Cutting back on narcotics

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Laralyn
Laralyn Member Posts: 532
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
To try to get my stomach working again, my doctor and I agreed today to cut back the amount of narcotics I'm taking. I hope this works with nausea too.

I'm going down from the 50 patch to the 25 tomorrow even though it's a bit early for that. My doctor said he usually likes to wait until the patient is taking 4 or fewer Norco a day to go down to the next patch, and I'm at 5... but it's not ridiculously early.

I'm also trying Aleve every 12 hours and Norco only as needed in between. It wasn't really clear to me how much Norco I should be taking. I think I got in a habit of taking it as soon as I felt the pain start, since several doctors told me to "stay ahead of the pain." So I don't really know how many Norco I need. I guess I'll find out since I switched to Aleve today and I go down to the 25 patch tomorrow. :-)

I feel like I would be chipper and feeling positive about my healing if it weren't for the nausea/vomiting, and the weakness from not eating enough. So hopefully pulling back on the narcotics will be the answer that gets me back on track.

Thanks for all the support here. When you're feeling so sick, it's easy to pull into a shell and feel all alone. So thanks for being here and keeping me at least a little bit out of my shell. :-)

Comments

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #2
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    feel better
    Hi Laralyn,

    Sounds rough but you can do it. If you feel ready you probably are. Hopefully, before you know it this bump in the road will be history.

    I had a PICC line in that drove me crazy (itching all the time). I would almost go insane trying to not bother it, even after it was removed. Now, I can hardly feel where it was. I had to consciously look the other day to find the spot where it was. Time heals us.

    Good luck, less pain,

    Matt
  • TheOtherDitto
    TheOtherDitto Member Posts: 58
    #3
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    CivilMatt said:

    feel better
    Hi Laralyn,

    Sounds rough but you can do it. If you feel ready you probably are. Hopefully, before you know it this bump in the road will be history.

    I had a PICC line in that drove me crazy (itching all the time). I would almost go insane trying to not bother it, even after it was removed. Now, I can hardly feel where it was. I had to consciously look the other day to find the spot where it was. Time heals us.

    Good luck, less pain,

    Matt

    Happy for you
    that you are taking control of your biggest phobia - the nausea. Do whatever you can to get past this roadblock. Praying your new regimen works for the nausea and your mental well-being. The Ditto's pray daily for a relief from your nausea so that you can get on the faster track to recovery. God Bless you Laralynn! We are all here rooting for you and helping to push you past the boulder that is currently blocking your healing!
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #4
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    I sure hope this works for you, Laralyn....
    Living with constant nausea/vomiting...that truly is an isolating disability...all I'd want to do is sleep thru it. Sending positive thoughts and prayers that this is exactly what you need to do...and that the pain doesn't get best of you once they cut back the drugs.

    p
  • tommyodavey
    tommyodavey Member Posts: 727 Member
    #5
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    phrannie51 said:

    I sure hope this works for you, Laralyn....
    Living with constant nausea/vomiting...that truly is an isolating disability...all I'd want to do is sleep thru it. Sending positive thoughts and prayers that this is exactly what you need to do...and that the pain doesn't get best of you once they cut back the drugs.

    p

    Less Narcotics
    That is good news Laralyn if you are wanting to cut down the meds. You have been through the wringer and deserve some relief. Just don't rush it where you end up with pain that could have been stopped. Your doctor seems to know what to do.

    Glad to see you on the other side of Rt.

    Tom
  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #6
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    TheOtherDitto said:

    Happy for you
    that you are taking control of your biggest phobia - the nausea. Do whatever you can to get past this roadblock. Praying your new regimen works for the nausea and your mental well-being. The Ditto's pray daily for a relief from your nausea so that you can get on the faster track to recovery. God Bless you Laralynn! We are all here rooting for you and helping to push you past the boulder that is currently blocking your healing!

    Hi Laralyn...
    Slo glad to hear from you. I think you are doing great ...I was on 6-7 Narco a day (got fussed at by my onc) and I wore two pain patches of fentynal ....plus I took 4 advil every 6 hours ....if you look at my neck pitcure ..I was pretty burned up :)

    It was reall good to hear from you ...keep us posted...prayers you are getting better everyday!!!

    Best,

    Tim
  • Mrs. Sarge
    Mrs. Sarge Member Posts: 206 Member
    #7
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    tommyodavey said:

    Less Narcotics
    That is good news Laralyn if you are wanting to cut down the meds. You have been through the wringer and deserve some relief. Just don't rush it where you end up with pain that could have been stopped. Your doctor seems to know what to do.

    Glad to see you on the other side of Rt.

    Tom

    Sorry, Laralyn
    You seem to have the roughest ride of all of us on this bus ride. Hopefully things will turn around SOON!!!!! Glad you're at least able to post, as we do worry about you when we don't hear. Hopefully the lesser meds will do the "trick" and things leveling out for you!
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #8
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    Pain
    I found that the 50mg patch produced more side effects than pain relief over the 25mg patch. I dropped back to 25mg and did not notice a big diff in pain management but the shaking and nervous anxiety stopped. Hope the same for you. Happy to say, I gave up the 25mg patch two days ago as a trial and so far so good. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks post rad/chemo for me.
    At one point during rad, I was on such heavy pain meds I took a fall in the night for no reason. Since my ankle was weight bearing everyone thought it was a sprain. The fall was more than 4 weeks ago. Finally had x-ray and got a call yesterday that ankle is broken. Just another bump in the road for me but a warning to take extra precautions when taking all of these pain meds.
  • Laralyn
    Laralyn Member Posts: 532
    #9
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    Thanks for all the support!
    It really does make a difference.

    It's day three of lowered pain meds, and I can already see a big difference. I am much less nauseous and my stomach is starting to respond again! I had three cans of food yesterday which is more than I've had in a single day for probably 4+ weeks.

    So hopefully I am on the road to recovery now. :-)

    I'm trying to schedule a swallow test for next week because I would love to eat something by mouth again. I seem to be aspirating water though, which was also the result of the partial swallow test I had in the hospital. I don't know if it's from the swelling or a permanent change.

    I asked about returning to work, and my doctor said he'd love to keep me home another month but in a couple weeks we can talk about part time. I'm just eager to get out of my rut and starting doing some normal things again!
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #10
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    Laralyn said:

    Thanks for all the support!
    It really does make a difference.

    It's day three of lowered pain meds, and I can already see a big difference. I am much less nauseous and my stomach is starting to respond again! I had three cans of food yesterday which is more than I've had in a single day for probably 4+ weeks.

    So hopefully I am on the road to recovery now. :-)

    I'm trying to schedule a swallow test for next week because I would love to eat something by mouth again. I seem to be aspirating water though, which was also the result of the partial swallow test I had in the hospital. I don't know if it's from the swelling or a permanent change.

    I asked about returning to work, and my doctor said he'd love to keep me home another month but in a couple weeks we can talk about part time. I'm just eager to get out of my rut and starting doing some normal things again!

    Glad to hear you are seeing
    Glad to hear you are seeing a big difference in pain management and best of luck with the swallow test. I was very disappointed when I did not pass my first one in the hospital. I too longed for food and drink. It will come! I was also eager to do things that felt normal. Never thought I'd be so excited to go down the basement stairs and do a load of laundry.
  • Ingrid K
    Ingrid K Member Posts: 813
    #11
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    Laralyn said:

    Thanks for all the support!
    It really does make a difference.

    It's day three of lowered pain meds, and I can already see a big difference. I am much less nauseous and my stomach is starting to respond again! I had three cans of food yesterday which is more than I've had in a single day for probably 4+ weeks.

    So hopefully I am on the road to recovery now. :-)

    I'm trying to schedule a swallow test for next week because I would love to eat something by mouth again. I seem to be aspirating water though, which was also the result of the partial swallow test I had in the hospital. I don't know if it's from the swelling or a permanent change.

    I asked about returning to work, and my doctor said he'd love to keep me home another month but in a couple weeks we can talk about part time. I'm just eager to get out of my rut and starting doing some normal things again!

    Laralynn, good news on
    Laralynn, good news on getting off of the opiates. They can mess you up for sure. Sounds like your tummy is happier w/o them. Opiates also cause depression so it's all good when you can stop them.

    Don't be too hard on yourself about the swallowing. Water is the hardest thing to swallow. Ask the docs about trying to use a thickening agent in the water...the thicker the liquid the easier to swallow. (or ask about milkshakes).

    If you can stay off of work a bit longer, do it. You have been thru hell and back, you need time to recover.
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #12
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    Laralyn said:

    Thanks for all the support!
    It really does make a difference.

    It's day three of lowered pain meds, and I can already see a big difference. I am much less nauseous and my stomach is starting to respond again! I had three cans of food yesterday which is more than I've had in a single day for probably 4+ weeks.

    So hopefully I am on the road to recovery now. :-)

    I'm trying to schedule a swallow test for next week because I would love to eat something by mouth again. I seem to be aspirating water though, which was also the result of the partial swallow test I had in the hospital. I don't know if it's from the swelling or a permanent change.

    I asked about returning to work, and my doctor said he'd love to keep me home another month but in a couple weeks we can talk about part time. I'm just eager to get out of my rut and starting doing some normal things again!

    I am so happy to hear that your tum
    is getting better! Sending positive thoughts that lightening up on the pain meds will help you continue your healing. Last week you didn't want to get up and face the nausea...and here a week later you're asking about going back to work...I'm not even ready to do that! :)

    Saying a prayer for you, Laralyn...that this new pain control plan keeps your healing at a quickened pace.

    p

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