Fentanyl Transdermal System

[addicted2hc]

Are these only to be used to as patches? Are there any other ways to get effects faster then 72 hours? SWIM came across as few patches and thought they would be gel? Any responses/insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

TIA.

a2c

[Forthesevenlakes]

A quick search on this topic will yield this gem of a thread.

SWIM is guessing that SWIY came across the Mylan patches, which do not contain gel. The Duragesic brand patches do contain gel, which can be used in a variety of ways. Options with the Mylan patches are somewhat more limited, but they can be worn, or used patches can be chewed and the contents left to absorbed sublingually or through the mouth. This thread might shed some more light on the topic as well.

Simply wearing the patch will cause effects to come on a lot faster than 72 hours, however. 72 hours is just the reccomended time for an opioid-tolerant person to wear the patch to experience pain relief. SWIM has found that when he would wear patches, the onset of effects could be felt around 8-10 hours, and the patches actually contain enough fentanyl to last 100 hours total when worn as directed.

BUT, if SWIY has little experience with opioids, and does not have a moderate tolerance to them, SWIM reccomends not trying to use them at all. Fentanyl is one of the strongest opioids, dose-wise, that is available, and respiratory depression and death can occur in people with no opioid tolerance after they attempt to use them. Dosage can be tricky to calculate since fentanyl doses are measured in micrograms, instead of milligrams like many drugs, and when chewing patches, smoking gel, etc., there is oftentimes no way to accurately gauge a dose.

SWIM doesn't want to come off the wrong way, or to say unequivocally not to use fentanyl, but he has known people who have died from this drug, particularly in the patch form due to the dosing reasons that SWIM has stated above. SWIM does not know SWIY's situation with regards to tolerance, but be EXTREMELY careful and read up on the topic before making a decision regarding using these patches.

[addicted2hc]

Yes you are right, they are the Mylan which didnt contain any gel which confused the hell out of SWIM. Sorry about not using the search function, SWIM was in a hurry to get out to dinner with family. I'll continue to do research. Again thank you for the quick response.

[addicted2hc]

Oh and SWIM forgot to add he is a pretty regular user of opiates, mainly oxycontin. Vicodin occasionally. SWIM has CWE 13 5/500 vicodin and snorted them and was just fine. oxycontin doses usually vary from 20mg - 40mg snorted and redosing throughout the night. SWIM has also tried fentanyl patches, but in gel form. SWIM ate around a fingertip full of gel and had a pretty euphoric experience.

Any suggestions on what doses should be used knowing this new information.

[Forthesevenlakes]

What dosage are the patches? They vary pretty widely in strength, so if they are a large dose, SWIY could maybe cut the patch into smaller parts and wear them or attempt to use them orally. Cutting the patch would give a much better indication of dose as well. SWIM would shoot for 200 mcg to start with, given a slight tolerance, and then work up from there, in 100 or 200 mcg increments. Just remember that with buccal/sublingual administration, it will still take some time before knowing how the dose will affect SWIY, so go slow and be careful!!

[addicted2hc]

The dose is 5mcg per hour. SWIM doesnt use oxycontin daily, maybe once or twice a week(that goes for all opiates. So should SWIM cut them in 1/2s or 1/4s?

[Forthesevenlakes]

Cut into 1/4ths perhaps if SWIY is planning on wearing it, and be sure to take it off at night. SWIM knows of at least one horror story from his hometown where an occasional opioid user died from fentanyl after leaving a patch on for too long. With 1/4th a patch it probably wouldnt be as huge of an issue, but why take chances? If consuming orally, SWIM would say to try to cut it into 4 as well...how many mcg or mg is the patch total?

[addicted2hc]

Total is 5.10mg (50mcg over 72 hours if worn) SWIM plans on placing it under his tongue or putting it in his mouth.

I'd rather not wear the patch as SWIM is looking for the effects to kick in much faster than 72 hours, or even any longer than 3-4 hours. SWIM however, will not be IVing anything again. So thats out of the question(just lettin you know)

SWIM thinks putting the patch in his mouth would be the quickest way, but SWIM say in some of the other threads that it didn't work, and some say it did? Any thoughts on as to why?

[oxalot]

It has been said many times that the boiavailability of this form of fentanyl is not very high when taken P.O. or sub-ligual. the amt varies but is somewhere in the 2 -10% area. Not what SWIY want to do unless SWIY is into wasting product. The gel packets are transdermal. SWIM would think that the drying and smoking of the gel type patch or would be good. But has anyone ever tried cutting open and actually rubbing a larger amout directly to the skin. Sincr this ups bioavailability to around 90% SWIM would think this is a viable alternative to all the other time consuming ways. SWIM has had the gel patches for CP but used them as directed. He did not try this himself. He says they are good pain relief but could not keep them on for more than a day. perhaps the transdermal could be tried by SWIY but be careful of the amount SWIY uses . (SWIY seems to have a good handle on the use of opiates and SWIM is not too worried that SWIY will mess up) SWIM would love to hear if anyone has heard of people doing this and the end results.

[oxalot]

Left out of above post SWIM has no experience at all with the Mylan patch. But understand it lacks the same gel medium as the Duragesic