Thanks & Question Re:Pain Management

ChrisHB
ChrisHB Member Posts: 22
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Thank you for the replies from a couple nights ago about support for my brother during this difficult battle(Help for Brother & Too Confused). I have given him the link to this group and hope that he and his wife will give it a try. I spoke to him yesterday and he is not ready to give up. He says he will keep trying the options he is given. He does have a lot of pain, I believe it is from the tumor in the rectum and neuropathy in hands and feet from chemo. He was talking about quality of life versus quantity. He will see his regular oncologist this week to talk about pain management. Are there any suggestions anyone here has found to help with the pain? Thank you

Comments

  • kristasplace
    kristasplace Member Posts: 957 Member
    #2
    I can tell you when i felt that bad, percocet was a God send! I got to where i could pretty much function on it, and it was the only thing that helped the tumor pain. Some people prefer vicodin. As far as the neuropathy? I've heard of something called neurotin (sp?) but i haven't yet tried it. The best thing is for him to keep bundled up, and warm. When the neuropathy gets really bad, tell him to take a hot bath to thaw out, and then sit with a heating pad. A person can live a looooong time without quality of life. It helps to believe that quality will improve, and for me, it slowly has. It will for him too. Try to get him to see that pampering of himself is a wonderful quality of life! Being drugged up can make you feel great, if not briefly. I was worried about getting addicted, but i never did. I think that's rarer than we think. The important thing is that he is comfortable, and not feel guilty about babying himself, and doing WHATEVER it takes to feel good.

    All my best wishes!

    Krista
  • impactzone
    impactzone Member Posts: 551 Member
    #3
    For neuropathy, I often used a heating blanket and had a great pair of slippers around that are well worn. Walking always was hard but it helped me alot when I just did it. I mentally had to connect to my new life and do what I could even though it was so far away from where I was. I hated Vicodin due to the constipation it caused. I was on celexa and xanax for anxiety and depression and that helped.
  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    #4
    please take a look at this:

    http://www.tinyurl.com/3dqbxg

    thanks!
  • kmygil
    kmygil Member Posts: 876 Member
    #5
    Hi.

    Your brother should not give up. I had severe neuropathy in hands & halfway up my legs, as well as unspecified bone pain. The pain was best controlled with Dilaudid (generic: Hydromorphone), AKA hospital heroine. It REALLY packs a punch when put in an IV, but the pills really helped with the pain. As for the neuropathy, I found that Gabapentin (aka neurontin) and massive doses of Vitamin B have made it almost all go away. This is 14 months post chemo. All I have left is numbness on the very bottoms of my feet and tiny areas on the pads of my fingers. The improvement is gradual, but one day I woke up & realized that I had most of my feeling back, and it didn't ever hurt to walk anymore.

    I will say that at one point I seriously weighed quality vs quantity, but decided that if we can get through high school, then we can forge ahead with this journey.

    I'm praying for you all.

    Kirsten
  • livefreeordie
    livefreeordie Member Posts: 45
    #6
    kmygil said:

    Hi.

    Your brother should not give up. I had severe neuropathy in hands & halfway up my legs, as well as unspecified bone pain. The pain was best controlled with Dilaudid (generic: Hydromorphone), AKA hospital heroine. It REALLY packs a punch when put in an IV, but the pills really helped with the pain. As for the neuropathy, I found that Gabapentin (aka neurontin) and massive doses of Vitamin B have made it almost all go away. This is 14 months post chemo. All I have left is numbness on the very bottoms of my feet and tiny areas on the pads of my fingers. The improvement is gradual, but one day I woke up & realized that I had most of my feeling back, and it didn't ever hurt to walk anymore.

    I will say that at one point I seriously weighed quality vs quantity, but decided that if we can get through high school, then we can forge ahead with this journey.

    I'm praying for you all.

    Kirsten

    Wow! Your high school must have been rough! :)
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #7
    There are some long-term wariors that could chime in about quality vs quantity of life. I, personally, felt that I wouldn't even think about it till the second time around...the first time, I would fight as hard as I could...(little did I know that my second time would be for a totally different cancer, so of course, technically, that was the first round for that cancer, so I had to fight hard again...lol).

    Your brother needs to know NOT to be a pain hero. The fear I had (TOTALLY unfounded) was that if I took anything stronger than Tylenol, I would become an addict...I ended up, thru my journey, taking every major opiate...from Dilaudid thru Morphine. If there is pain, it sidetracks the ability to get thru the treatment...remind him that this is a temporary situation, and that the pain meds are being taken for a specific reason.

    Hugs, Kathi

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