06 Nov 2015

In the last month I had to be switched to MS Contin due to my insurance no longer approving my prescription for Fentanyl 50mcg patches. I was using the Fentanyl patches every 72 hours and for a little over 1 year. My pain management doctor started me at 30mg generic MS Contin every 12 hours. Due to having a tolerance to strong narcotic painkillers (opioids), I did not experience any side effects when I started on the MS Contin. I did, however, have an increase in my pain levels and possibly some mild withdraw symptoms after stopping the Fentanyl 50mcg patch and starting the MS Contin 30mg as the replacement. I am also prescribed Morphine Sulfate IR 15mg for breakthrough pain, so that did help me out a little during this transition from Fentanyl to MS Contin. I think my doctor will just need to slowly increase the dosage until I reach the point close to the pain relief I was getting from the Fentanyl patches. With the patches, my pain management doctor had my overall pain reduced by about 50%. Now that the Fentanyl is completely out of my body and I have been taking the MS Contin 30mg every 12 hours for almost a month I would have to say that my overall pain relief is more like between 20-30%. I am taking the maximum allowed amount of my breakthrough medication everyday right now, which is Morphine Sulfate 15mg IR 2x daily as needed. I didn't have to take that much breakthrough medication when I was still using the Fentanyl patches. I feel like MS Contin will be great for me once my doctor figures out my optimal dosage. Other than my dosage being too low right now, the only other con about MS Contin I can think of is that I have to keep track of when I've last taken it and when it is due to be taken again since it is a pill. With the Fentanyl patches, all I had to worry about was to remove the old one after 3 days and put a new one on. They way I am making sure I take the MS Contin at the correct times is that I set a certain hour for am and pm and always take it on that hour. For me, I take it at 8am and 8pm. This works out easily if it is being taken every 12 hours, but I believe it can be taken 3x per day as well. That would be a little trickier, but if I were to start taking it 3x a day I would probably pick 7am, 3pm and 11pm.

—Posted by Anonymous