Chest Pain from Acetaminophen?

adube

My Dad (Mike, 50 y/o, Stage IV) has been taking Lortab for several years now for back pain (degenerative discs, I think) and recently, since he started IV and oral chemo last friday, has been getting increasingly painful chest pangs. Now, obviously that sounds stupid, given that he has EC, but despite being Stage IV, he's never had any pain from the EC tumor other than heartburn from his acid reflux and now a bit of food sensitivities after starting chemo. He spoke with this doc today who thought maybe it was the acetaminophen in his lortab and is sending him a new pain killer without it. Have any of you experienced this? The doc didn't see him, just took his best stab at it over the phone, so I just thought I'd throw it out here to see if you mentors had any advice--or see if any of you guys started on any weaker narcotics (I know it's common to progress to needing oxys or fentanyl or what have you) and if anything works better than others.

You guys rock for freak out moments like this :P
Alissa (daughter of Mike, Stage IV)

Tina Blondek

Hi Alissa
Welcome to you and
Hi Alissa
Welcome to you and your dad and family. I was a caregiver for my dad. He passed from ec in March 2010. I have not heard of acetaminophen causing chest pain. Seems to be a concern. Hmmmm....chest pain of course could be from the heart, heartburn, acid reflux, gall bladder, ec. So many things. See what happens with the new pain med. Watch out for ones like morphine. My dad did not do well with it. He did great with a liquid form of roxicet. They said anything with acetaminophen was not good for the liver, so they did not give my dad any. It is a huge game of trial and error. Will your dad be having surgery? My dad also took the oral chemo called...it has been almost 2 years now...I am having brain fade...starts with an X...oh yes, Xeloda. He did well with that, and the tumor shrunk considerably. but....the cancer spread to his liver 16 mos after dx. Keep up your good work. Learn all you can, and try everything available to you. Always go with your gut feelings, and let your dad make all of his own decisions. Keep in touch.
Tina in Va

adube

Tina Blondek said:

Hi Alissa
Welcome to you and
Hi Alissa
Welcome to you and your dad and family. I was a caregiver for my dad. He passed from ec in March 2010. I have not heard of acetaminophen causing chest pain. Seems to be a concern. Hmmmm....chest pain of course could be from the heart, heartburn, acid reflux, gall bladder, ec. So many things. See what happens with the new pain med. Watch out for ones like morphine. My dad did not do well with it. He did great with a liquid form of roxicet. They said anything with acetaminophen was not good for the liver, so they did not give my dad any. It is a huge game of trial and error. Will your dad be having surgery? My dad also took the oral chemo called...it has been almost 2 years now...I am having brain fade...starts with an X...oh yes, Xeloda. He did well with that, and the tumor shrunk considerably. but....the cancer spread to his liver 16 mos after dx. Keep up your good work. Learn all you can, and try everything available to you. Always go with your gut feelings, and let your dad make all of his own decisions. Keep in touch.
Tina in Va

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Thanks Tina! I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. and thanks for the welcome. I did see a pain med thread a few days ago that I will probably go through more thoroughly now, but it's great to have a place to go where people have tried all sorts of different kinds of treatments. My dad is on Xeloda too, he only does IV chemo on the first day of his 21 day cycles. That's a great point about the liver and the tylenol-- I was thinking that it causes ulcers too, and his tumor is ulcerated, so maybe it's got something to do with aggravating the ulcer. Unfortunately, he's not eligible for surgery being a Stage IV right now, but hearing the Xeloda helped shrink your dad's tumor gives me hope that this is the best course of treatment after all. I'm so grateful for people like you that have so much knowledge and experience to offer us new kids. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

xxoo,
Alissa

(daughter of Mike, IV)

Callaloo

Lortab, like vicodin, is a
Lortab, like vicodin, is a very large squarish pill, am I right? It could be that it's just getting stuck and irritating the esophagus. I have had that sensation and it feels like a heart attack, usually also accompanied by hiccuping. The Xeloda pills are large too, but they seem to be shaped better and have a slick coating. Try lubricating the esophagus before swallowing by taking a couple sips of water first.

I still take acetaminophen by itself now along with the oxycodone. It hasn't been a problem. The pill is smaller, too.

Last year when my esophagus was undergoing radiation and I couldn't swallow anything, I took liquid Tylennol with liquid oxy. It was expensive, but worked.

Lu

adube

Callaloo said:

Lortab, like vicodin, is a
Lortab, like vicodin, is a very large squarish pill, am I right? It could be that it's just getting stuck and irritating the esophagus. I have had that sensation and it feels like a heart attack, usually also accompanied by hiccuping. The Xeloda pills are large too, but they seem to be shaped better and have a slick coating. Try lubricating the esophagus before swallowing by taking a couple sips of water first.

I still take acetaminophen by itself now along with the oxycodone. It hasn't been a problem. The pill is smaller, too.

Last year when my esophagus was undergoing radiation and I couldn't swallow anything, I took liquid Tylennol with liquid oxy. It was expensive, but worked.

Lu

yup, chalky squarish guy
Excellent tip! I'll let him know. I take lortab too, for disc herniations, and it's sometimes hard for ME to swallow and I have a healthy esophagus. It's good to know they make liquid oxy in case we need to go there. Thanks for the advice!

-Alissa