"my pain is completely alleviated with this medication when in normal use.  i am on a 3 day schedule in changing the patches.  i did try to go on a 2 day schedule as well, but then i experience too many unwanted side effects (drowsiness, feeling &#039;high&#039;, etc) so i asked to go back to 3 days.  after about 2 and 1/4 days the patch doesn&#039;t seem to work, so the final 3/4 day i really start to feel the pain and withdrawal symptoms.  

i sometimes feel the loss of &#039;control&#039; with the patch because of the time it takes for it to become effective and the amount of time it goes out of your system.  in other words, if a patch rips (i&#039;ve had 2 do so in the last year) i start to feel the medicine pouring into my system and i have to immediately take off the patch."