I just started the
Duragesic patches about a month and a half ago instead of
Percocet, and did not have a problem with using them other than inadequate pain relief. My doctor increased them from 25 to 50 after a couple weeks and, even though I am uneasy at using this strong a pain killer continuously for fear of developing a tolerance I am going to discuss another increase, from 50 to 75, at our next appointment in a few weeks. However, when I filled my last prescription last week, I got the generic (Sandoz) instead of the brand and they will
not remain stuck. Whenever I sweat they come off, with no warning, and within a matter of hours of applying them. In a little over a week I have applied 7 patches, but have not had any one of them on for even half a day. I am following the instructions in the insert, which states to apply a new patch to replace one that comes off too soon. I have left 2 messages for my doctor since last week, but have gotten no response. She is only in 2 days a week, but I should have heard something by now. I believe she is either not getting the messages or I am not getting her response because she is good about answering all my concerns and this has happened before, several times, when the message or response was not recieved, but had been noted in my chart. I tried putting one of the patches that fell off back on with surgical tape, but apparently it had gotten damaged, even though I couldn't see any obvious holes, tears or folds because I suddenly became very sedated, disoriented and started going off into these "dreamscapes" shortly after re-applying it. I immediately removed it and I am afraid to try re-applying another patch that has come off again. The worst part is that I have a cat, one that frequently eats inedible things, and plastic is his favorite. I have 2 of the 7 patches still unaccounted for, and I have strained myself severely trying to find them out of fear of them killing my cat. I am now in much pain, and I am looking at over 2 weeks with no relief since this was a month's supply. I am going to contact my doctor's office again this morning and leave another message, but I am afraid to ask for anything else for fear of being thought of as "drug-seeking". I did not have this problem with the Duragesic brand or, for that matter with any adhesive patches, including those with my TENS unit. The brand name seemed to stay on until they were empty and even then I would feel them starting to unstick. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem and if anyone has a suggestion on how to keep them on or what I should do.