BuTrans Patches - side effects - thinking of stopping taking them

I'm suffering the not appetite too.When my doc gave them to me he didn't explain they were a controlled drug.I'm worried too about restless leg when you stop.When I tried to stop before this is one thing I suffered with.

I will tell my story with Butrans in the hopes that it helps someone out there that is using or thinking about quitting Butrans. All these stories helped me when I was trying to get off. I am a 40 year old male with lower back issues which is why I was using them. After quitting them, I still think they were the best meds that my doctor could have prescribed although like some of the others, they turned on me about a year into using them.

Here goes: I started on the 5mcg patches and quickly moved up to 10mcg, then 15 mcg and finally 20mcg. They worked great, I wasn't high or loopy at all and my pain was gone. About 1 year into this treatment, I was at work one day and I experienced very bad anxiety quickly followed by depression, neither of which I had ever experienced. I went right into the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. In the weeks following that first anxiety attack, I would experience these every week at least once and most weeks almost every day - even multiple times a day. I discussed all of these with my doctor - and agreed to come off of them at my own pace. I wasn't interested in being on pain meds at all after this, I just wanted off them. I did a ton of research and even called the number on the Butrans website for help. I stepped down from 20mcg to 15mcg with minor symptoms - some increased anxiety and depression. After I felt stable (usually 2 -3 weeks) I would make the decision to step down again and the same symptoms would re-occur. So I went from 15mcg to 10mcg and waited a month, stepped down from 10mcg to 5mcg and waited another month. This is the point where I panicked. I realized 5mcg to nothing was way to big of a step for me, I could not miss work. I had to find a way to get off this stuff without missing one day of work. 

This is my biggest difference from every other story I had read. Butrans is an active matrix adhesive patch, meaning, they can be cut! I learned this from the Butrans website, googled and confirmed - and I finally realized after calling them that these patches put medicine into your body based on the surface area of the patch.  So I cut a 5mcg patch in half and it lasted a week, put on the other half for the following week - it worked. I slowly cut my patches into smaller and smaller pieces until I realized one day I didn't need them anymore. 

The first week was still blah. No energy with anxiety and depression. At the 7 day mark though, I had my first clear thoughts - the fog lifted. I was so ecstatic. I realized that I was going to be ok, I didn't have cancer and my life actually had a bright future. It's crazy the dark and deep depressive thoughts that I had that were so real at the time were now so wrong. I am now almost 3 weeks off the patch and while every once in awhile I get some slight, slight anxiety - all the symptoms are gone for the most part. My appetite is back, stomach issues are resolved, energy and interests in hobbies are back and my original back pain that hurt really bad for the first week and half is now bearable. I do find myself sneezing more often now but even that isn't bad. 

I am really proud to say that I didn't miss one day of work throughout this entire process, it took 6 months to wean down and get off for me. This might not be the right way to get off these patches but it worked for me.

I did have my doctor get me gabapentin and some xanax in case the anxiety and withdrawals were just too much but I didn't need them at all. I also had a few hydrocodone that I took at night to sleep for the first 3 days but I actually slept really good throughout the entire time. 

Thanks to all you that have written your experiences, it was a big help to me even though I stayed silent until after I got off these. God bless.

Hiya,  been on bu trans for 3 years for severe lower back pain.  I can't move, walk or lie down without them but they. Also make me feel, jittery, sick, nausea, headaches infact you name it I feel it.  How do you all voce with pain when coming off?  Everything else has never worked on me.  Started on 5mcg went up to 20 now back to 10mcg with a lot of naproxen aswell...

I'm so happy that someone took the time to write down ever single detail of the use of butrans . I have been experiencing exactly the same thing .I have been trying to do life pretending I'm fine but it's impossible. I started thinking it's all in my head . Until I read your post. THANK YOU.

I just thought I would do a quick follow up on my post above. It's now been almost 11 months since I got off the butrans and things are going pretty good now. It was a really long withdrawal, when I posted 3 weeks after quitting I thought it was over. It wasn't. The anxiety and depression came back but with lower and lower intensity, also the time between them got further and further apart until I realized today that it's been a long time since I've had either depression or anxiety. It came in waves for about 7 months for me but at a lower intensity.... bearable. My appetite came and went along with some flu like symptoms... sinuses were plugged a lot. But... I'm feeling almost 100% now!! Almost there...

I'm on day 4 of 5mg Butrans patch for extreme fybromialga pain. I feel so sedated. Have never been on any pain meds before. Will this go away in time? If not not sure this will work for me as Chronic fatigue already a part of fybromialga symptoms.

i have taken diazepam for 20 years (5 mg a day)

so have you any comment of what the next month should or may bring

will one item get better and what worse.?

look forward to comments

oh my doctor knows how to give the patches but has little knowledge about withdrawal timing   Oh I,m 78

Recently my doctor prescribed BuTrans 5 for chronic back pain as i had been taking Zapain 30 mg tablets.

I had the patch on for 29 hours but had to remove it. Because it made me feel so ill! Like a sick zombie with chest pains!

Such a bad experience...

MY GP put me on Butrans 5 for chronic back pain.

I Had to take the patch off after just 29 hours as it made me feel so ill...a nauseated zombie with chest pains!

Surely there must be something better?

Do what is best and speak to your doctor about alternatives.