Upping the pain meds is making John confused

Less than one minute read time.

FormerMember

17 Jun 2011

Friday 18th June, 2011

A Sister from MacMillan came to visit us today and was extremely helpful. She reviewed John's medication and increased his pain medication because what he was taking wasn't having much effect. So, he's now on 40-50mg of Oxycontin twice daily and can take as much Oxynorm (in 10ml doses) as he needs throughout the day to control the pain.

Trouble is the more he takes, the more confused he gets. The poor love is coming out with a lot of rubbish and keeps seeing things that aren't there. And he's still not free from pain. It's getting so I'm afraid to leave him alone for a second in case he falls over or hurts himself in some other way which makes life very difficult.

Has anyone else experienced this when taking these types of pain meds and does it wear off?

Madge x x x x x

FormerMember over 13 years ago

Hi Madge, Like Nics mum my mum was on a 24 hour slow release morphine tablet and she wasn't confused at all with those. I would see how he goes and ask the MacMillan nurse if he could have something else if the side effects don't subside. Can I also ask if he's had a blood test recently? My mum became very confused and it was due to her sodium and potassium levels. Both of which were sorted; one with medication and one with bananas! Love to you both. Caroline XX
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FormerMember over 13 years ago

John had a blood test in hospital and someone did mention that his potassium levels were low at that time due to his dehydration. I've got a big bunch of bananas so I'll certainly make sure he has some of those.

He's tucked up in bed asleep now but I'll see how he goes tomorrow on the increased meds and give MacMillan a ring if I'm concerned.

Thank you again for your support.

Love, Madge x x x x
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FormerMember over 13 years ago

Hi Madge

Tom was on slow release morphine and he was terribly confused seeing things that were not there and saying the most bizzare things so they changed his meds to a patch that only had to be changed every 3 days but I am sorry but I cannot remember what it was called.

Hope John had agood night

love Marianne.x
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