Hi eskie,

I was on varying strengths of the Fentanyl patch following major back surgery about 5 or 6 years ago. It was really good for controlling the pain but it did have it's side effects. The major one for me was sleep loss. I would wake up a doxen times a night on the first of the three nights, only for about 10 minutes at a time, but enough to be a disturbance. The second night was usually about 6 times, and the third night maybe three. I would change patches, and the cycle would start all over again. I also had appetite loss, but what was helpful there was to force myself to eat carbs, even if it was small amounts. Carbs will help to keep your weight up. The appetite loss usually runs in cycles, and you'll have periods where you feel like eating normally. The other thing I can remember is I would periodically get a rash, usually on day one of the patch that caused this incredibly irritating itching.

The last thing, and I hope I'm not out of line here. Fentanyl is a very addictive drug, especially at the higher doses. I was on the patches for almost two years, and it required a five day stay in a treatment facility to detox me. It was a very rough time of my life. I hope that you are one of the lucky ones who does not easily become addicted to medications, but in the event you are, you may want to talk with your doctor now about establishing a gameplan for when it comes time to titrate off this med. There are ways to minimize the discomfort of this, unfortunately myself and my doctor didn't have that foresight. The thought of you going thru what I did gives me chills.

I wish you the best of luck with this, and hope you are feeling better very soon. I've only had a few migranes in my life, but know how nasty they can be.

I hope I've helped a little here.

Greg