Transdermal Buprenorphine, has anyone ever heard of or have experience with this stuff? The reason I ask is my doc put me on it. I’d never heard of it, some research shows it appears to be some kind of morphine knock off. I slapped on the first patch Saturday morning, it seemed to work OK and they’re each supposedly good for seven days, although I noticed a little perspiration from time to time. But when I went to sleep last night I woke up half an hour later in a fucking pool of sweat. As if someone had poured a gallon of water on me. Left the soaked sheets and went for the couch, woke up less than an hour later laying in a pool of thick, greasy sweat, this time shivering. I figure the only thing it could be was the pain patch; I did eat Thai food earlier but it wasn’t that spicy.
Took the patch off, laid there with no covies, made sure I had good air flow from an over head fan, and over the course of a very sweaty night the effect gradually receded until, by morning, all seemed normal. Does anyone know if this is a possible side effect? Because if it is, not only can I not use these things anywhere close to bedtime, I’m afraid to even try them during the day.
Although it’s a perfectly plausible side effect (I’ve used a drug from the same family and did sweat some during the night) I would give it another night and avoid the Thai food.Too many variables to judge it on one night. Good luck.
Here’s wiki for full technical scoop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buprenorphine
And the best site I know for all my prescription info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buprenorphine
oops this is the prescription site…
http://www.rxlist.com/buprenex-drug.htm
Thanks, I skimmed that page and it does list perspiration as a side effect. I don’t know if that means buckets of nasty sweat in the middle of the night or not though. Didn’t see anything about that.
Scott may be right, the Thai food may be the exacerbating variable. For what it may be worth I would ask the doctor about Oxycontin low-dose (10 mg) 12 hour time-release — I use it for cancer pain with minor effects (constipation and drowsiness). He may have been unduly swayed to what he gave you by a pharma salesman, or just though to try out a new product on you. Happened often to my when my providers were ad hoc, when I was just the occasional in and out patient.
PS Percocet (like these other meds, a derivative of morphine) made me sweat like a pig even during the day. Other derived opiates never did. So an issue with individual body chemistry is also an apparent factor.
One last like I find handy and I’ll leave you to your Sunday…
http://www.pharmer.org/forum/discussion-prescription-and-otc-meds/opioid-comparison
Compares relative strength of many of these meds.
Opiates can make you sweat rivers. So, yeah — Ask the doc to switch to something different.
The patch you mentioned is not one I’ve heard of (I’m an old Hospice nurse but I’ve been out of that side of the business for about 10 years) but the Fentanyl patches we used, at the initiation of therapy, take 12 to 18 hours to reach peak levels–subsequent patches maintain these levels. In your situation, it sounds like that time of onset would have been during the night. Sweating is certainly a side effect of opiod drugs but should diminish with time; constipation will not so you’ll need to take cathartics to stay on schedule (Senokot-S is a good one). If chronic, non-cancer pain is your issue, this patch may be a great choice of therapy. For cancer patients, this drug is NOT a good choice for therapy because it has an opiod agonist and antagonist; a cancer patient switching to this drug could put them into a horrible pain and withdrawal crisis.
BTW, the opiod in Oxycontin and in Percocet are the same: Oxycodone. Of course, toleration between the two may vary due to the quickness of onset, Percocet being a little faster.
Also, heat to the patch site will increase absorption of the drug. If you wear it on your back and sleep primarily on your back, you might absorb the drug quicker. Also, if you’re sick and running a high fever, it might absorb more quickly. Occasionally, some patients would absorb their patches too quickly and require more frequent replacements; this required a physicians order though.
Good luck.
It is a semi-synthetic opiate. It is a partial agonist of the mu-receptor. That makes it useful for chronic pain, but also means it is not a potent as a full agonist like fentanyl. (It is also used in sublingual tabs for the treatment of opiate addiction.) I have no first-hand experience with this med, but there are a number of transdermal pain medications. I have no idea why your doctor chose this over a fentanyl patch or MS-Contin or OxyContin. Opiate prescribing practices vary quite a bit across specialties and states, often with no rhyme or reason. But it should work very well for chronic moderate-to-severe non-malignant pain. Sweating is a common side effect to all opiates; it’s not a cause for worry. It tends to diminish rapidly over the first few days/weeks. The only side effect that never diminishes is constipation. I suggest you get some senna with a stool softener (ie. Senokot-S) and be proactive with keeping your bowels regular.