fentanyl question?

Question

here it is my uncle is on pain mangement and e is prescribed fentanyl but the thing is he is addicted to oxycontin how bad is it for him is deadly... let me know... he is like a father to me... i try to help im hopin some bad answers will scare him ??

Answer 1

Addiction to any opiate is a serious problem. The high levels of opiates may actually contribute to his pain, in that he may develop opiate-induced hyperalgesia - things that should hurt only a little will hurt him a lot.

He should be seen by a pain management specialist with an eye toward finding non-opiate methods of pain relief, and weaning him off of the opiates.

If he is taking the Oxycontin without his doctor's knowledge, the effects of the fentanyl and the oxycontin will be additive, and he can stop breathing and die. ( I'll bet he also has some serious issues with constipation!)

However, if he doesn't want to quit, there is nothing you or I can do to stop him.

Perhaps an intervention with an addiction specialist will be of more benefit. He may need inpatient rehab/pain treatment to get himself sorted out (but it will happen only if he wants that)

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

Fentanyl is an extraordinarily powerful narcotic with the same problems as the others, but its strength has to be taken into consideration. Treating pain in addicts is, of course, always a dicey situation. If he's on the transdermal patches, at least it will be more difficult for him to misuse them, but we're talking here about the delivery system, not the drug.

Answer 3

Many things remain unknown about fentanyl. Its lethal dose,50% (LD,50) in humans is still unknown but there are increasing number of reports of respiratory depression events and respiratory deaths since the 1980s.In 2006 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started investigating several respiratory deaths. Isn't that scary?