What types of pain meds work for u?

Question

my mom is undergoin radiation for mouth cancer and was in hospital for week with infection they gave her morphine to take home it gets the pain but makes her depressed and gives her whopin headaches any recommendation on better drugs to ask for going there tomorow

Also prayers and ideas for spirtual things that ease us thru this are welcome/ She is expected to recover next month after treatment ends

Answer 1

wow... i am so sorry to hear that

unfortunatly i believe that other then morphine i dont really think that much else will work on cancer pain...

u may want to ask for dilaudid or something similar... that worked very well for me after my knee surgery(it did give me a headache) although it will knock her out for a while

best of luck to ur mom and my prayers go out to u and ur family

Answer 2

Do you know which morphine she is taking and dosage? There are many types, most are long acting, she may just need a breakthrough medication for in between times on the morphine. I had tried Kadian (a morphine) I did not think it took care of my pain needs, I now take Avinza (a type of time-released morphine) and in the right dosage, three times a day, with a breakthrough, it does control my chronic pain. For cancer patients in bad stages of the disease Oxycontin is commonly prescribed, and no reason to be scared of it, as long as she follows the MD directions on taking the medication. MS Contin is another one commonly used, I'd recommend not to take Methadone, even though it is prescribed for chronic pain and works well, unless you have no insurance coverage, then it is one of the least expensive ones. I have no side effects with Avinza, but each person is different with each medication, and she will have to give it time, a couple of weeks to really see if it is going to be effective. Also an anti-depressant is a good idea, cymbalta is a medication for depression that is also used for pain in some cases, elavil is another that has double benefits and helps with sleeping. With a little more details, I may can help you some, I have delt with chronic pain for many years and worked in pain management clinic, writing prescriptions for all kinds of patients, from a healing fracture to Hospice care, and all in the middle. A good choice is to go with the doctor instincts, based on her pain levels at the time she is being seen. A couple milder ones would be percocet and hydrocodone, which help mild to moderate pain, not so much for severe. Please email me, if I can be of any help, and good luck to your mother. Always follow the instructions too, and most have Tylenol in them (if it ends in "cet") don't take any OTC in addition to the RX then. Be safe and good luck.

Answer 3

tylenol, ibuprofen are two over-the-counter ones.

there are also vicoden, demerol, fentynol lolly pops and patches, ultram, talwin nx, methadone, darvon, phrenilin forte, perocet. all of these need a doctor's prescription. to name a few.

the head ache is a side effect of the morphine. it dialates- enlarges- the blood vessels, as well as relieves pain.

morphine does not agree with some people.  

Answer 4

Morphine is the drug of choice for cancer patients and it does cause whopping headaches. Have your Mom speak to the Dr about a different medication. One that does not give her such bad headaches. Maybe Hydrocodone or Dilaudid but Dilaudid is very habit forming so don't be surprised if he doesn't give it to her. I personally can't see it being any more habit forming than Morphine but she will have to speak to her Dr about it.

Good luck to your Mom, and prayers are on the way for a quick recovery.