Re: To W

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

You mentioned that you were thinking of asking your doctor about durogesic

patches to use on occasions when you are unable to take oral meds. I'm no

expert, but i'm not sure how practical that would be. My own personal experience

of durogesic patches was that i used them for approximately 3 weeks when i had a

lot of pain, prior to surgery. Trying to stop them proved difficult. I had to

reduce the dose gradually, but still experienced all sorts of unpleasant

symptoms such as insomnia, feeling restless and aggitated etc. I've been off

them for almost 5 weeks now. They are very effective, but i'm not sure if

they're intended for intermittent, occasional use.

I hope this is helpful. All the best,

Sue.

> Message date : Dec 27 2003, 07:51 AM

> From : Weston

> To : pancreatitis

> Copy to :

> Subject : Re: Robin fr

> Robin,

> Your e-mail did help. This attack was one of the worst ones as far as pain

> goes. However, I've had some as severe with normal labs. Thanks for the

> info on the jello and broth. I don't have them much at home, but in the

> hospital I've had both with no problems when my diet was advanced from NPO

> to clear liquids.

>

> So far, I'm hanging in there. I've had a few times today that I thought the

> pain was going stay at the intolerable rate, but then it settled back down

> after oral meds. I am going to ask my pain doc about the duragesic patches

> when I see him on Monday. It just occurred to me that since those go

> through the skin vs oral, I could use them to get the pain under control

> until I could tolerate oral meds again. I have phenergan suppositories

> already, which do help sometimes when I can't keep anything down.

>

> Going to bed with hopes of not having a repeat episode.

>

> W

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

I'd like to second Sue's advice about the duragestic patch. It's not a med that

you can just use at sporadic times when you aren't able to keep down oral

meds. The patch is a 24/7/52 commitment, and does require dosage

weaning if one plans to stop using it. You can just stop and start it's use

when needed. I wear the duragesic 50 mg. patch. A few months ago, some

of my patches were lost when I was traveling, and at the end of the month I

came up a week short of patches. Unfortunately, I had to go through a very

difficult and discomforting withdrawal period before I was able to get my

prescription refilled. It was a miserable time and something I'd hate to have

to repeat. They also are not effective on severe, acute pain, and their use

during an acute attack is not recommended. When I had my last attack, the

patches were removed and I was put on a dilaudid pump.

You might consider this before you go further in this direction.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for consultation with a medical

professional.

Sue wrote:

> You mentioned that you were thinking of asking your doctor about

durogesic patches to use on occasions when you are unable to take oral

meds. I'm no expert, but i'm not sure how practical that would be. My own

personal experience of durogesic patches was that i used them for

approximately 3 weeks when i had a lot of pain, prior to surgery. Trying to

stop them proved difficult.