Thanks, everyone.

Mrs D.: I do remember my dr. talking about the difficulty of developing a patch and having it properly dispense the appropriate amt. of medication that has been put into it, and that it is not as easy as manufacturing a pill form. Didn't know, however about the patches possibly being worse than taking an actual pill. I was just focused on the the patches giving less side effects (at least from my perspective they do). NSAID's typically give me bad heartburn and cause a lot of fluid retention, which I don't find with the flector patch.

I will definitely look into the OTC patches you mentioned. Hopefully this new pain dr. will have some ideas. Thanks for the useful info.!!

And, yes, I remember the fentanyl recall. Was the first time I used this patch and it just had to be the time it was recalled. I was driving down the road with one on me, and had to keep slapping myself in the face 'cuz I felt I was so groggy and had to get home and get to bed That swore me off fentanyl patches... even if they are made correctly now!!