Medications For Pain

Jewel

My husband also took hydrococone. For him the sleepiness and fatigue came from the chemo. Now that he is in remission,until he sees the dr Wed to get different meds, he is taking it for arthritis. He was given morphine in the beginning , the pain from the swollen lymp node pressing on the sciatic nerve was really bad, but he never took it. He was able to get by with the hydrocodone.(The cancer had spread to the lymph glands before it was discovered.)

Jan

Hi Jewel~~ There are many pain medications available these days, the trick is to find the one that works best for the individual patient.  I had tried many things, but have found that Fentanel Patches work best for me.  They start with a low dose and can gradually be increased until the right dose is reached.  On top of this one can have Ordine 10, which can be used for breakthrough pain.  Finding the balance is the important thing.

Many people can not tolerate Morphine and they become constipated, but if you can it works very well.  Many people also feel that if they use these medications then they will become addicts, but this is not the case.  Both my doctor and the pallative care nurses tell me that when one uses these drugs they work specifically on the cancer pain and you don't get 'high's' like addicts do.  I've found this to be very true.  However it is hard to break down the fears of a lifetime with regard to drugs!!  Once you do overcome these fears then you can use these drugs with confidence and they will make your quality of life so much better because you are no longer fighting the cancer pain.

I wish you well in your search for pain medication.  Overcome your fear of being an addict and find the drug which works best for you and then you will be able to 'live' once again.  Best wishes to you, Cath

 Hi Jewel,

 Something I've found to be true from nurses that do my chemo is to take the pain meds as prescribed.  Don't wait until you are in pain.  It has worked for me, so passing it along.  I guess just like everything else, there are a lot of opinions on it, but the one common thing no one wants is for anyone suffering from this disease to have to deal with pain.

 In my case I don't feel I'm addicted to any of my pain meds.  You pretty much have to go on how you feel because everyone is different.  

 I hope this is helpful in some way.  If not, let it go in one ear and out the other. :) Believing what you are doing is helping you and being comfortable with it is more important.  Or in my mind it is. :) 

 Take care and God Bless you

On 3/23/2008 poppy/cath wrote:

Hi Jewel~~ There are many pain medications available these days, the trick is to find the one that works best for the individual patient.  I had tried many things, but have found that Fentanel Patches work best for me.  They start with a low dose and can gradually be increased until the right dose is reached.  On top of this one can have Ordine 10, which can be used for breakthrough pain.  Finding the balance is the important thing.

Many people can not tolerate Morphine and they become constipated, but if you can it works very well.  Many people also feel that if they use these medications then they will become addicts, but this is not the case.  Both my doctor and the pallative care nurses tell me that when one uses these drugs they work specifically on the cancer pain and you don't get 'high's' like addicts do.  I've found this to be very true.  However it is hard to break down the fears of a lifetime with regard to drugs!!  Once you do overcome these fears then you can use these drugs with confidence and they will make your quality of life so much better because you are no longer fighting the cancer pain.

I wish you well in your search for pain medication.  Overcome your fear of being an addict and find the drug which works best for you and then you will be able to 'live' once again.  Best wishes to you, Cath

Hi Jewel~~  Having read Stever1955's message I must agree!!  It is really important to keep to the medication schedule, even if you feel that you don't need it at that time!  It is much easier to keep the pain at bay if you regularly take the medication, but if you miss it and the pain returns in force it is much much worse!  Then it takes a lot more medication to lessen the pain and you have to live through the pain until it is again under control. 

You must remember that it is quality of life that you are trying to achieve. Living with pain is not quality!  Hopefully you can get it under control, AND KEEP IT THAT WAY, so that you don't have to live with extreme pain anymore.  As the pain increases, as it probably will, then you can increase the medication (with the assistance of your doctor) until you have it under control again.  But don't worry about being an addict -- you won't be!  You will just be a person who is managing cancer pain using medication with the assistance of your doctor to give you a reasonable quality of life.  Best wishes Jewel - it is possible!  Cath

 My mother takes Oxycontin XR (10mg) and supplements it with vicoden 5/500 or oxycodone 5mg (vicoden without the acetametaphin) as needed throughout the day.

 Often during the days she can make it with just the vicoden/oxycodone 5 mg. At night she takes an 80mg oxycontin so she can sleep.

Oxycontin comes in a variety of doses, 10,20,40,60,80 mg. The greater the mg dose, i would assume the harder it would be to function.

You might want to try the 10mg XR and supplement it with the vicoden...