What happens if you cut a fentanyl patch to have a smaller dose?!

What happens if you cut a fentanyl patch to have a smaller dose?

And, if it can be cut what is the recomended size for a 75mcg/hr patch? I have been on pecocet 10/650 for a year. I also take Cymbalta 20 mg a day. Thanks

1 month ago
It is a Mylan Fentanyl Transdermal System 75 mcg/hr

First off, don't let jerk offs make you feel bad. You have a medical condition and you take medication for it. This is NO DIFFERENT than a diabetic or a heart patient or a person with ADD. Un-informaed people do not realize that ipates are the oldest and safest form of pain management; the only real side-effect is dependance (VERY different from addiction,w hich is a behavior issue, characterized by doctor shoppping, continuing to take the meds when you don't need them or for issues other than pain, spending siginificant amounts of time obtaining, using, and lying about your use, or continuing to use when it has caused negative consequences for your life and/or your family), and the only problem with dependance is that you cannot stop using the medication abruptly, you have to be tapered down. Whereas NSAIDS like Ibuprofen or Naproxen will damage your stomach severly and cause ulcers and damage your kidneys if used for long periods of time, and Acetamenaphin will destroy your liver, pure opiates do none of those things, the only negative consequence is dependance. In fact, the Fentanyl patch is one of the safest forms of narcotics because it is difficult to abuse-- you can't take more like you can with a pill, all you can do is put on more than one patch, which will put you in a coma before it gives you a buzz; many recovering addicts in pain management are given the patch. People who judge pain management patients just because the medication that we have to take is a narcotic are clearly uninformed, and ignorant about pain. They don't know what it is to need medication just to be able to do the simplest of tasks. Ignore them.

Now, as to your question. You shouldn't cut the patch, puncture it, or wear it if you have a fever or take a bath where the hot water covers it because of the way it works. Tehre is a gel inside the patch with the medication in it. The patch works using your body heat to give you the susatined dose of 75 ug per hour for 3 days. If you cut it or puncture it, the gel gets out and you get a HUGE dose all at once. If you take a hot bath where the water covers the patch or use it when you hvae a fever, the excess heat can cause the patch to release the medication more quickly. The first instance might kill you, the second would probably give you a whopper of a buzz and make you puke (I doubt you'd die because of your tolerance for opiates). It doesn't matter what brand, they work essentially the same way. The difference is that some have a little pocket in the middle where the gel is (you can see the gel in these), some have a layer of it in the middle of the patch that you can't see. No doctor would ever tell you to cut a patch; they would give you a lower dosage. I was on the Fentanyl patch for a short while; I got SUPER sick just from wearing a sweater and a heavy coat to go out because of the excess body heat it generated. The best place for the patch is your shoulder, because there it is least likely to get overheated.

SInce you just started the patch, give it at least a week. If you're still having side-effects that are bothersome, talk to your doctor then. He chose the dose based on your body weight, Percocet dosage, and pain level. It will take a while for your body to adjust to the new medication. If it's make you sick or zombie-like after a week, you can ask for the 50 or 25 ug patches, but give it time to adjust first so you don't wind up with too little pain relief.