Fentanyl (also known as Subsys, Onsolis, Lazanda, Fentora, Duragesic, and Abstral) is one of the strongest synthetic opiate painkillers available. In fact, the drug is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Due to its strength and effectiveness as a painkiller, nurses and physicians often use fentanyl to treat chronic pain, manage discomfort after surgery, and help patients who have developed a tolerance to other medications for pain. Additionally, fentanyl can be used to help cancer patients who experience breakthrough pain while taking another opioid painkiller.
Fentanyl is available in multiple forms, because some patients may be unable to swallow a pill or a liquid. As a result, fentanyl comes in the …show more content…
Since these feelings are pleasant, people continue to use fentanyl. Over time, people who abuse fentanyl develop changes in their brains that impact the central nervous system and neurotransmitters. These changes result in two conditions known as dependence and …show more content…
When someone is dependent on a drug, their body can’t function normally without it.
• Tolerance means that a person needs to take more fentanyl over time to achieve the same effect. With fentanyl, someone can develop a tolerance to high doses of fentanyl in just a few days. For example, a person might need more fentanyl on a Friday than they needed to get high on a Monday.
Both dependence and tolerance work together to maintain the vicious cycle of addiction. Dependence motivates the person to continue taking fentanyl in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms, while tolerance forces them to take more and more of the drug as time goes on.
Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms
When a person with an addiction tries to stop abusing fentanyl, they will experience what are known as withdrawal symptoms. Since fentanyl is an opiate, it shares withdrawal symptoms with other drugs in this class. However, fentanyl is much stronger than other related drugs like heroin and morphine. As a result, the symptoms of fentanyl withdrawal can be much stronger.
The most common symptoms of fentanyl withdrawal include:
• Anxiety
• Chills
• Cognitive