Comments on: Duragesic Patch Recall Adds to Johnson & Johnson Patch Woes

By: Arthur Hill

Arthur Hill — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:46:17 +0000

I was a victim of these patches. Please don’t tell me there haven’t been problems with the patch. I have multiple crushed vertebrae and herniated disks. I used one of the patches one night. When I awoke in the morning I was in respiratory distress and could not walk straight. If it were not for the fact that I was trained as a bio-chemist and EMT I would not have know to remove the patch immediately and probably would have died. The exact same thing happened to my nephew three months later, after using the patch once. Both of us were told by our doctors that it could not possible be the patch. Wonder what stock they own?

By: Dean Aldridge

Dean Aldridge — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:08:58 +0000

The Real Deal.
I have been on the patch since before there was a generic. I am the reason for many of the patch changes, designed to deter pharmaceutical drug abusers from abusing the drug in an unintended way. When I first started using the patch it was pure Fentanyl. Unfortunately, drug abusers were able to freeze the drug and suck on it like a lollipop. So L & L then added a chemical to keep the Fentanyl from freezing. They were also able to stick needles into the patch, withdraw the Fentanyl and shoot it into their arms. So L & L added yet another chemical to make it too thick to shoot in the arm. Now I have to worry about all the extra chemicals added to a drug that I take for pain because assholes want to use it for the high. I say take it back to its original form and screw the addicted. Why do we need to compromise our needs for those who cannot control theirs?

By: s r u

s r u — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:21:23 +0000

Hi bc, I recently was put on the fentanyl patch, except mine don’t have the gel in them. They sound like what the poster named “anonincali” described.

But as for the gel ones, I have a close friend in nursing who told me people would do routinely wear the old one for the three days the new one was on, to get all the drug out, so they always had an old and a new one on. Then they’d wonder why they were getting burning and itching!
Some would heat up the area where they wore it, with a hairdryer, to get more drug out. Again, burns. And apparently it was popular to just cut them open and suck on them. So if one can suck the stuff out, I guess they can draw it out with a syringe.

I’m glad mine aren’t made that way. I just want to feel better, I don’t want something like all that!

By: b c crusenberry

b c crusenberry — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:46:16 +0000

Had a person in my area that od’d from this patch. Rumor says the medication was removed and taken intravenously by the deceased. Is it possible to do this? Everything I’ve read says it’s a jel form.

By: anonincali

anonincali — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:57:23 +0000

I Have used fentanyl patches ever since a little while after I was diagnosed with MS. I have used both the Name brand Duragesic and the Generic Sandos. They both use the same method of delivery. The patch contains a gel which is able to pass though the semi permeable layer which sticks to the skin. I have known since I started using them that if they are damaged or even sometimes moved they can rip and leak. I have removed them and moved them before and they did not rip. Maybe if it got stuck to itself during improper placement. Since then a generic brand called Mylan is making a patch with a different technology. It has no gel I believe the medication is impregnated into the glue on the patch. They are smaller too. I prefer the original design as the newer patches are less water resistant and I have lost a couple in a warm shower.

My main reason for this post is to tell people that this is not a very large problem as all I could attribute this to is like above the patches are not made correctly (in which any pharmacy would take back as long as they are sure there is not funny business I.E. trying to return a patch with no gel inside) or Misuse i.e., deliberately opening the patch to get to the gel or by wearing more than one patch at a time or by wearing them on the palm of your hands (the one place on your body it is not meant to be worn on)

To me these patches are wonderful I used to have to take a pill every four hours so I would have to wake up two times a night to take a pill. The patch is wonderful all i have to do is change it every three days.

All I have to say is I believe MOST of the Overdoses were due to uneducated users (which could be their fault for not making sure they are using them correctly, or the pharmacists for not telling them how to use it.) or misuse as from the start I was warned how to correctly use them and this was years before the recalls.

So in all this is my opinion that this is needed information but it has been overblown but this is common with prescription drugs as people expect them to be infallible due to regulations but they don’t stop to think about human error. There has been overdoses and deaths caused by not dosing by people who simply forget. So Prescriptions can never be infallible unless the human element is removed which is currently impossible. Maybe in the future we will have drugs that can be administered by a professional that lasts a month. Until then human error will always be an issue.
Thank You