Poss pain relief option without constipation..

Em44, that is really useful to know, thank you for flagging that.  I had never heard of it! x

Gosh Em44 that's good news, well done for persuading your GP to let you have it. I won't touch morphine again after having impaction - the worst thing that's ever happened to me - far worse than when my horse fell on me and broke some bones in my back!! I use ibuprofen because I can't take paracetamol and tho it doesn't kill the pain, it makes it bearable. Jaycee on here recommended black strap molasses in warm water at bedtime, so my partner went out today and got me some, so hopefully tomorrow it should be easier to go, thus causing less pain. I second your last comment - here's to pain free days soon for all of us. X

Hi Jester I was just thinking of you with this in mind after replying in my other message on 'ongoing pain'. You may want to see if nefopam could be an option for you with the pain, although I'm not entirely sure & nor was the GP on what the nefopam actually is. Even when I went into hospital & all the surgeons asked what I was taking etc.. no one had heard of it, apart from one nurse - I found a thread on it from another group e.g. those suffering with fibromyalgia or similar.  It appears it can be taken with ibuprofen so may be worth investigating if still suffering and starting on low dose if it appears a possibility for you & after speaking with doctor. I think you'd be justified to ask & be prescribed it.

Yes, I tend to only take morphine when I'm desperate for the same reason.  I find if I just take once at night at those desperate times, I'm ok the next day but I'd be pushing it if took more.   Please do let me know how you get on with everything & the molasses, that's one thing I haven't tried yet & will look into - thanks Jaycee!

Yes pain free days for all ahead, with no medication! A day at a time hey and with some patience, I sincerely hope we all get there - when feel low / in pain let's try to get comfortable & focus on those happy images / memories (sitting on a warm beach, trekking up hills & mountains, long summer nights or whatever it is that brings each of us joy) in our thoughts...I know it's not easy but spring is here, with it comes fresh new positive energy - just open a window if can't get outside & listen to nature and sense the buzz in the air as everything comes back to life, as in nature so will we re-emerge and stronger - it may not be right now but we will eventually Xx

Hi Em44, thanks for your lovely message, I'm doing ok atm on the combined tablet of brufen & codeine, as long as I take some laxido. I have tried the black strap molasses twice and the jury is still out. I'm not sure it suits me yet, but will try again tonight, but it does tend to give me wind all day and I keep pooing several times a day, which I don't want. Now for some really interesting news - yesterday I went for what I thought was going to be reflexology with the NHS. The young lady talked to me for at least three quarters of an hour, asking about everything and I told her all about the lack of response from OAU etc and how it had upset me. She made notes on all this. She then talked to me about EFT and had I heard of it. No. It stands for Emotional Freedom Therapy or Technique. She showed me to tap the crown of my head and talk about the pain and where it was, then she tapped on various meridian points round the head, on the chest and round the back - you talk about the pain and the things you want to achieve and how much pain you're prepared to put up with - my pain was about 5/10 when we started. It reduced to about 2.5! Quite amazing. It's used a lot in PTSD, proven in clinical trials - see if you can find it somewhere, I really recommend it. I also had reflexology, but for me the EFT was best because I can practice it at home. I hope other members of this community read this and will, try and find an EFT practitioner near them. I walked the dogs myself this morning and drove to our destination, only a few miles, but a huge step forward. I just hope and pray my improvement continues, but as this all seems to be so up and down, I'm not holding my breath. thank you Em for all your kindness and encouragement and everyone else on here. Bee Xx

Thanks Jester  love your message - this is really good to know. Only on Tuesday I met someone who mentioned EFT and how it may benefit me, so that's really good to know it was offered to you and more so helped! I've looked at this before but have never implemented it - as you say it's something that can be done at home, and just need to set aside time to focus on these easy methods that could help us. Silly as at times life seems just too busy to fit things like this in but unless we are in a good place ourselves and set aside time for some self-love and care, then we can't be of use to others! I really hope it continues to help you through the ups & downs Xx 

Hi jester I will certainly look into the EFT technique, thank you for that. Sorry you are not finding the black strap helpful and maybe it’s too early days as your bowels are still in turmoil from treatment. The wind situation was a nuisance at first for me but it did gradually settle down I also put it in warm lactose free milk in the evening and to me it’s delicious and soothing. I was not taking any pain medication or laxatives at the time so that might make a big difference. Hope you find something that helps soon but as someone said on here our bowels can take months to heal before we see a difference. Julie

Hi there,

im commenting in this group because I think my husband’s advanced prostate cancer has spread to his anus. He has been housebound since December because he can’t stand up for longer than 5 minutes without excruciating pain in his anus/rectum. Recent CT showed nothing but he has a sigmoidoscopy on 3/4/23. 
He gets a lot of bleeding with bowel movements and the pain is horrendous. He has oxycodone 10mgs BD but we manage his incident pain with Abstral which is sub lingual fentanyl and it works in 30seconds and is out of the system in 20mins and doesn’t cause constipation. My dad was prescribed it for incident pain for dressings to his amputation site at end of life. It was a godsend then and I’m so glad we have it now. It’s amazing for bowel movement pain. He also takes pregabalin 175mgs BD. 

I just thought you might benefit from knowing about Abstral. 

I apply haemorrhoid gel internally twice a day which has both anaesthetic and steroid in it. Last night I noticed that he now has little ulcers or blisters around his anus but no lumps that I can see. Has anyone with anal cancer any experience of this as a symptom of cancer? 

Best to all,

Louli xx

Hello Louli, I am sorry to hear about your husband. But glad you have found some relief to manage his pain and thank you for sharing that. It’s good that his latest CT scan came up negative but it must be frustrating to not know what is causing it. I don’t know what treatment he had but do know when you have radiation in the pelvic area it causes internal inflammation which in my experience comes and goes with decreasing frequency. I recently had problems due to a troublesome bowel movement and it caused a lot of internal inflammation and a little bleeding. Because this area tends to experience a lot of traffic (excuse the pun) it doesn’t get much chance to settle down. I obviously can’t say about the blisters and little ulcers but I don’t think anal cancer starts with blisters and I think the best best is to possibly have a doctor come and have a look to put both your minds at rest. My father had prostate cancer for 18 years before he passed away and I can remember he had problems with bleeding. Hope you can get some one to look at your husband soon. 

Hello Louli

Thank you for the information about Abstral, although I am sorry your knowledge has come through those close to you who need it.  I am guessing if answering your question as my anal cancer was submucosal and I had no symptoms and no idea.  If the CT is showing nothing t may be possible that there is some sort of nerve pain going on higher up, and that the little blisters could be a separate issue, perhaps an allergic reaction to the haemorrhoid gel.

Sorry I can't offer anything constructive, I do hope the sigmoidoscopy gives some sort of answer.  If your husband is having pain with bowel movements then he can ask for sedation when he has the sigmoidoscopy, I had that in January and was surprised at how little I felt.  He will need you to drive him home afterwards.

I do hope he gets his problems resolved.

Irene xx

Thank you Jaycee 12,

im sorry to hear of your father’s passing. 18 years is something most PC sufferers can only dream of so well done dad but still heartbreaking for you. Nothing prepares you. Thank you for your kind reply. 
We’ve had an awful weekend with the pain. Now gout! Sigmoidoscopy on 3/4/23 so we will get some answers. I agree about it being great that scans don’t show anything new and we keep reminding ourselves of that. I’ve given the anal ointment a rest today and ulcer doesn’t look so bad . I will certainly keep you posted and thanks again for advice. 

Much love,

Louli