Re: Experiences with Duragesic Patch to Cyndi

[Guest guest]

Dear Cyndi,

Forgive me for coming in on the tail end of your questions about the duragesic

patch, but I

have been out of the country the last week and just saw your message today.

I've been using the duragesic patch since February of 2003. Prior to that I was

using

Percocet 10/325 for pain medication, and my usage had become so much (I was

taking

them every 4 hours, day and night), that I begged my GI for something safer and

less toxic

on the liver. He agreed that the duragesic patch would be a better solution.

He started

me on 25 mgs., this is the standard procedure when introducing this type of

medication.

It's advised to start on the 25 mg. patch until the patient becomes accustomed

to constant

opiate medication. A month later I went into diabetic ketoacidosis shock and

had

pancreas burnout, resulting in a cessation of all pancreatic pain and three

lovely months of

no meds whatsoever, but unfortunately my pseudocysts enlarged again, bringing

back the

pain syndrome again. My new GI put me back on a duragesic patch for control,

but had to

increase the dosage to 50 mgs, again with Percocet 10/325 for BT pain. The 50

mg. patch

worked well controlling the pain for about six months, then I was again having

to use too

much of the BT meds to compensate for the additional pain. I was taking 2

Percocet 10/

325's every 3 hours, so my GI sent me to a Pain Mangement Specialist.

We tried Oxycontin, Oxycontin IR, Morphine and Oxycodone, it was finally

established that

an increase to the 75 mg. duragesic patch was really the best solution for

handling my

pain issues, and I started using the 75 mg. patch, with Oxycodone for

break-through,

three months ago.

So what your doctor is doing is pretty much standard procedure, except for the

Dilaudid

for breakthrough. Dilaudid is a very strong med, usually saved for in-hospital

use in acute

situations, and I'm surprised that she would have you using it on a daily basis.

I've used

Dilaudid in the past, 4 mgs. every 4 hours for acute pain, but it gave me such

horrible

night time hallucinations that I had to stop using it. I've also used it in a

pain pump while

in the hospital, and there it was great, and caused no hallucinations. Has she

tried you on

any of the other short-acting pain meds like Oxycodone or Oxycontin IR? Of

course I'm

not a medical professional, and don't mean to question her choices, but I'm

curious as to

why she's suggesting that med when there are others that are more commonly used

for

break-through.

I do hope that this increase is the solution for you, Cyndi. I personally don't

know what I'd

do without the Duragesic, it's so far been the most effective type of pain

relief I've used,

and with little side effects. I hope this information helps.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for

professional medical consultation.