Does anyone have any experience of butrans patches or slow release morphine?

[maytheoddsbeeverinyourfavour]

I have been prescribed butrans 20mg patches as a last resort before slow release morphine and to be honest I'm a bit nervous about both! So I was hoping someone here night have some experience or advice to share with me?

I already take oramorph and high doses of codeine as well as amitriptyline but they are just not cutting it at the moment with the pain I have

Hi, I am surprised that your medic people are contemplating a patch when you are not pain controlled on oramorph alongside other meds

The usual plan is to dose the oramorph alongside other pain relief until pain free and then translate this to the patches so you don't have to keep dosing yourself every 4 hours.

Butrans is just a different sort of opioid painkiller. A good one and it may well help.

The only thing to watch for with patches is that the dose builds up gradually (rather than the relatively quick hit that you get with oramorph) they are not addictive when used appropriately for pain, they have similar side effects to oramorph and signs of too high dose would be, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating.

Does this help???

PS depending on the sort of pain you have i would consider taking paracetamol regularly too...I know we all think it's just a headache thing...but for some pain (especially bony pain) it can be quite stunning if taken 6 hourly.

Thank you so much fool (dont like calling you that )

I was a little surprised myself, though tbh I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever be pain free!

I'm so pleased that they are not addictive, its one of my main worries with the pain meds I take. I am hoping the patches work .. for some reason the thought of being on the slow release morphine long term makes me feel really uneasy, I'm probably being silly though

Thanks again for the reply

no probs. At least it may stop the pain yo yo ing.

again depending on the source and sort of pain other holistic approaches may add in nicely. Things like acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology and relaxation/aromatherapy etc. can help to "down play" the pain pathways.

You can imagine pain pathways are like roads...when there is a lot of traffic big roads are built and the pain zips through fast and furious, put in a few junctions (see above) and the road becomes less easily travelled, over time the pain is "down regulated" and conventional meds. are more effective.

I hope you do achieve pain free times.

Hi,
I am on Fentanyl patch, a different type of slow release morphine patch but along the same lines. I've had cgronic pain for about 8 years now, I tried every type of pain relief before starting on them. Nothing else helped much so this was a last resort.
For me personally they have been a life saver. Because they release the drug constantly you dont get the peaks of pain where no drugs can then touch it. However the best thing I would recommend is to see a pain specialist. They are without doubt the best people to advise you wether there might be alternatives to try before you go down that route.
Feel free to message me if I can help with anything.
Sazza

I was on fentanyl for a few months at one point. Very effective and not hard to reduce dose to come off them when I didn't need them any more.

My Mum is on slow release patches. One thing I wasn't aware of was that a hot bath and a new patch is not a good combination, this can lead to an overdose. They are very good though, once the dose was adjusted.

Very well pointed out jchoccip! In addition to hot baths, dont ever go in a sauna with one on or on a sunbed. Be carefull if you are ill and have a fever too.