Fentanyl (morphine) Patches

[rubygloom]

still on these and they definaly help me a lot but i do get attacks of the itchys especily on patch change night keeps me awake all night straching sometimes
anyone got any tips on how i could minimise it
sometime i wake up and i have litterly ripped my skin

i already keep nails v short and keep skin in as best condition as i can etc but not sure what i can do for the intermitant itching

[LucyM]

If you take an antihistamine at the same time of changing your patch this should help with the itchiness!

[rubygloom]

i mentioned it to the doc and they gave me a sedating antihistimine (as it seemed at night i had the prob change patch at bedtime) called zithromax lets hope that cures the prob
ill know in a couple of days

[Sandy L]

i mentioned it to the doc and they gave me a sedating antihistimine (as it seemed at night i had the prob change patch at bedtime) called zithromax lets hope that cures the prob
ill know in a couple of days

Eh? Zithromax is a brand name for azithromycin, an antibiotic.

[LucyM]

You can get Piroton from the pharmacy for a few quid! It is very effective & doesnt knock you out should you need to take it during the day!

[Eloise]

Piriton have confused matters. The origanal piriton contains chlorphenamine and is a drowsy anti-histamine. Causes drowsiness in around 70% of people - nothing in 29% of people and makes 1% of kids hyperactive! There now is a piriton once a day non-drowsy medication called piriteze which contains cetirizine. This doesn't cause drowiness in about 95% of people - but a few small percent do still get dowiness.

With so many anti-histamines on the market by so many different brands please read carefully whether they are drowsy and the daily dosing.
Chlorphenamine - 4 times a day and drowsy (mainly)
Loratidine and cetirizine - once a day and non-drowsy (mainly)

Ruby - please check what drug you have and why you have been given it. Sandy is right - it is an antibiotic which I see no need for, unless you have ripped your arms to shreds and got an infection in there - and even so that isn't the right choice for that.

[rubygloom]

oh i may have writen wrong drug i was given some antibiotics today too....... ooops just to clear up sore throat and stuff that i just cant shake ...
ahh yes i did write in wrong one (wins dunce cap adds it to already impresive colection)
i got given well.. box says Ucerax pharmacy lable says hydroxyzine

sorry for the confusion

[Eloise]

Your not the first and certainly not going to be the last person to get drug names confused. I do - and its my job!

Zithromax is definitely more appropriate to treat a bacterial sore throat!
Hydroxyzine (Ucerax) is antihistamine traditionally used for itchy allergy rashes, it can be sedating and so is why it is recommended to be taken at night.

[Raie]

I have an issue which I would like to talk/discuss and would love some input.

A quick background - my mother has been in and out of hospital for the past two years and during this time I have kind of put my life/health on hold to support both her and my father through this, this meant driving/managing/organizing/helping out in whatever way was needed.

I know now that I pushed myself too much and have ended up being virtually housebound since about last November.(Double dislocations/subluxs of shoulders/hips/ankles which led to some uncomfortable muscle cramps)

My doctor put me on Fentanyl Patches every three days which I have been doing. My regular regime was using Paracetamol/codeine, Tramadol and muscle relaxants tablets as and when I needed them.

I feel like I have slowed down too much over the past 6 months or so but I am trying to work out why. I have gone from busy to zero and would like to ask if anyone has any similar experiences on the patches.

My questions are,

How does Fentanyl affect you?
How did it feel when you came of the patch?
Do you have any side affects?

Take care

Raie

Edit: I have just noticed a medication specific topic - please feel free to move my post Mods! Sorry if I have posted in the wrong place

[jax]

Sorry to hear about your current situation. I, too worked myself up into such a stressful situation as
a result of mounting pressures on caring for other family members, my body was starting to say timeout.

Sounds like it's time to start looking after yourself a bit. I know it's not easy but sometimes we have
to say NO and start telling others how things are REALLY affecting us. I got to the stage where I let
the phone go onto answer once in a while, (there was once stage where I was getting up to 24 calls
a day from various people whose kids had a disability!), putting my earphones on and closing off
the sound, letting someone else do some of the vacuuming, getting my husband to handle certain
stressful situations.

Have you tried any light exercise, physio - swimming, hydro pool etc.

Don't mean to sound like "mother" but I gave myself the same advice as people were putting on me
left right and centre and I'm getting there and learning to manage the pain I have.


Jax
x

[jax]

My post didn't relate much to the Fentanyl but to other factors which could play a part too.....

Best wishes
Jax

[Raie]

Sorry to hear about your current situation. I, too worked myself up into such a stressful situation as
a result of mounting pressures on caring for other family members, my body was starting to say timeout.

Sounds like it's time to start looking after yourself a bit. I know it's not easy but sometimes we have
to say NO and start telling others how things are REALLY affecting us. I got to the stage where I let
the phone go onto answer once in a while, (there was once stage where I was getting up to 24 calls
a day from various people whose kids had a disability!), putting my earphones on and closing off
the sound, letting someone else do some of the vacuuming, getting my husband to handle certain
stressful situations.

Have you tried any light exercise, physio - swimming, hydro pool etc.

Don't mean to sound like "mother" but I gave myself the same advice as people were putting on me
left right and centre and I'm getting there and learning to manage the pain I have.


Jax
x

Thank you so much for your reply. Your kind words have brightened my evening

I have finally come to the conclusion that you have advised - I have decided to say "look, I need to take a step back and re-assess MY life" You do have to learn to say no - even in difficult circumstances. My mum has no immune system and is in and out of hospital with infections often and the staff are not sure how long they can manage the infections.

My specialist is Prof Bird in Leeds and I used to go to the phyiso at Chapel Allerton (which was great) but since I moved to Manchester I am having difficulties getting any sort of exercise program via my doctor so I am looking into private gyms who may cater for people like us. I would feel better if I could 'drop' the drugs and manage as I used to if I am honest. I just need my body to stabilize first!

Thank you for support and I hope you take care of you too

[Raie]

My post didn't relate much to the Fentanyl but to other factors which could play a part too.....

Best wishes
Jax

But it helped non the less

Kind regards

Raie x

[gila]

I also have no experience of fentanyl-
but experience of pretty busy to zero (due to getting hit by a bad bout of 'chemical' anxious depression)- and zero is not good in deed- can make everything (chronic pain, subluxes etc) worse- and i feel in my case it even brought on the pain being never ending...
(before depr pain came and went, after months of depr and zero- pain never went away again)

zero for a couple of days after being busy or too busy- I feel no prob and can be positively good- BUT ongoing zero...

and yep what worked for me... as much as poss "zero unhelpful things" but concentrating on as much as poss on "good for you and enjoyable things"
so for example... instead of doing the dishes (if poss) , instead of doing the washing (it prob can wait for another day and if someone else can do the hanging up, let them)do a little physio or go for a little walk (and I mean little! to begin with my walks were some 30-50 m...)
do you still remember the physio exercises you did? have you got any papers that showed you?
do you think you could just start them without a physio?

but! slowly gently ...ever sooooooooo slowly building up!

going from zero to 60 is also vvvv bad!!!!!!!!- it's far better to to do zero to 0.5 every day one week, next week to 1 etc etc

good luck and big hugs to you and your mum!!!
xxg

[Raie]

Thanks gila

I've come to the same conclusions - it's all about taking your time (which is so against my nature!) to heal. I have had an assessment at a private clinic which is close to where I live and it's physiotherapists work with all kinds of illnesses/conditions - it called Assisted Exercise. So I shall see how that goes

I do agree that from going busy to zero is part of the problem and at times its been quite difficult to do anything at all! During the past two weeks I have been trying too hard I think which may have bought me back to square one - I think we all do this at one point! I'll go with my new exercise regime and see how it goes.

As far as the patches are concerned I feel like they may be part of the problem (side affects etc)

Thank you for your hugs and kind words too - right back at you xx

Raie

Mod edit - fixed the link