Posted by Damien on March 26, 2004, at 1:32:39
In reply to Re: Dopamine Agonists : Abilify? » Stan, posted by jerrympls on March 25, 2004, at 18:20:34
First, if you're using Duragesic for something other than severe pain, that's a big mistake. The synthetic opiate fentanyl is thousands of times more potent that morphine, and for a long time was not found outside of hospitals. Just about any anesthiseologist that winds up addicted to a drug,winds up addicted to fentanyl because of its availability and potency. You've probably noticed that the Duragesic potency is measured in MICROgrams rather than milligrams. (A microgram is one/thousandth of a milligram, for readers unfamiliar with that aspect of the metric system.) Anyway, it's no wonder you're experiencing withdrawals. You need medically-supervised dose tapering, perhaps involving another opiate to substitute for the fentanyl. I'm surprised, really that it was administered for something other than pain. After all, there really isn't anything stronger (legally, in the US).<br><p>
As to Abilify, it IS a dopamine agonist/antagonist and DOES have the unique property of agonizing and antagonizing in the areas of the brain where a deficit or surplus of dopamine occurs. Despite the derision that was heaped on the original poster, check out www.abilify.com if you want to see it all diagrammed out for you.Take care. Good luck with the fentanyl withdrawal process.
> > > My pdoc suggested I try Abilify because - although it's an antipsychotic - it's a dopamine agonist & antagonist. she explained that it "finds" the places in your brain that need more dopamine and reduces it in parts that have too much dopamine.
> > >
> > > Anyone????
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > you might give that a try in place of the seroquel you're taking (probably wouldn't make sense to use both). sounds like a decent idea -- abilify is some sort of mixed agonist/antagonist that theoretically behaves roughly in the way your doc described. haven't tried it myself....
> >
> > what happened with the fentanyl (sp?) patch you were wearing? have you dropped that? just curious......
> >
> > stan
>
> Hey Stan-
>
> reagarding the Fentenyl (Druagesic Patch) = NOTHING. It made me a bit loopy at first thenhelped a *little* with anxiety. But that's it. I've tried to go off of it by myself twice and within 6 hours I start to go through some sort of horrific withdrawl - nothing I've ever experienced - terrible anxiety - sweating - nausea - bowel cramps - can't sit still - etc - so I've had to put the patch back on and within a couple hours I'm back to "normal." So now I'm pissed because I have to deal with withdrawl from a med that has had no effect on my mood - andm y sicktime at work is almost all used up. I've never abused any drug or done any street drugs - so I've never experienced withdrawl (expect for SSRI withdrawl which is horrible in it's own way). I see my pdoc tomorrow and am gonna have to convince her to give me something to help me ease through the withdrawl. UGH!!!!!
>
>
poster:Damien
thread:327293
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040325/msgs/328597.html