So, between a friend and my boyfriend, I’ve had a pretty good ‘duh’ moment.
I mentioned before that because of the way my insurance is handling things, I’ve had to go on a pain medication patch twice as strong as what I was on before. Now, these patches look a little bit like the clear plastic nicotine patches for someone trying to quit smoking.
So my friend today asked, why don’t I cut a quarter of it off, so that I’m only going up in dose by half as much?
Wow, thought I. This is an incredibly simple fix.
When I mentioned this to my boyfriend, he asked why I couldn’t just cut the patch in half and apply half of one every 2 days – effectively doing the same as what my doctors and I had originally wanted to do.
Oh. Well. DUH. Why on earth not?! We’ll have to test it out and see how it works, but as long as the glue doesn’t develop a problem if it’s opened but not applied until 2 days later, this is a perfect solution. I get the level of the drug I actually need, so that the pain is minimized but I’m not dopey, and I get to change the patch often enough that it doesn’t wear off before my next patch change.
So, the insurance may not be helpful, but a little bit of ingenuity and I’ll be getting what we wanted all along. Yay for ingenuity!
Heh. You know, I thought of that when I read your post about it, because I’ve cut nicotine patches just that way, but I didn’t mention it because I thought there might be some reason you couldn’t do that with pain patches. But really, why not? It’s worth a try, anyway, and if it works you won’t have to be wearing a patch that deals with your pain, but makes you loopy.
I hope it DOES work, Kali, and that your pain levels come down just as you hope they will. Have a great Friday!
Hi, in the UK the patches to which you refer are called fentanyl/bubrenorphine possibly? As they are slow release I would really not recommend that you cut the patches in half. This could seriously not only compromise the efficacy but also possibly result in you receiving inappropriate dosage. Before attempting this I would seriously consider discussing with the prescriber or your local friendly pharmacist! It is also important with these patches that one avoids heat, so baths/showers etc must be kept cooler as heat can interfere with the absorption.Cutting a patch in half is not the same as cutting a tablet in half and even slow release/M/R tablets should never be cut in half. Please I urge you for your own safety to serioulsy consider this action.
With very best wishes from a fellow EDSer in the UK.
Yes, the patches are fentanyl.
(Note: I am not a doctor or pharmacist. I am not recommending a course of action here, only explaining my own understanding and reasoning here. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before you attempt anything like what I’m describing; DO NOT rely on this as a source of information!)
There are 2 types of fentanyl patches.
The first type is a gel-based patch. It has a pocket of fentanyl gel and then a layer of resistant material that allows the fentanyl to very slowly pass through it. This type of patch is HIGHLY dangerous to cut, as doing so would break the resistant material and allow the fentanyl to all come out.
The second type is a matrix-based patch. The fentanyl is dissolved in the silicone adhesive that holds the patch on to your body. This type of patch is possible to cut, because the distribution of the fentanyl isn’t affected by cutting it, other than reducing its surface area and thus reducing how much fentanyl-enriched glue touches your skin. Cutting this type of patch in pieces compromises the efficacy in a very predictable manner – if you cut it in half and only apply one of those halves, you have half the available drug and thus half the effect. I actually found a NHS bulletin from the York area describing doing such a thing in order to get the desired dosage.
I’ve now had the half-a-patch on for 15 hours, and am feeling great.
Thank you for your concern, though, Achelois. I do appreciate the thought, and the fact that you did some research on the patches.