Pain relief?

fredswilma

Hi all
As many of you know, my husband, is stg iv with mets to the lungs and is now palliative care only, he is really suffering from pain in his bones legs and hips, cannot seem to get comfy, also sometimes his legs seem to not support him and down he goes, we call his legs gammy now cause they just aren't working properly.
Up until now Mark has managed with voltaren (an anti-inflammatory drug) and paracetamol, these are no longer cutting it, any suggestions as to good pain relief that will not make him drowsy and he can get down as eating is a real struggle now.
We are due to see his Onc on Thursday and was hoping some of you could give me ideas on what to suggest, I know the Onc should know but as many of you have found out its good to do a bit of research first.
The other thing is eating, it has become a real struggle and now he is not even interested in food, I suspect that is because it is so difficult, and he has to drink so much water just to get it down, don't know what to do there just keep trying, he is so sweet if I put it in front of him he will attempt it (feels guilty otherwise), so I think I will just keep up with the guilt trip.
Love to you all and thanks in advance.
Ann

Daisylin

Hi Ann
I had to google paracetamol and have pasted the description below for those who also don't know......

Paracetamol INN ( /ˌpærəˈsiːtəmɒl/ or /ˌpærəˈsɛtəmɒl/), or acetaminophen USAN i/əˌsiːtəˈmɪnəfɨn/, is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic (pain reliever) and antipyretic (fever reducer). It is commonly used for the relief of headaches and other minor aches and pains and is a major ingredient in numerous cold and flu remedies. In combination with opioid analgesics, paracetamol can also be used in the management of more severe pain such as post-surgical pain and providing palliative care in advanced cancer patients.[4] The onset of analgesia is approximately 11 minutes after oral administration of paracetamol,[5] and its half-life is 1–4 hours.

Acetaminophen and voltaren are definately not going to cut it! With his swallowing issues, perhaps trying the fentynl patch would be a good idea. It gets changed every 72 hours and provides good relief. They can also give him breakthrough pain relief in liquid form. (probably hydromorh condone or morphine). Mark really needs to get his pain under control, the longer he waits, the harder it is to play catch-up. Lee spent a week in the hospital to tweak his meds and find a good balance. It was such a relief for both of us to have him pain free. If he is properly dosed, he should not feel dopey or groggy.

Lee also lost interest in food, and we spent mant miserable meals watching him choke, gag and sullenly poke his meal around the plate. What a horrible time that was. I don't recall...... Does Mark have a feeding tube? I would seriously recommend one, especially if he's having that much trouble with food. Trust me, I felt like the evil food police before the feeding tube, constantly nagging and begging him to eat something, anything. Once the tube was in, it lifted a huge burdon off both of our shoulders. Even most medications can go through the tube.

Hope you find some relief soon,
Chantal

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nickgunboat

Hi Ann
So sorry to hear about Mark. After my surgery I was prescribed Roxicet in liquid form. It is in the percocet family and it was very effective in managing my post op pain. I continued to take it for a lingering rib pain and found it only made me slighty loopy. Some days more than others, but at least the pain was under control. I was also given Marinol in a small pill form. This was to increase my appetite and reduce nausea. Marinol is basically a synthetic marijuana, so there is a bit of a feeling of being "high", but it definitely made me want to eat, even when it hurt. It sounds to me like Mark would benefit from having a j tube, which I also had for several months. I would take my Ensure's and all my Meds through it. It was never a problem and I never felt hungry. Best of luck to you both.

Kirk
T3N2M0
DX 03.09
6wks chemotherapy and radiation
esophagectomy 7.09
Dr Tom DeMeester USC