Problems with climara patch falling off

[Queen Kylee]

hi everyone, my name is Kylee. I've been having issues with the Climara estradiol transdermal patch of a non medical nature.

I have been on the patch for a few weeks, and have issues with the adhesive adhering to the skin. no matter where I place it, it seems to not want to stick for the full week. I have aplied it to clean, dry, hairless skin. no matter where I place it though, the requirments of my work (bending, flexing, lifting etc...) seem to cause it to eventually come loose and not stick.

what I need to know, until I can talk to my doctor about possible injections, is does the patch actually have to be sticking to the skin for the skin to absorb the medication, or does it simply have to be in contact with it? I'm worried I may not be getting the full amount of medication. thanks for the help

[Shantel]

hi everyone, my name is Kylee. I've been having issues with the Climara estradiol transdermal patch of a non medical nature.

I have been on the patch for a few weeks, and have issues with the adhesive adhering to the skin. no matter where I place it, it seems to not want to stick for the full week. I have aplied it to clean, dry, hairless skin. no matter where I place it though, the requirments of my work (bending, flexing, lifting etc...) seem to cause it to eventually come loose and not stick.

what I need to know, until I can talk to my doctor about possible injections, is does the patch actually have to be sticking to the skin for the skin to absorb the medication, or does it simply have to be in contact with it? I'm worried I may not be getting the full amount of medication. thanks for the help

Hi Kylee!
     I use them and have bought a few rolls of clear breathable surgical tape and cut a piece and place it over the patch so that it overlaps half an inch or better on each end and haven't had any problems losing my patch. I shave a spot below my panty line and to one side or the other of where my belt buckle is toward my thigh, next week I go to the opposite side.

[Devlyn]

Hi Kylee, welcome to Susan's Place! This page has information and links on each brand of patches in section 1.4, hope this helps. Also there are products similar to adhesive bandages that overlay the patch, keeping it in place. Hugs, Devlyn

http://susans.org/wiki/Estrogen

[cynthialee]

Hi,
I used to be on patches and I had problems with them sticking.
What I would do would be to make sure the skin it was going on was absoluetly clean, then I would use an alcohol wipe to make sure all the skin oils were gone. After the area was dry I would place the patch in place then put a bandaid over it. After about 36 hours I could take the bandade off and not worry about the patch comeing off.

[Jenna Marie]

Yes, it does have to be sticking or at least 100% in contact with the skin, because the medication is administered through adhesive. however, like others have said, when I was using Climara I used surgical tape over it. It seems to have worked just fine. you are by far not the only person to have this problem with Climara; I finally switched to Vivelle after I did some research and found that there were an awful lot of people complaining about the adhesive problems. (Including women on a hysterectomy web site, so a broader range of the population.)

Also, it may make a difference whether you're using the brand name or the generic; from what I've heard, the generic is the one with the worst reputation.