Comparing Fentanyl

For Pain: Had 6 surgeries for cellulitis advancing to sepsis. 60 days in hospital. They discharged me with 2 weeks of oxycodone, pretty high dose around 120 mg/day. My MD preferred Fentanyl patches with low dose hydrocodone for breakthrough pain. I definitely prefer the Fentanyl, no wild mood swings or sedation like the oxycodone. Just blessed pain relief. Only have to put the patch on every three days. It seems to weaken on the third day, so I use the hydrocodone, but it beats being tied to the very tight dosing of oxycodone, with all its weird baggage.

For Pain: I went through the myriad of short acting oral analgesics, and just couldn't stand the constant ups and downs, and always felt like I was only comfortable for half of the life of the pill. I asked my doctor to take me off OxyContin (40 mg.), he offered Duragesic as an alternative. I use 100 mcg every 3 days with no problem. Side effects are constipation, and short term memory loss. I'll happily trade that for effective pain relief. A huge plus is not developing a tolerance for it, so I don't have to have it constantly increased over the years. I don't use "breakthrough" meds, but I use Lyrica (about 6 years now) to help with pain from nerve damage. The combination works great for me.