anyone use Butrans pain patch?

You seem to have the right attitude, alot of people go into an ortho and think that getting cut open is going to end their pain, and thats never true. Buprenorphine, the active ingredient in the butrans, is a very powerful and addictive narcotic, but its titrated in doses low enough to be very good for long term, moderate pain. It's actually 90Xs sronger than morphine, but you're getting it at a lower dose than say ms-contin.

In order to maximize the efficiency, you really need to avoid heat, if you get the patch hot, you may suddenly be overcome with drowsiness, thats a heat induced sudden overdose. Keep a family member or friend aware of what you are on and try to avoid prolonged time in the sun, or in a hot shower, etc.

I have heard a lot of people who use Tagaderm to cover the patch and protect it from water, I personally found my patches to stay on better with out it, seemed like the Tagaderm promoted sweating under the patch.

One of the side effects I had, is around day 5 or 6, I started getting major cramping in my muscles, seems like a lot of people get that one, dont freek out if it happens, its not an allergic reaction, its the medicine levels diminishing in your system, but it was uncomfortable enough for me to reconcider using that particular patch.

Make sure you switch spots each week, when you pull the patch off, it pulls the top layer of skin with it and leaves it raw, so that patch of skin needs to heal before using it again.

I think you'll also find that the first day and a half on each patch they aren't working very well, so make sure you have breakthrough meds while each patch kicks in.

I hope you find adequate enough relief from them, they didn't work well for me, the pain in my back is far greater than those are capable of relieving. Another route you could discuss is sympathetic nerve blocks, they might give you some long term relief. Also, talk to your PM about flector, its a safe way to get NSAIDs into your system without putting your pouch in danger, helps me a lot, but there terribly expensive.

There are a lot of modalities of pain relief, and the meds are just one part of a good comprehensive program, but there is a point where surgery becomes the only option, just dont wait too long on that, because you could cause damage beyond what surgery can repair. I hope you feel better, and take care.

 Thanks for all the info !! about the cramping...did it go away? did u use muscle relaxants? thank u for letting me know it is not an allergic reaction , I have high anxiety regarding meds , I had to tak a valium after I put the patch on because I felt like I couldn't breath ( even though I could )
It sounds like your pain is much worse than mine. My daughter is out on workers comp with her back, actually lost her job and her pain is awful and all her PM will give her is 3 norco a day , he is crazy , he hates women, if she asks for more he wants her to go to rehab !! I have tried to get her to change but she is afraid to for some reason , she even had a case worker get into a screaming match with this doc in his office over the bad care she is getting. She is at the doc today and is going to ask about the patch, they never even offered her a TENS unit in TWO YEARS until I got mine !!!!
Thanks again for all the help!!!