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'Intervention Linda': Fentanyl lollipops score easy addiction?

Lori Koff's photo
Self Help Reality TV Examiner

Fentanyl (Trade Names: Actiq®, FentoraTM, Duragesic®       Photo: Wikipedia Commons 

Fentanyl lollipops, easy addiction?  Last night's Season Eight Premiere of Intervention presented "Linda," the case of a woman with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome who is addicted to opiate-laden "lollipops." She became addicted to the "relief" that the painkiller gave her, and even with her mental health deteriorating and her teeth literally falling out of her mouth, she found it impossible to quit.

Linda is addicted to Fentanyl (Trade Names: Actiq®, FentoraTM, Duragesic®), which has been listed by DEA Office of Diversion Control to be one of the Drugs and Chemicals of Concern.  Fentanyl is a powerful opioid narcotic pain medication.

Fentanyl buccal tablets are used to treat "breakthrough" cancer pain that is not controlled by other medicines. This medication is not for treating pain that is not cancer-related, such as general headaches or back pain, according to Drugs.Com.

Using fentanyl, "a painkiller 200 times stronger than morphine," Linda got addicted to the opiates that she used to ward off the pain she experienced after the onset of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, also known as "cutis hyperelastica" (an inherited connective tissue disease, affecting the joints and skin, caused by a defect in the synthesis of collagen, which results in lost strength and elasticity, tissue fragility, possible dislocation, and pain).

The escalated drug use has affected her sanity and her relationships. Her family turns to an intervention as her last hope. "I have to do what I have to do… they're after me…"

"Linda - Intervention"

"Fentanyl is abused for its intense euphoric effects. Fentanyl can serve as a direct substitute for heroin in opioid dependent individuals. However, fentanyl is a very dangerous substitute for heroin because it is much more potent than heroin and results in frequent overdoses that can lead to respiratory depression and death." Source: October 2009 DEA/OD/ODE

Available dosage forms include oral transmucosal lozenges, commonly referred to as fentanyl "lollipops" or Actiq®, effervescent buccal tablets (Fentora™), transdermal patches (Duragesic®), and injectable formulations, and is prescribed for patients who require high doses of opioid narcotics for extreme pain such as cancer. It is also used in anesthesia and management of chronic pain. According to Drug.Com, fentanyl prescriptions jumped from about 2.59 million in 2000 to 7.64 million in 2008 (IMS Health™).

For more information about fentanyl see: Office of Diversion Control - DEA.

Control Status:  Fentanyl is a schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Indiana enacted legislation to add certain fentanyl derivatives to schedule I of state law.

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, Self Help Reality TV Examiner

Lori has been watching the Emmy award-winning, A & E television show, Intervention, since it first aired in 2005. Follow her here at Examiner.Com to learn more about the show and some of the stories on the show, the intervention process, addiction, recovery, and followups on some of the...

Comments

  • Heather 2 years ago

    Who prescribed this medication for Linda? That Dr. needs to be investigated.

  • scott 2 years ago

    what was Linda's last name? I wanted to see if she had and imdb account,

  • Dick 2 years ago

    Have three or four neurosurgeries on your spine, wait a few years for the arthritis to kick in ,from your blue collar labor intensive job ,that you provide for your entire family with..... Now get your perspective on pain relief. Is fentanyl the problem? I don't think so. People have been using many different substances, activities, etc. to alter their realities for all time. This will not change. Why punish those who legitimately and responsibly benefit from modern medicine ?

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