I've been dealing with various levels of pain ever since my 3 level ADR extraction. Some months my pain levels at work by afternoon would reach about a 7 on a scale of 1-10 making hard to concentrate and function. Other months the pain level was generally around a 2 to 5. I've pretty much been depending on hydrocordone and oxycodone, especially in the late afternoons and evenings. Well, I was just prescribed the butrans patch (10 mcg) and within 24 hours I started experiencing significant pain relief. By day 3 on through day 6, I experienced 100% pain relief!!! This is especially surprising because my type of pain was both mechanical and neurothapy type pain and it knocked out both! Before butrans patch I was taking about 3-4 15mg hydrocordones a day but while on butrans, I took ZERO!!
Another interesting and positive thing about this drug is that it doesn't give you a high like other opioids do, , and its non addictive, and you can't possibly overdose from a respiratory depression which kills so many addicts of other opioids. Another ironic thing is that its main use seems to be in treating opioid addiction, it's used to help people come off of whatever they're addicted to and get clean, so I find it odd that it works so well for pain relief.
It's more convenient to take since it's a patch that only needs changing once every 7 days, so no need to worry about taking pills and missing doses etc. I've had no side effects except having a little less motivation to do things and feeling a little sedated at times. But I've never experienced 100% absolute pain relief before as I consistently do on this stuff. And it really helps me sleep too. At times it puts me into a prolonged state of a sense of well being, mainly during sleep time or afternoon naps, and it's not really a "high", it's just a strong sense of relaxation and sense of well being.
I've read about this patch at many other review boards and many are calling it a miracle drug and they are commenting that it works far better than hydrocordone and oxycodone ever did!! Isn't that something? And even better, you won't build up a tolerance over time! That's amazing! I've also read that it is used for treating treatment resistant depression. One report said "buprenorphine seems to have robust antidepressive and antianxiety proper". I am bi polar and typically I'm fighting a low grade depression all the time, but I must say, butrans patch has certainly made me feel less depressed and helped me relax.
Apparently it's been in use in Europe for quite some time but has only been approved by the FDA since 2011.
Here is more about it from a ncbi report
Transdermal buprenorphine in the management of persistent pain – safety aspects
Here are it's reviews at drugs.com
Butrans Reviews & Ratings at Drugs.com
This stuff may be so good that it may help others avoid surgery altogether except those who need surgery for reasons other than pain relief. If you've never tried it, I recommend you do. It has totally knocked out my pain! All of it! I can sit at my desk all day long without having to get up and I feel no pain just like a normal person. Normally doing that kill me with unbearable pain.