One of the scariest aspect of having to use Fentanyl pain patches
One of the scariest aspect of having to use Fentanyl pain patches is not being able to get more when you run out. I've used patches from 12.5 - 100 mcg/hr and currently using 100 mcg/hr. Unless you have a few back-up patches after running out, the user can experience some serious withdrawals. Back in 2018 that's exactly what happened to me. I was using 50 mcg/hr patches, I was running low and down to 2 left so it was imperative for me to get a new prescription ASAP.
It was a Thursday and I had just put on one of the last 2 patches left over. Unfortunately, it was a long holiday weekend, the oncologist had already left on vacation and couldn't be reached. His partner was also out of town until the day after the holiday; Tuesday. 2 patches would last me 6 days max. One patch lasts 72 hrs/3 days. One might think, hey that's plenty of time to have a doctor write me a new prescription, pick it up and take it over to my pharmacy to get it filled.
You might have wondered, well, how come you didn't do this earlier, there was after all plenty of time? I had a similar situation few months before that where the pharmacy wasn't allowed to fill my prescription because it was too early, my insurance company wouldn't pay for it. I couldn't even get a partial order if I paid for it myself as it was a controlled substance. What happened was that my patch had fallen off without me knowing it and it was lost. When I discovered that my patch was gone, I had to put a new one on. This of course would cause a shortage when time to get a new prescription causing issues in obtaining more.
I had now patches that would last me until Tuesday, the day the oncologist comes back. I could just call it in to the doctor, have him write me a new prescription, go pick it up and have it filled. Sounded easy enough. I didn't get my hands on that script until late Tuesday afternoon, got to my pharmacy as quick as I could only to find out they had run out earlier in the day and are now on order which could take anywhere up to 4 days. My patch runs out today, Tuesday and had to wait until Friday maybe before I get more? It was panic time because I knew what was in store for me if I didn't get a patch before the 4 days.
I asked the pharmacist to see if another one of their chains in the area had what I needed. All they could scrounge around was some 25 mcg/hr and they too had run out of the 50mcg/hr patches. So now I was on my own and had to try other pharmacies within 60 mi radius with no luck. I was in deep, deep trouble and wasn't looking forward to see what happens next.
It was 24 hrs later that I really started feeling the withdrawal symptoms. My legs arms were thrashing around in bed as the nerves started twitching. I began to sweat and feeling dizzy. I had an enormous headache which wasn't about to be effected by 1,300mg of Tylenol=2-650mg of 8 hr Tylenol for arthritis. My night was going to be hell unless I could come up with any kind of Fentanyl patch.
My wife remembered that I had 2-100mc/hr patches left in a box at my studio several miles away. The reason I had 2 left over unused patches was because my oncologist and I decided to begin the weening process and dropped down to the 50 mcg/hr patches. My wife told me that she's going to run and get them but may take some time. It was around 7:00P.M. when she left. In the meantime, I had to take a severe beating until she got back. Oh man, did I ever!
It wasn't until 2:00A.M. until she got back with the 2 unopened packages of Fentanyl patches. She had some difficulties in finding them and ended up scrounging the entire house before finding them. We were a bit concerned how the 100 mcg/hr patch might affect me while I'm on withdrawals. I told her I didn't care and needed one immediately as I couldn't stand the incredible pains and withdrawals I was going thru. It didn't take long for my wife to install the patch. It was about 4 hours later that I started feeling some relief and another 6 before I felt well enough to get out of bed and move around.
I now had enough patches to last until they got the order in before the end of the week. After getting my 50 mcg/hr patches, I now had to begin the weening process all over.
Earlier this week I had a similar experience in obtaining these patches. I got a script from my oncologist, took it in to get it filled only to find out that they were out of the100mcg/hr patches. I was on my last patch. There wasn't a problem with me getting my script filled and paid for except that they didn't have any in stock. Earlier I was put back on the patches because nothing else seemed to help with my constant pain. We started off with 25mcg and moved up each time after finding out the strength wasn't working out for me. Each time we upped the mcg/hr, I naturally had some unused patches in the boxes they came in. I saved them just in case.
This time I wasn't very concerned about my pharmacy not having the pain patches in stock. They gave me an attentative day when the would be back in stock. I went back on the day and picked up my patches without problems. In the meantime, while I waiting, I ended up using 2-50mcg/hr patches to make the 100 w/o problems. Never take these Fentanyl patches for granted thinking they will be accessible at any given time.
It was a Thursday and I had just put on one of the last 2 patches left over. Unfortunately, it was a long holiday weekend, the oncologist had already left on vacation and couldn't be reached. His partner was also out of town until the day after the holiday; Tuesday. 2 patches would last me 6 days max. One patch lasts 72 hrs/3 days. One might think, hey that's plenty of time to have a doctor write me a new prescription, pick it up and take it over to my pharmacy to get it filled.
You might have wondered, well, how come you didn't do this earlier, there was after all plenty of time? I had a similar situation few months before that where the pharmacy wasn't allowed to fill my prescription because it was too early, my insurance company wouldn't pay for it. I couldn't even get a partial order if I paid for it myself as it was a controlled substance. What happened was that my patch had fallen off without me knowing it and it was lost. When I discovered that my patch was gone, I had to put a new one on. This of course would cause a shortage when time to get a new prescription causing issues in obtaining more.
I had now patches that would last me until Tuesday, the day the oncologist comes back. I could just call it in to the doctor, have him write me a new prescription, go pick it up and have it filled. Sounded easy enough. I didn't get my hands on that script until late Tuesday afternoon, got to my pharmacy as quick as I could only to find out they had run out earlier in the day and are now on order which could take anywhere up to 4 days. My patch runs out today, Tuesday and had to wait until Friday maybe before I get more? It was panic time because I knew what was in store for me if I didn't get a patch before the 4 days.
I asked the pharmacist to see if another one of their chains in the area had what I needed. All they could scrounge around was some 25 mcg/hr and they too had run out of the 50mcg/hr patches. So now I was on my own and had to try other pharmacies within 60 mi radius with no luck. I was in deep, deep trouble and wasn't looking forward to see what happens next.
It was 24 hrs later that I really started feeling the withdrawal symptoms. My legs arms were thrashing around in bed as the nerves started twitching. I began to sweat and feeling dizzy. I had an enormous headache which wasn't about to be effected by 1,300mg of Tylenol=2-650mg of 8 hr Tylenol for arthritis. My night was going to be hell unless I could come up with any kind of Fentanyl patch.
My wife remembered that I had 2-100mc/hr patches left in a box at my studio several miles away. The reason I had 2 left over unused patches was because my oncologist and I decided to begin the weening process and dropped down to the 50 mcg/hr patches. My wife told me that she's going to run and get them but may take some time. It was around 7:00P.M. when she left. In the meantime, I had to take a severe beating until she got back. Oh man, did I ever!
It wasn't until 2:00A.M. until she got back with the 2 unopened packages of Fentanyl patches. She had some difficulties in finding them and ended up scrounging the entire house before finding them. We were a bit concerned how the 100 mcg/hr patch might affect me while I'm on withdrawals. I told her I didn't care and needed one immediately as I couldn't stand the incredible pains and withdrawals I was going thru. It didn't take long for my wife to install the patch. It was about 4 hours later that I started feeling some relief and another 6 before I felt well enough to get out of bed and move around.
I now had enough patches to last until they got the order in before the end of the week. After getting my 50 mcg/hr patches, I now had to begin the weening process all over.
Earlier this week I had a similar experience in obtaining these patches. I got a script from my oncologist, took it in to get it filled only to find out that they were out of the100mcg/hr patches. I was on my last patch. There wasn't a problem with me getting my script filled and paid for except that they didn't have any in stock. Earlier I was put back on the patches because nothing else seemed to help with my constant pain. We started off with 25mcg and moved up each time after finding out the strength wasn't working out for me. Each time we upped the mcg/hr, I naturally had some unused patches in the boxes they came in. I saved them just in case.
This time I wasn't very concerned about my pharmacy not having the pain patches in stock. They gave me an attentative day when the would be back in stock. I went back on the day and picked up my patches without problems. In the meantime, while I waiting, I ended up using 2-50mcg/hr patches to make the 100 w/o problems. Never take these Fentanyl patches for granted thinking they will be accessible at any given time.
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