Bupromorphine Patches /Pills

[Palamino]

Hi I've had great advice before and wanted to ask how I would stop the 10mcg patch and go back to just the pills. I've been on pills for a few years all fine . March this year had knee replacement and also pain in outer hip . After op rls went mad and pills didn't help as they usually do so got put on 5 then 10mcg patch which releases slower and helped a bit with the pain in hip . Anyway it has helped and hip bearable now and I also still take a 4mcg tablet at nite but I want to get off the patch and just go back to pills as the patch is a pain if u shower /bath or swim as shouldn't get wet which is hard to do . Would I need to taper off the patch or just up my tablets for a while ? Would be grateful for any help thanks

[Joolsg]

I suggest you just add a very small extra dose of the pill for a short time after you take off the patch. 5mcg/10mcg patch is a small amount, but it's releasing Buprenorphine steadily over 24 hours. Add just 0.5mg of pill form for a week or so and then reduce back to your normal 4mg.

[Palamino in reply to Joolsg]

Hi thanks but I'm confused with mcg and mg . I'm on 10 mcg patch once a week . I was on 400mcg 2 tablets twice a day although I didn't always need that much. So if I stop the patch how many 400mcg tablets would I need ? When I told my doctor a while ago some people took mg instead of mcg he said that was way too high !! But then he doesn't have rls ...thanks for ur help again

[Joolsg in reply to Palamino]

Ah, yes - my apologies! I read 4mg rather than 4mcg.

If you are on 2 × 400mcg- that is 2 x 0.4mg. Average dose.

So the 10mcg patch releases 10mcg per hour over 24 hours, which equates to 240mcg or 0.24 mg. But it's hard to get an equivalent dose to the pills as their mechanism of release is so different.

As you're on a very low 10mcg patch, you can add an extra 0.2mg(200mcg) pill a night for a week. Then cut the 0.2mg in half and take 0.1mg for a week. And then see how things are when you drop that extra 0.1mg.

It will be a bit of trial and error.

[Palamino in reply to Joolsg]

Hi yeah that's whT I thought . Luckily I have a some pills built up over time when I was taking less so I can use them if doctor isn't in agreement . Thanks