Pain Meds While going through Chemo

ayostacey

Hello, I just want to say that all of you have been such great help in answering my questions thus far and I've been passing along all information to my sister who has just started chemo for Metastic Uternine Cancer. So yes, Im here to ask more questions!! Sorry!  Prior to being diagnosed with Stage 1B grade 2 endometrial cancer, she had injured her back.  It was being addressed before the cancer came back, but had to be put on the back burner when she found out her cancer was back. She has some bulging discs and they were starting her off with PT and then if that didnt work (which it wasnt, but she only got in 2 sessions before the cancer returning) they were going to try shots and other things. She's been taking Advil everyday for the pain becuase she doent feel Vicodin even works. She had her first chemo Carbo/Taxol session yesterday... she had horrible stomach pains and her back pain is worse than ever. She felt sitting in the chair for 6 hours didnt help matters. So she took Advil when she got home and later than evening started spotting. Called the Dr on call and they said stop taking the Advil and monitor it.  So needless to say she was in pain all night and today. No more spotting and she couldnt take the pain, so she took Advil again.  Do you know if there is anything more effective that she can safely have for her back. Its bad enough the chemo is knocking her down, but the horrible back pain is making it a million times worse. I would like to know what helped for anyone else with pain (of any type, but particularily back) during treatment! Thanks so much!!

Kaleena

I would have her go back to

I would have her go back to PT.  However, because she is having a recurrence, they will not be able to use the TENS unit on her.   I am going through PT now.   I have had left arm tingling and numbness and stiff neck and back for the past five months.   I went to chiropractor (it helped) but my back muscles were all messed up.   I think when I am in pain I tense up.   I have also been diagnosed with Osteoporosis.   I also have a ureter stent in which need changed every 3 months.  they usually don't want you to take Motrin/Advil just Tylenol.  But the Tylenol just doesn't do it for inflammation.  I started taking Motrin in the mornings again.   If she stays on the hard narcotics for pain, she will develope another problem which will add to her pain.  That's constipation.  Its a rough cycle she is in right now.  She can do it.   Also, has she brought up to the doctor about the stomach pains?    

Because of the stomach pains, she is probably aggravating her back.  Also, have her Vitamin D levels checked.   Vitamin D can help with inflammation.   Most people are deficient.   Have her eat popsicles too.   She needs to be hydrated while on chemo.   Its usually the roughest the second day out - at least for me it was - and the second day I was totally exhausted.

I hope I was of some assistance to you.

Kathy

AWK

There is a lot of pain with chemo but

After my first round it felt like every old injury I ever had was re-injured, bone pain like growing pains too.  I have stenosis at my L1S1 which reared its  head.  I was put on Tylenol 3 or codeine plus Tylenol for the pain.  The other tips I got were to move around and walk - helps with the pain and also the constipation which causes stomach pain.  I actually walked every hour during the chemos for about ten minutes  at least five.  That helped.  And walking three times per day starting at five minutes and working my way up.  

Also, she shouldn't wait for the pain to go away or to even get started but take whatever they offer for pain relief in advance of that for the first few days post chemo.  I was advised to do this with both pain mets and nausea ads in order to avoid peaks and valleys which make both worse.  

ayostacey

Kaleena said:

I would have her go back to

I would have her go back to PT.  However, because she is having a recurrence, they will not be able to use the TENS unit on her.   I am going through PT now.   I have had left arm tingling and numbness and stiff neck and back for the past five months.   I went to chiropractor (it helped) but my back muscles were all messed up.   I think when I am in pain I tense up.   I have also been diagnosed with Osteoporosis.   I also have a ureter stent in which need changed every 3 months.  they usually don't want you to take Motrin/Advil just Tylenol.  But the Tylenol just doesn't do it for inflammation.  I started taking Motrin in the mornings again.   If she stays on the hard narcotics for pain, she will develope another problem which will add to her pain.  That's constipation.  Its a rough cycle she is in right now.  She can do it.   Also, has she brought up to the doctor about the stomach pains?    

Because of the stomach pains, she is probably aggravating her back.  Also, have her Vitamin D levels checked.   Vitamin D can help with inflammation.   Most people are deficient.   Have her eat popsicles too.   She needs to be hydrated while on chemo.   Its usually the roughest the second day out - at least for me it was - and the second day I was totally exhausted.

I hope I was of some assistance to you.

Kathy

Very helpful, cant thank you

Very helpful, cant thank you enough! Will pass this info along to her.

ayostacey

AWK said:

There is a lot of pain with chemo but

After my first round it felt like every old injury I ever had was re-injured, bone pain like growing pains too.  I have stenosis at my L1S1 which reared its  head.  I was put on Tylenol 3 or codeine plus Tylenol for the pain.  The other tips I got were to move around and walk - helps with the pain and also the constipation which causes stomach pain.  I actually walked every hour during the chemos for about ten minutes  at least five.  That helped.  And walking three times per day starting at five minutes and working my way up.  

Also, she shouldn't wait for the pain to go away or to even get started but take whatever they offer for pain relief in advance of that for the first few days post chemo.  I was advised to do this with both pain mets and nausea ads in order to avoid peaks and valleys which make both worse.  

Ok, yess...i had asked her

Ok, yess...i had asked her about feeling nauseous, she said Not really, but they had given her something via IV that was suppose to last three days. She has a prescription for the nausea if it comes back. She said she'll wait the three days to see if its going to be neccessary. But i will tell her you said maybe she shouldnt wait for it to come! thank you

pinky104

Pain Meds

I normally take Aleve for back pain, but I was told to stop it during chemo.  I was only allowed to take Tylenol.  I have a great chiropractor.  He manipulates my back by hand and doesn't use the "clicker" devices a lot of chiropractors supposedly use.   My chiropractor has adjusted the Sumo wrestlers who are preparing for the Olympics a couple of times and has had thank you letters on his walls from some of them.  He's saved me many times when I could barely walk into his office.  Once I tried Flexeril that my family doctor gave me, and that did nothing for me.  I know there are some other treatments (not done by chiropractors) where the patients are tipped upside down to take the pressure off.  A neighbor of mine had some piece of equipment that inverted her body to help her back.  I've never tried any of those.  I have tried rolling my back over a large exercise ball, which has helped some.  The problem with that is getting up off of it and not rolling off of it.  However, my back problems are not as serious as your sister's, although they have probably hurt almost as much.  There's nothing worse than having a back out of alignment to me.  It affects the whole body.

ayostacey

pinky104 said:

Pain Meds

I normally take Aleve for back pain, but I was told to stop it during chemo.  I was only allowed to take Tylenol.  I have a great chiropractor.  He manipulates my back by hand and doesn't use the "clicker" devices a lot of chiropractors supposedly use.   My chiropractor has adjusted the Sumo wrestlers who are preparing for the Olympics a couple of times and has had thank you letters on his walls from some of them.  He's saved me many times when I could barely walk into his office.  Once I tried Flexeril that my family doctor gave me, and that did nothing for me.  I know there are some other treatments (not done by chiropractors) where the patients are tipped upside down to take the pressure off.  A neighbor of mine had some piece of equipment that inverted her body to help her back.  I've never tried any of those.  I have tried rolling my back over a large exercise ball, which has helped some.  The problem with that is getting up off of it and not rolling off of it.  However, my back problems are not as serious as your sister's, although they have probably hurt almost as much.  There's nothing worse than having a back out of alignment to me.  It affects the whole body.

She was seeing a chiropractor

She was seeing a chiropractor priror to the cancer coming back, Im not sure if he was as good as yours (lol)...She's been taking the Advil to cope with it, not sure I like the idea of her taking it during chemo. I keep telling her to call the Dr and discuss pain managment with him. She's goign to the bathroom a LOT also. I've read pepole being constipated with chemo, but she is having the opposite of that. She refuses to take immodium becuase she wants to just "get the poison out of her".

pinky104

ayostacey said:

She was seeing a chiropractor

She was seeing a chiropractor priror to the cancer coming back, Im not sure if he was as good as yours (lol)...She's been taking the Advil to cope with it, not sure I like the idea of her taking it during chemo. I keep telling her to call the Dr and discuss pain managment with him. She's goign to the bathroom a LOT also. I've read pepole being constipated with chemo, but she is having the opposite of that. She refuses to take immodium becuase she wants to just "get the poison out of her".

ayostacey

I had diarrhea for years before my cancer diagnosis, and I was told I had irritable bowel syndrome.  That seemed likely since I'd often gotten diarrhea when I was young and had to take a test in school.  However, after my cancer surgery, it went away.  I did have a little bit of cancer in my small intestine.  I'm not sure if that's what was causing my diarrhea or if it was stress from work.  I didn't go back to my job after my surgery, as I'd become eligible for Social Security at about the same time.  I figured if I went back to getting stressed out at work, my cancer would probably return.  I almost never get it now.

She ought to mention her diarrhea to her doctor just in case it's being caused by a metastasis of her cancer and not the chemo. 

ayostacey

pinky104 said:

ayostacey

I had diarrhea for years before my cancer diagnosis, and I was told I had irritable bowel syndrome.  That seemed likely since I'd often gotten diarrhea when I was young and had to take a test in school.  However, after my cancer surgery, it went away.  I did have a little bit of cancer in my small intestine.  I'm not sure if that's what was causing my diarrhea or if it was stress from work.  I didn't go back to my job after my surgery, as I'd become eligible for Social Security at about the same time.  I figured if I went back to getting stressed out at work, my cancer would probably return.  I almost never get it now.

She ought to mention her diarrhea to her doctor just in case it's being caused by a metastasis of her cancer and not the chemo. 

Oh geez...ok, I will let her

Oh geez...ok, I will let her know. Although, she always is prone to getting it too, for as long as I can remember. I think she's always chalked it up to IBS as well.