Breakthrough pain in patients with cancer
Types of breakthrough pain
Describing breakthrough pain
Personal pain assessment
Preparing for your doctor visit
FAQ: Breakthrough pain
About FENTORA
Safe use, storage, and disposal
For caregivers
Staying SECURE with FENTORA
Reimbursment resources
Educational resources

Preparing for Your Doctor Visit

Get tips from Dr. Leal about what to do before you go to see your doctor.

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Personal Pain Assessment

Answer a few questions to help you and your doctor better understand your pain and how to treat it.

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Making Pain Talk Painless

Learn different terms for types of pain, common medicines, and potential side effects related to pain medicines.

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Breakthrough pain in patients with cancer

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for more than 3 months. Chronic pain often has 2 parts: persistent pain and breakthrough pain.

What is persistent pain?

Persistent pain is constant (around-the-clock) pain. Your doctor can give you an around-the-clock opioid pain medicine to control your persistent pain.

What is breakthrough pain?

Breakthrough pain is sudden pain that "breaks through" your around-the-clock opioid pain medicine. Breakthrough pain is commonly associated with sudden onset. It is an intense flare or spike of pain on top of otherwise stable pain. Breakthrough pain is one part of chronic pain experienced by many patients with cancer.

The importance of treatment for breakthrough pain

Even if your around-the-clock opioid medicine controls your persistent pain most of the time, you can still experience sudden flares of moderate-to-severe breakthrough pain. Breakthrough pain can strike suddenly and without warning in many cases. The pain can become severe in minutes. Left untreated, breakthrough pain may impact your ability to function.

FENTORA is used to treat breakthrough pain in adult patients with cancer (18 years of age and older) who are regularly using other opioid pain medicines around-the-clock for their constant cancer pain.

Click here for more information about FENTORA.

IMPORTANT:
  1. Do not use FENTORA unless you are regularly using other opioid pain medicines around-the-clock for your constant cancer pain and your body is used to these medicines.
  2. Keep FENTORA in a safe place away from children. Accidental use by a child is a medical emergency and can result in death. If a child accidentally takes FENTORA, get emergency help right away.

Read the Medication Guide that comes with FENTORA before you start taking it and each time you get a new prescription. There may be new information. This Medication Guide does not take the place of talking to your doctor about your medical condition or your treatment. Share this important information with members of your household.

The most important information you should know about FENTORA is:

  1. FENTORA can cause life-threatening breathing problems which can lead to death:
    • If you are not regularly using other opioid pain medicines around-the-clock for your constant cancer pain and your body is not used to these medicines. This means that you are not opioid tolerant
    • If you do not use it exactly as prescribed by your doctor
  2. Your doctor will prescribe a starting dose of FENTORA that is different than other fentanyl containing medicines you may have been taking. Do not substitute FENTORA for other fentanyl medicines, including Actiq®, without talking with your doctor.