Requium

Duragesic Fentanyl Transdermal or Methadone?

(I have a chronic pain disorder and i was slightly scared of the duragesic patch yet the doctor was telling me the stuff was safe and i knew this was a long term thing either way so i asked what he thought about Methadone.

He said "well it's more addictive than duragesic and it's much easier to abuse but we dont like prescribing it"

(although I know much different myself)
Methadone I felt safer with i expressed my concerns to him and told him since both are longterm medications and both are addictive, that it's not as easily abused as the duragesic fentanyl patch.

If you had a choice for LEGIT -pain management which would you feel SAFER with if you were active all the time?

So far the methadone isn't that bad. I know I'll be on it for the rest of my life. I like how it just kills the pain and doesnt get me fucked up like the oxcontin the doctor gave me did.
It's like I'm able to function perfectly.

My doctor did tell me he has no problem switching me to the duragesic patch if I ever want to try it. (although I kinda like the methadone best of all of pain medications i've ever been on)

It also controls my anxiety attacks and i've not had to take any of my percecet since yesterday.(the first day i've not had a percecet in 1 year!!!!)

If my doctor was saying methadone was so bad then why is it helping me out so much? In more than one way. It's treating pain and it's treating the pain without making me feel "out of it" like the others probably would.

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I'm off to the Methadone Clinic

gonadman

Just some general observations for you as I've had some experience with these drugs.

The problems with methadone may be seen over a period of time. You may find that you build "tolerance" to methadone more quickly than with the patch, that is, the same dose may not control your pain as well over a period of time, necessitating increasing dosages to maintain the same amount of pain control. You probably had this trouble with the percocet, hence a longer duration med was needed.

The patch gives a slower transdermal dose of the drug over a longer period of time(3 days), although some people have problems with poor adhesion- especially if you perspire a lot.

Also, alot of docs worry about possible euphoria("feeling good") from the methadone which increases the addiction potential.

As with any drug, individual results and preferences vary greatly from person to person and it is a good idea to visit your doc monthly for medication "maintenance" to discuss your level of pain control.

Good luck

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Amethyst

I have been on the patch and it worked well. The only problem I had with it was it wouldn't stay on. But I think they made these things that you can get from the drug company that go over them to help them stay on. And they are very expensive.

My doctor is getting ready to switch me to oxcontin. So, tell me about and what kind of problems you had with it?

Requium

The main problem I had with oxycontin was it just wasn't too effective on me. I had better results from the methadone.
Then again that's just my experience since I have a complex nerve pain disorder.
(atypical trigeminal neuralgia)

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I'm off to the Methadone Clinic

wallace1

Speaking from experience I believe that Methadone is about the worst drug ever created. Miss a dose or two and you will know what I mean, also Methadone has an opiate block built into it, so should you ever need to switch to something stronger it would not work until the Meth was completely out of your system. You will adjust to the Duragesic, or you could take a smaller dose of Oxy orally.

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Requium

that's what my doctor said about the methadone.
however it's been the most effective. it doesn't cause much euphoria although the first day it did which i'm glad that part's over with.

however percecet worked better on me for some odd reason than oxycontin did. (and i was tried on the 80mg doses)
it was like a 10mg percecet i was completely able to function on and i was able tot ake it as needed.

so the duragesic isn't as addictive as some people say they are?
if thats the case i'll give the patcch a chance before it's too late.

thx for the info!

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I'm off to the Methadone Clinic