Fusion on Feb 9th and Pain Mgmt Doc Weaning - Pain Management Message Board

onyxgates · 02-25-2009, 11:33 AM

Beginning March 2nd I will go from 75 to 50 patch. In April I will go from 50 to 25 and then in May either jump off all together or go down to 12.5 (which is what I prefer). I still think these are huge jumps. Considering I still need to continue with my recovery (walk two miles a day). I do not want my weaning to interfere with my recovery and I am scared that it might. What are some of your thoughts?

katlovesdogs · 02-25-2009, 12:34 PM

do you have any BT meds ? I think these are the only "single " doses of the Patch available and of course they can't be cut.

brianpain33 · 02-25-2009, 03:02 PM

They are pretty big jumps and you will probably experience withdrawals so please be aware of this. You will probably experience racing heart, sweating, insomnia, diahrhea(have some Immodium on hand), and possibly cravings. If you have major problems you should talk to your doc. You can always cut down more slowly by adding the 12.5mcg patch therefore going from 75 to 62.5 to 50 to 37.5 etc. Keep us posted

brian

Jema X · 02-25-2009, 11:42 PM

Oh my gosh, this seems a bit extreme - does the pm think that you won't need pain relief at all? You've only just had the surgery! After my last surgery (it wasn't spinal tho) we weaned by about 20% before a left the hospital & then it' taken about 6 months to wean back to my post surgery doses. Wow. Will you have any additional pain relief should you need it? Medically (unless in hospital) it is considered dangerous to wean more than 10% per change, also weaning at a faster rate can have adverse effects on recovery, can cause addiction (from patients seeking meds to stop the pain of withdrawal) and can damage brain pathways making the process more painful. People can even experience psychosis from 50% withdrawal doses. Is there anyone you can talk to that might be able to help? Is he providing valium for muscle spasms? Bad muscle spasms could jeapordise your fusion, I can't believe he's doing this. I so hope you go ok with it all.

onyxgates · 02-26-2009, 12:34 PM

I have Norco 10/325 that I take right now. So obviously I am trying to get off of those so that they will become available to me when I need them when I go from 75 to 50. That jump doesn't scare me near as much as 50 to 25. We requested to go with the 12.5 but my doc doesn't want to go that slow and he feels that the way the patches don't stick on my skin (not very well) that he doesn't want to cause any issues with that too. I don't know...like I said he kept bouncing back and forth it was so hard to follow his reasonings. He did offer Klonopin should I need it to help with the WD's.

So after Saturday, I will not take another pain pill in order to lessen my tollerance for my jump in two weeks. Total crap because I am in pain but I will live with it.