Well, it takes about three hours for a new pain patch to really kick-in. And it takes about six hours until I start feeling the side-effects from it. It is the best plan to put on a patch knowing that six hours later I will sleep off the side effects, but until now that hasn't really happened successfully.
I wear two patches, one of 12.5 units, and one of 25 units, 37.5 units together.
*BUT*, they aren't always together.
Each patch is effective for two days. The days for each patch are opposite, though. It seems that there is one day that I don't have a patch to change, but maybe I am not being so exact in the hour of the day I changed the patch two days beforehand.
Now I have started keeping a record of when I changed which patch.
Then there is the issue of wondering if I should change a patch if I am feeling good. Like "maybe I should see if tomorrow I'll also feel good; I could put less narcotic into my system if this one lasted three days instead of two". But then I remember the last time I tried to go with that theory and I woke up in pain. It took the better part of a day, then dealing with an overdose because I took also the "breakthrough pain" lolipop, to get out of pain again.
Keeping ahead of the pain isn't as easy as you would think, is it.
Anyone have a schedule worked out for me based on this information? (Yosh- this one's for you...)
Sarah-
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by "kick in"? Start giving relief?
Are you changing the patches on alternate days?
How long do the undesirable side effects last (that you start feeling 6 hours after application)?
Are you under the impression you should be able to administer a "steady" dose that will keep you feeling optimally low-pain?
Do the patches "ramp up"? At the end do they "taper off"? If yes to one or both do you know the rates? Is "ramp up" what you meant by "kick in"?
hag sameach - d'ash to robert, et al,
yosh