My husband is awaiting a mandibulectomy in a week and a half. His pain has gotten steadily worse and the Dr. presribed a fentinoly patch and it wasn't working so the on call Dr. said he could use the lortab as needed for break through pain. Any advice is much appreciated to keep the pain at bay until surgery day

I don't know what his dose is but I would mention to the doctor. If the fentanyl isn't working, I doubt the lortab will work. This is just my opinion and the doctor needs to address it.

The fentanyl patch will take about 24 hours to work. Follow the directions EXACTLY! No long hot showers or baths. never EVER bend, cut, tear, or rip the patch. These things can cause the patch to release all the meds in a short period of time causing major issues.

Fentanyl is the strongest pain med there is. If it isnt working the dose can be increased, call the doc. If your husband is in severe pain I would guess he should be on about 75mg. I would also guess that he started on 25mg or maybe 50mg. This medicine needs the step up and step down approach.

Ive used the fentanyl patch and have gone from 25 which did nothing for me to 50 which helped for a while. It steadily increased as my pain did and for about 10 days I topped out at 150mg of fentanyl. This quickly went down to 50mg during about the next 6 weeks.

Lortab is a good breakthru medicine and its very commonly used. Plus it comes in liquid form which is easy to take. There are other pain meds available if this one doesnt help. First get the fentanyl at thew right dosage then the lortab should work great.

Keep at it! Its not beneficial at all for a patient to hurt. The pain your husband has, Ive been thru and it can be unbearable when it gets flared up. You are being a wonderful advocate for your husband! Keep up the good work

he's on 50 mg of fentanyl and now he has the lortab for break through pain. He was having the most pain on Sat. which is when he first used the patch, so I think it took that amount of time to release and get into his blood stream. He's much better now being able to use both. Thanks for the advice.

Thats great! Glad to hear the patch is working and your husbands pain is being controlled. It does take a while to begin to work. Just make certain you put it in a new place every time its changed. Also change it right on time every 72 hours (if thats the one he was given). I used to mark my calendar to remember the time and date I should put on a new patch.

I used to put the date on the patch itself, and showered when it was the date to be changed. It's easy to lose tract of the time. Good luck.