Duragesic Pain Patch user stories

From message boards to news stories, users of Duragesic pain patches have found their stories making headlines. The following are excerpts from real-life accounts of Duragesic users like you.

From a Message Board:
I need to know if anyone has been on the duragesic patch, and noticed any severe weight loss and significant muscle waisting. My husband has been on it for about 8 months, starting@50,then75,then100mg. He used to have great pain relief, now not so good. Lost 50 pounds,has no appetite, and withdrawel happens after 24 hours. He wants off this med but has tried EVERYTHING, and this one gives him the best relief. He is 55 years old and uses it for extreme back pain. Her. disc. But according to insurance , not bad enough for surgery. Any one with any similar problems, would love to hear from you!! scarlett2

From Michigan State University's Website:
When he came home he had oral medication and he had a type of medication that was taped to the skin called duragesic patches. The name of that drug is Fentanyl. In order to get him comfortable it took the whole week to reach the dosage he needed. That was about 175 micrograms. Every day we went up 25, 25, 25. By the time we got to 175 micrograms my husband was comfortable, but completely out of it. He was like a zombie. We couldn't get him out of bed. All he could do was sleep.