FDA Okays Another Fentanyl Product

[Justin]

WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- The FDA has approved another fentanyl transmucosal tablet, Abstral, as a Schedule II opioid to treat breakthrough cancer pain but is requiring prescribers to enroll in a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program to prevent misuse of the drug...

FDA Okays Another Fentanyl Product (click here for the full article at MedPage Today)

[Jack-of-all-trades]

If this is like the Fentanyl lollipop Actiq, I doubt it will be used much for chronic pain. The pain Psychologist I still see about once ever 6 weeks said their clinic had a pain patient move to town and was on Actiq. He was on a big dose of Fentanyl. You could probably cut his arm off and he wouldn't feel it or even care that you did. Psych PhD said they had a heck of a time getting him off the things. Good for cancer pain when you are a short timer, not so good if you are going to be around for a while.

I was given two coupons a drug rep left and pick up two before a procedure. They are pretty simple but dumb old me spent the time riding over for my procedure sucking on the wrong end. It is fast acting, a bit slower than IV but gets the job done. I slobbered all over the right end once I had it figured out to get the meds on board on schedule. I was instructed to consume one on the way and the other about 20-30 before the procedure. Worked great.

[KBear]

I used the Fentanyl patch at two different points in treatment. The first time it was a year into my treatment and it was pretty effective. The second time at 2.5 years in, it didn't seem to make a difference. I much preferred the Kadian over the Fentanyl, as it seemed to help more. Plus I was terrified I would end up with a defective patch and die of an overdose, and the patches never stayed stuck very well.