I would think if you're only getting nerve pain back on the 3rd day, the doctors reasoning is to change it on the 2nd day therefore bypassing the 3rd day pain.
It sounds like your patches are only lasting you 2 days, so rather than increase the dosage he's increasing the frequency. Does that make sense? It did in my head anyway.
So by not getting the bad pains you should be able to start gentle exercising like walking and gradually increase the amount of walking over time.
I have a treadmill at home and i've found that if I start of at 5 min walks and stay at 5 mins for 3 days then increase to 8 mins for 3 days then increase to 10 mins for 3 days etc, I am less likely to cause a flare up and be back at square one of not exercising at all.
My problem is that I find it hard to not push myself too hard and suffer the consequences.
At the moment i'm determined to do it more slowly this time and i'm at 10 mins, my target is to get to 20 mins twice a day.
Hope this helps.
Boy my posts are getting long lol.
Kylie

I too experienced weight gain from having my back injury and now I've lost 38lbs. All I did was start drinking lots of water and cut back on juices and ate more fruit. No desserts except 2 or 3 squares of dark chocolate a day and i portion of yogurt. Oatmeal package at breakfast and a large supper and a multivitamin/mineral a day. For lunch sometimes I have a bagel or toast with lite cream cheese. Walking is the only exercise I can do and the recumbent exercise bicycle in front of the TV but know it's hard to do with knee trouble. I use a cane and go for short walks 2 or 3 times a day. I hope now you have more pain relief with the dosage change with your Fentanyl. Good luck I know it's a challenge. Take care. Charry

Thanks

I hope this does not sound "stupid" but I still don;t understand how keeping me at the same dose but changing the frequency I change the patch will help with my pain levels

does each persons body know how much of the med to use? Like mine lasts 48 hrs and others last 72 hrs ?

Way to go IMM and Charry on your progress

I have manged to lose about 4 lbs in this past week - no exercise yet, but I am doing more around the house. BUT today is the day I change my patch being on the 48 hr schedule now and my nerve pains hit me really rough tonight..... sigh

I am also feeling throbbing ( not pain ) kind of like a pulse in my back tonight..

I have never been able to lose or keep weight off unless I exercise - it is just the way my body works.

I have silly question for you. Where do you put the patch?
Kylie

I guess my question is why is he having increase for nerve pain. Fentanyl is not for nerve pain, that should be done by lyrica or something. At least thats what I thought. Let me know what you think.

IMM - well normally I put it on my stomach or my front thigh. I can not put it too many other places as we have a water bed, and I have to put it somewhere where I won't come in contact with the water bed, as of the whole heat thing. I wore it on my stomach for quite awhile until someone explained to me that since I am obese I may not want it there as it has to get through the fat, so I switched it to my front thighs. why? lol

Robin - Oh wow, I don't know. I am brand new to this "game". I know it did help my pain before that is now coming back - which he calls nerve pain

Sorry for the delay, I knew I asked for a reason, I remembered something from my nursing days but couldn't think why it was important.
So i've looked it up for you and here is excerpt from Wikipedia
"absorption rate is generally constant at a constant skin temperature. Rate of absorption is dependent on a number of factors. Body temperature, skin type, amount of body fat, and placement of the patch can have major effects. The different delivery systems used by different makers will also affect individual rates of absorption."
So i'm thinking two things here, you are putting it on your stomach where naturally there is more body fat and also you are in Winter (or were) and your body temperature would definitely not have been constant. The very nature of having a warm cozy water bed would change your body temp, let alone layers of clothing, going outside in the cold etc.
However, I do agree that if it is nerve pain, it probably wouldn't be very effective on that
Hope this helps
Kylie

Thanks Kylie

The while nerve pain thing now has me wondering whats up that the F patch DOES help it

Sharp shooting pains that makes me feel like I have been electrocuted and would knock me to the ground if I were not holding on to something/someone. They always happen in 1 specific spot on my lower back = nerve pain says Dr.

i'd be asking about a nerve med, although aren't you already on amytriptilline (?sp)?
I am curious though how you only get the nerve pain on the day that the fentanyl patch isn't covering you so well, this would indicate that it's doing something.
I saw the pain clinic yesterday and i'm going to trial fentanyl patches too. I told them I would try anything they suggested but was keen to get of the Narcs as i'm concerned about the long term effects on my body.
I asked about a scs, but I was told it's used as a last resort and usually reserved for pain scale 8+/10.
I remembered what Ron said about people always saying that their pain was an 8/10 so I told them it was a 4 or/10 and spiked to an 8/10 on occassions.
I also asked to do their pain program which is a 5 day program, as it's through the public system (free) there's a 3 month waiting list, but i'm not going anywhere so I can wait.
Hope your nerves are holding up! In more ways than one.
Kylie

Oh I hope the F patch is a good to you as it is me
Yep I am on amitriptyline for neuropathy from my diabetes.

So does my signs I explained above sound like nerve pain to you Kylie?

Well I decided to do ONE more test on myself and did not change my F patch last night as per the 48 hrs was due and wow I am a hurting gimp tonight - so now going to go do the 48 hrs for awhile and see what happens ( shrug ).

I was thinking of our talk about where I put the patch and how it should be done where the least fat is blah blah and I was wondering about my arms - they are not fat lol

BUT one time before I put it on my stomach above my belly button and got a horrible headache from it. A member from here said a lot of people can't put them above the belly button without getting sick... hmmmm thinking thinking

OH, I could try my lower back area -----

Some people have nerve pain relief from narcotics, and some don't.

The primary source of my pain is nerve-based and the only medications that relieve it are narcotics. In the beginning, my doctors tried Neurontin, Lyrica, amitriptyline, and quite a few others, without a bit of relief from any of them. They either had unacceptable side effects or didn't do anything at all.

The Fentanyl patch combined with the SCS has been the only effective combination I've found. I was on the 72-hour schedule for the first month and noticed the 3rd day "valley" from the very beginning. When I went for my follow up, I told my doctor, and he changed them to every 48. At the time, he told me he guessed it was about 50/50 with his patients as far as having the patch last 2 days or 3 days, and it's just depends on the patient.

Bionic & Others who are trying to help me. I really feel like a duh as I am just not "getting this".

I still can not understand how a patch can last 48 hrs on 1 person & 72 hrs on another person.

I am not trying to beat a dead horse. However I DO truly want to understand all that is involved in my own care/situation and this one I just can't grasp

Can someone please explain it to me as if I where a 3 yrs old lol

I like a challenge:
Once upon a time, there was a house, inside the house live Mr Humpty-Dumpty.
Mr Dumpty had a wife Mrs Dumpty.Mrs Dumpty, like Mr Dumpty, had had a great fall and, like Mr Dumpty, couldn't be put back together again.
Now Mr Dumpty, he had a really good doctor who had him on some medicine that did him wonders!
Mrs Dumpty, however, had some different medicine. This medicine you didn't swallow, this medicine went on your arm like a bandaid!
The medicine was supposed to take her pain away for 3 whole days! On the 3rd day she had to put on a new bandaid medicine.
Mrs Dumpty liked this medicine it really helped her with her pain. But there was just one problem.
Day number one was great, no pain. Day number two, fantastic no pain. But when day number 3 came, she always had pain.
So....her clever doctor thought aha! Mrs Dumpty's body is eating the medicine faster than other numpty's, it must be all those pieces she's in. So, if days number 1 and 2 Mrs Dumpty has no pain, but day number 3 Mrs Dumpty does have pain. Why don't we put the new bandaid on at day number 2, that way day number 3 never comes!
While Mrs Dumpty was a bit slow to understand how the bandaid works, she did notice that it helped.
Now she is like all the other Numpty's.
Mr and Mrs Dumpty lived happily ever over with her Dumpty children and grand-children.
The End.

Kylie

How many of these floor laughing icons can I post ? I am all but peeing myself Kylie

BUT guess what? I actually DO understand this now !

Oh it hurts to laugh THIS hard lol

Seriously THANK YOU ♥

Thinking maybe I should go into writing childrens books.
I think you needed the laugh.
Kylie

Your Humpty Dumpty story was really cute. Perhaps you should publish and get it on the NY Bestsellers list ..and split the money with me

Okay, back to Fentanyl..Beth, I used to be on it for a long time and I was on 100mcg every 2 days. It wore off too soon and my doctor said some people just metabolize quicker than others and so the 2 day schedule comes in handy. At first I'd stick on my upper chest (above the girls ) and it gave me nausea, vomiting, headaches, and dizzyness. A pharmacist told me to place the patch on my belly, anywhere below the navel and all my side effects went away. My mind was clear and I was comfortable driving while on Fentanyl while exercising extra caution of course. However I would get occasional Duh moments.

Well, I hope this helps. Take care and behave now.. Just kidding

you can be my agent?
It helps when you have young kids, you know how to speak 3 year old!
Kylie

Hey I think the duh ( me ! ) should get a cut too lol lol

Mey yes, actually you had told me this before about the below belly button

Lol! that story was great! It got a laugh and smile out of me I just stared the same patches and this is all very helpful. I have been getting pretty intense headaches, migraine like.

I am due to change mine today so I will have to try the under the belly button this time. I have been putting it on my upper arm these last few times, I have only used two patches so far, as I was only started on them last Monday.

I do hope the tiredness wears off some tho.... They work so well for my pain.

so i'll let you know how I go.
Glad you liked the story Mel. It helps that I have young kids.
I wonder if I can make a childs story out of any drug? Hmmmm... interesting idea....

That would be awesome! lol

I put my patch under my belly button toward the left side and so far no headache, knock on wood, and I have not been quite so tired. I am not sure if the placement has anything to do with it or that I am on the third one and my body is more used to them now.... It is weird how the placement of it can make such a difference.

Man the headache I had over the weekend was so bad I went to bed early; we had friends and family over for dinner and hubby had to be the hostess, I thought I was going to pass out. It was close to the spinal headache I had when I was leaking CSF from my myleogram. It was bad. It was gone by the time I woke in the morning, thank goodness.

I will say these patches have been an absolute lifesaver so far. I still have pain, but my goal is not to eliminate it, well it is , but it has throughly been explained to me that that is never going to be the case. But they have reduced the pain enough to where I am not thinking of the pain 24/7 and completely miserable. And I have actually been going out and doing things, cleaning, etc., thing's I have not done in a long time. I still can't do everything I would like but any improvement is a plus and I can't complain.

I will say that since I put the patch on my belly, I have noticed my pain seems to be a smidge worse. I am not sure if I overdid it this weekend and it is coincidence that I put the patch somewhere else or what.... I hope not because I like it on my belly much better than on my arm. And my nerve pain has been worse today too, not sure this is related in anyway either since pain meds have not done a whole lot to relieve the nerve pain in the past. Who knows... I do know I have been much better though Yippy!!!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, it is nasty, cold, and rainy here today, yuck We got a little taste of some warm sunny weather and now yuckyness. It is no wonder me and the kid's sinuses are going bonkers!

Mel, I'm glad the side effects eased up some and that terrible headache is gone. Even though Fentanyl works very well, you still do need to take a BT med like Norco or Percocets esp when the pain flares up b/c of the weather for example. You are still acclimating to the Fentanyl patches and this lasts around 3 weeks. After this period you should hopefully not have any major side effects, maybe minimally residual ones at the most.

Kylie, of course I'll be your agent and I'll book you on Oprah first thing. I can see the dollars rolling in now..show me the money!

Okay Ms Humpty, I promise to share since I'm sooooo nice

I think you may need an assistant too Kylie! lol I am here for ya!

He gave me Roxicodone for BT pain, thank goodness because I have still have had my moments. He also put me on Skelaxin, which I really need to take for the spasms and tightness I am having but am afraid I am going to be comatose if I take anything else. I know the muscle pain is part of what is getting me right now but having to work and then drive home, I am afraid to take too much during the day. I had them filled last Monday and still have not taken one, and my muscles are hating me for it. I hate to start too many meds at one time. If you have a bad reaction to one but just started three new ones then you have no clue which one caused it.

He took me off my Percocets and gave me the patch, Roxi's, and Skelaxin, plus my gp just switched my anxiety/anti-depressant med so I have started three new meds in the last two weeks. I have tried to space out when I start them at least two days so if I do have a bad reaction I might be able to figure out which one caused it.

I think after all this is said and done I could become a Pharmacist! lol 8-)

Beth, I wouldn't dream of not giving you a cut
Meydey- I'd be honoured to have you as my agent, but when i'm on Oprah I want long stemmed roses in my room, I only drink sparkling water and no junk food please. Plus they will need to paint the walls blue.
Mel- you are already assisting me so you might as well be my assistant, but perhaps when you're not quite so drugged out.

In honour of our new arrangement I have made a poem about bad back mum's and posting it in the water cooler forum take a look!

Kylie
P.S Mel i'm going to put the patch on my stomach and see if I get a headache, if I do then we'll know that it's just getting used to the drug and not placement.

I was telling Mel that I had horrible migraines before someone here told me too switch it below my belly button. I did and the migraine was gone.... soooooo

day with the patch on pain ++++++++ but no headache, put it on my stomach

still no pain relief but no headache, when I change the patch i'm going to put it on the arm and see if I get better relief as it's pretty darn sore.
Kylie

I am so sorry to hear this is not helping you

Please do let me know how the arm placement goes.

I started on the F-patch about two weeks ago. 50MCG/72 hour swap out time.

At first I was worried I would run over the 72 hour time period.

After my first patch, I knew when the third day was. So I would think by skipping day 3 you will eliminate the "day 3" aches and pains that I am prone to.

Have percoset for break through pain, they don't work for poop.

I have a herniated L4-L5 with degenerative disc disease and a whole bunch of other screwed up discs.

Hi BAH & welcome to the SH boards

yep, I am slowly figuring this out. The 48 hr change is defiantly MUCH better for me then the 72 hr one was.
My BT med is also Percocets, but thankfully mine do help. They help a LOT more now that I change the patch every 48 hrs.

I'm very jealous right now. Especially as I have a kidney infection to go with the rest of the stuff i'm dealing with right now.

Long stem roses it is, as well as your sparkling water

Is your 5th day on Fentanyl a bit better? I remember it took around a week for it to build up in my system and so I relied on my BT med (Norco at the time) to take care of the pain. If you still don't get relief, I would give the doctor a call and see what he recommends. The patient pamphlet shows you other areas to place the patch if you want to give that a try. If all fails, tell your doctor ASAP and maybe he will raise the dose if you can tolerate it or try another painkiller.

Get well soon so we can go shopping and have our day at the salon.. Hugs, Meydey

Make sure you pick the thorns of the roses, don't like pricks!
Pain still pretty unbearable, i'm definitely not up to appearing on Oprah yet.
Got a UTI/kidney infection to go with the rest of the crap. Didn't realise just how well the Oxycontin was working and whilst it didn't cover my pain well enough, this current dosage of fentanyl is NOT cutting it.
I'm sure I'll pick up again soon.
Can you do the macarana for me too when i'm better?
Kylie

Kylie - sorry I have not been around for you - my father in law has been in n& out of the hospital and I am rarely around here these days.

I am so sorry this is not working for you

When do you see your Dr. again ?

I've got the pain under control now. The fentanyl dose was increased to 75mg which has made a HUGE difference. He also doubled my anti-depressant as I have been struggling with worsening depression lately.
So all in all i'm feeling a lot more human.
Don't apologise for not being around, you have a lot on your plate and i'm the last thing you should worry about.
Kylie

oh wonderful for you !!!!!!! HUGE SMILEY !!!!!