Susie is right about GPs usually not prescribing narcotics long term but may be different there. I would be looking for a new pain doc quick since it sounds as if the one you saw is very anti-med in his treatment protocol. The theory he gave about receptors is partially true but those kinds of Dr's tend to exaggerate the findings to suit their way of thinking.

Good luck to you and by the way a simple xray is going to be pretty useless in showing the real story about what the extent of damage is to the spine.

Ask for a scan instead they produce a much better image.

Hi Tirzah.,
I have been on Methadone for many many years, and also worked in Oncology where patients took it for pain. I would do some serious research before switching to methadone from the patch. The withdraws from methadone are like no other, SERIOUSLY,we are talking like 6 months for some people, and its not really that great of a pain reliever. Once you are on this medication, Doctors, hospitals, everyone looks down on you, treats you differently, & there is a BAD STIGMA that comes with this, and no one will want to help you with pain if you are on this, most Doctors don't know a lot about it and are so judgmental when it comes to methadone. It's ridiculous. Then if you get it from a clinic you will have to go EVERYDAY, and work your way up to get "take outs" and there are all kinds of rules at the methadone clinics that you have to follow and it is a big hassle. I really honestly advise against it, for many reasons. The problems associated with methadone out weigh the benefits for sure. If you are having problems with the patch sticking, I can recommend a great product called SUREPREP (skin protective barrier wipe) its a real sticky wipe, like an alcohol prep, and you just wipe it on the area where you need your patch to stick, (NOT the area where the medication will be coming into contact with your body). I used these when I had my ileostomy and they worked great. I ordered them from MEDLINE, but I am sure you can order them from any med. supply place. They will keep that patch in place as long as you want then you will have to peel it off.

Good Luck with everything and really, If I were you I would stay away from the methadone.If you do decide to switch, I would do the wafer, not the liquid, and not the pills. Feel free to contact me if I can give you anymore info regarding the methadone.