Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hi All
I have been given a spray called "Subsys" (which is sublingual fentanyl) to be sprayed under the tongue. Its designed for patients who are already on opiod meds but need more help with pain. You spray it .. and see if you get any relief. If no change after 30 minutes you may spray it again. Then you are told to wait 4 hours until the next dose.
Each spray tube contains one dose... it all comes out when you push the button. After spraying it you discard the sprayer ( it's used only once)
My question.Has anyone heard of it? I Think its kinda new.
How long does it takes the side effects of the drug to leave your system? I asked the druggist at the pain center that supplied me with the drug and their answer didn't make any sense. I ran it by a nurse who knows my case and she agreed that the druggist's answer was confusing and senseless (he was probably guessing and gave a sill non-committal -- "could be this. could be that etc"
I didn't get much relief from usign but it may help for a few minutes if only to settle me down when the pain becomes overpowering.
However I did note increased constipation ( a few days later) and maybe some urinary hesitancy...Since Im on other meds and my condition seems very variable its hard to pinpont if the Subsys caused the side effects.
Anyone heard of this med or know of side effects and how long the drug takes to exit the system?
Thx for any info
Kathy

Kathy this link might give you some good info. http://www.rxlist.com/subsys-drug/clini ... cology.htm. If you scroll down you will find the mean plasma concentrations.

Violet

Hi Violet,
Thans for the info!
I submitted a reply a couple days ago but it didn't post.
Please excuse my ignorance but I assume
the 'mean plasm concentration' means the average time it takes for the full dose to reach your bloodstream?
Its a med that you can spray sublingually at least 4 times daily which would make me assume it exits the body fairly quickly on average. I think it contains about 100mg of Fentanyl.

I have been having more constipation and urinary issues lately, but it happens even when I haven't used the Subsys, so its hard to know what doing what.
I 've only used the Subsys a few times with very mild and very short-lived relief, so trying to figure if its causing the symptoms, and thus whether its worth using it.
My pain is very high at the moment.
Thanks for responding!
Kathy

Right...it looks like it peaks quickly and drops quickly so is basically used for quick short- term relief of breakthrough pain.

Any progress with the pain pump?

Violet