Hi, Gabbycakes:

What is good with this forum is that we can all share our experiences and opinions, however different they might be. Everyone feels free to share what they have on their heart.

Like I said, it is true Duragesic can be a dangerous medication. Almost every medication can be dangerous if its indications are not respected, whether by the doctor or the patient. In my case, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which is considered not dangerous for most people, almost killed me and made my two-year-old baby an orphan. How? By giving me such a severe asthma attack that my asthma medications were unable to control. I passed out and became all blue, according to the paramedics my beloved baby was able to call. I taught him to call 911 with doggy and kitty stickers. In case of a medical emergency (like Mommy not responding to him), he just had to dial doggy kitty kitty for 911 (a doggy sticker was stuck on the number 9 of my phone while a kitty sticker was stuck on the number 1 of my phone). When the 911 dispatcher replied, he just had to say "Mommy, booboo, sleeping" and put the phone receiver down so the 911 dispatcher could trace the call. Without my treasured son, I might be dead at this time, just because I took an NSAID seen as safe. So what is a dangerous medication and what is a safe one? I think it all depends on the person and the medical conditions he/she has. A medication seen as safe for a person might be dangerous for another one.

One anesthesiologist forced me to wean off of Duragesic without my full and informed consent if I wanted to receive a sympathetic nerve block for the RSD in my left knee. After I was weaned off of Duragesic without any big withdrawal problems, this anesthesiologist refused to give me the block he had promised me. Result: I was in so much pain (well over a 10, I would say, even if it might seem exxagerated to some people) that I wanted to jump off of any high enough balcony. My son was hanging on hard to one of my legs, screaming "No, Mommy! No!" Because of this lying anesthesiologist, my baby could have been an orphan. Fortunately for me, my primary care physician was intelligent, knowledgeable, and caring enough to see I badly needed Duragesic to control my severe chronic RSD pain and, little by little, he increased my dosage to 125 mcg (one 100 mcg patch and one 25 mcg patch every 72 hours). Result: my doctor was victim of harassment from the insurance company's doctors. I went to see an attorney, who told me the insurance company had no right of doing this. I then went to the insurance company to see their doctors and threaten to sue them if they continued harassing my doctor. Guess why they harassed my doctor? Because Duragesic is a very expensive medication for the insurance company to reimburse, even if it is only a 70% reimbursement (I have to pay the rest, that is, the 30%). For now, the insurance company's doctors stopped harassing my doctor. It is funny for me to see the insurance company's chief doctor run away when he sees me arriving. Thanks to these stupid doctors, I have to live in fear of losing my wonderful and effective fentanyl patches.

Gabbycakes, I know you are caring. I never thought you were being rude or disrespectful. I thank you for sharing your opinion and I encourage others to do the same, whatever their opinion might be.

Priscilla