my mum was diagnosed with rectal cancer at the beginning of November . She had a massive bleed from her back passage and had to have a transfusion. The hospital have been very slow and, after deciding they were going to operate, they changed their mind and decided they would do 5 lots of radiotherapy first. My mum was already on pain killers before the radiotherapy but all the pain relief she has been given since radiotherapy, she finished two weeks today, doesn’t control the pain. It’s always there but sometimes it rises up so bad she’s crying. She was admitted to hospital on Friday and they upped her fentanyl patch to 50 mg. she has oral morphine and, though we stopped codine for a time last week, she back on it again.
can anyone tell me anything that helped you? She’s on a low fibre diet, which is a bit of a nightmare as she’s diabetic. I saw someone suggest putting a pillow between your legs when lying on your side.
we have rung the acute oncology service number we were given but they were useless and just referred us back to gp
Hi ,
That just sounds awful and does need attending to . I can’t answer your question as I don’t have experience that’s appropriate. However you can ask for her to be referred to the pain clinic . They are run by anaesthetists and are good at dealing with breakthrough pain .
However in the meantime you might like to speak to our helpline staff 0808 808 0000. They may be able to access more specialist knowledge for you or tell you who to contact . They are open till ten , I think .
take care and send your mum our love and best wishes to get this resolved quickly.
Court
Helpline Number 0808 808 0000
Thank you Court for your reply. we have considered going privately to the pain clinic as she was referred but it hasn’t happened. We have had another gp in and he’s of the opinion she has a low pain threshold and as she has been on pain relief before radiotherapy she has build up a tolerance to it. He has helped with some of the info he has given. Only taken four different gps
Hiya, so sorry to hear that your mum is in so much pain.
My partner is in a similar position - after diagnosis last april, he had such immense pain it just couldnt be touched. ( we discovered he also had colitis, c.dif and a hernia behind his stoma ) He still has incredible pain now but he is on a huge amount of different types. It could be worth asking to see whether these could be an option for your mum:
Oxycodone slow release ( 12 hourly )
Gabapentin
Sodium valproate
Nifedapine
Oxycodone quick release ( oxynorm).
He also has paracetamol regularly which helps with temperatures. The oxycodone is pretty much the same as morphine, just a parallel drug that doesn't overload the body too much and cause respiratory depression.
I really hope your mum gets better pain relief, and if not then just keep pushing and pushing until she does. Theres also a roho cushion that can help ease any pain in the bottom. Hot water bottles help, and we just recently got an electric blanket that seems to ease the overall body ache he gets.
Watch out as too much Oxymoron can cause constipation, which given its likely the bowels causing the pain makes things worse rather than better as is the case with my wife - the extra pain relief stopped her stoma working which caused more pain not less!
We do unfortunately have to deal with that too. My partner has docusate sodium, and bisocodyl to help with the constipation. There were other offers but where he was misdiagnosed for a year as havinconstipation, he was given all sorts of things that now he cant stomach. His oxycodone was recently reduced and the gabapentin increased to increase the pain relieve to his bum, and reduce the sleep
ess and hand shakes. It seems to be working better for him and his stools arent as hard. He has just had his 3rd round of chemo so that makes it a lot looser anyway
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