Nearly 4 weeks in to CRT

BeckyW7c6caf said:

oramorph the next step.

It feels a bit scary. will I be a space cadet for the next few weeks? 

Don't be scared. Morphine does a good job of masking background pain to keep you comfortable. I was on long acting morphine twice a day and oramorph every four hours. Yes I dozed a little more but I was never "out of it" and still managed a turn round one of our fields with the dog. The two weeks after treatment end I did sleep a lot but that was more because I was exhausted.

When you have been on opiates for a while you have to taper slowly or you get withdrawal symptoms. Not because you are addicted but because your body has built up a tolerance for the drug. Both codeine and morphine are opiates.

I left my mask behind but lots of us do keep it

Morphine is a necessity for a lot of cancer patients, I was on Oramorph and MST for a few weeks, it will make you drowsy at times so no driving, coming off it was a staged procedure. 

Oramorph is somewhat "different" to other opioids like oxycodone.  Generally it is a much more gentle drug and can sometimes be taken in quite large doses on advice from your clinical team.

I was on Oxycodone as morphine does not metabolise well in my body.  In the end I was on around the equivalent of 60+ mg of Oral Morphine per day between patches and Oxycodone.  Even then I did not feel "out of it", but I did want to sleep all day - the last couple of weeks of, and the first few weeks after, treatment take it out of you and your body needs to rest.

What I did not do was drive once I went on to an opioid drug.  That was my choice even though I felt I could at some stages.

Pain relief is most important in the healing process.  Please don't be scared to take advantage of what is on offer - and don't be scared to say if it is no longer working and you need something stronger.

Personally I did find paracetamol a really effective drug if I took it around 30 minutes before I wanted to swallow as I started to regain my ability to eat. 

thank you.

I haven't been offered patches. 

is that something I should ask about? '