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? '

BeckyW7c6caf said:

thank you.

I haven't been offered patches. 

is that something I should ask about? '

The patches available are fentanyl and buprenorphine. I’m not sure about other trusts but Swansea gave those out only if morphine didn’t help as they are much more potent. 

I went onto patches at the very last stage of treatment to provide a background level of pain relief.  I was on them for a couple of months and found them effective coupled with liquid oxycodone.

It depends on your particular circumstances at the time.  As you've not been on morphine (aside from that provided from cocodimol through metabolism) I suspect they will be reluctant to go straight to patches. 

thanks for the info.

as long as it manages pain I'm not too worried.

Thank you

PS. no driving for me either. 

Hi different trusts have different rules re the mask I brought mine home. Oramoroph usually people are fine like Peter says it’s one of gentler ones used to sneak sips in between if I needed them. I functioned ok wasn’t spaced out but of course no driving. 

best wishes 

Hazel x