morphine for terminal cancer

My mom is dying from anapalastic thyroid cancer. She has been on a morphine pump for a little over a week. She stopped food and water intake a couple of days ago. Her kidneys and liver have started to fail. (this we know from information from our wonderful hospice nurse) I was wondering how long on average a person will survive once their food and water intake stops?

He was pretty independent up until the end, but they did give morphine for the pain and we had to help administer it, but it was only for two weeks. That too was a blessing. I hope your family finds some comfort in being able to be with her and each other as you all go through this emotional time.

Thank you for info. She has refused morphine thus far. Was left for her to use for pain and breathing, but she won't use it.

The surgeon was unable to remove all of the mass but what he did take out was biopsied and the pathology report states it is highly suspcious for ovarian cancer. She says she prefers quality over quantity and so is not willing to do chemo or radiation and has also, therefore, refused any other testing. I realize she is terminal but would like to know what to expect as this progresses. Thank you for your help.

Although it takes you from diagnosis through the end, it is very helpful in learning how to talk to children about cancer and what is in store for their mom. I do understand what they are going through. My mom died of this horrible monster when I was 7 and my father handled it so poorly, I don't think I will ever get over her passing. This book has been helpful to us in explaining to our girls what is going on with me. Hopefully we won't need that last chapter.

its a narcotic a very effective drug for paincontrol it is great for cancer pain use it.May make him dizzy for couple days,constipated but great drug happy smiley time I am a hospice nurse !!!!

I cannot believe that your mother in law only has a nurse visit her once a month. While a hospice patient? That's terrible! I don't know enough about her illness to comment about them stopping chemo. But without treatment with a chemotherapy that works I do not believe your mother in law will live for a very long time. I think she needs a lot more care than a once monthly nurse visiting.

She is in the hospital right now she had a historectomy and they also had to take out some of her bowel. Does this meen it is at stage 4? Is stage 4 terminal? Thanks for your help.

I had surgery in 2005 for rectal cancer and have a colostmy bag. Now 3 years later everything had been clear but last week Dr. said disease had come back and probably had 2 years (outside) to live. How can it go from disease free to terminal in just a couple of months?? This discussion is related to <a href='http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/358581'>Colon Cancer - Please Help!</a>.

Hello! I wanted to thank you for the information on Morphine. I neglected to mention that it was not the hospice nurse but the nurse from the nursing home. We will mention this. I know that they use a Fentanyl (hope I'm spelling it correctly) patch and morphine by mouth. They were giving him the patch with Vicodin but I guess because his pain was increasing they switched to Morphine. We are due to have a conference this week. Again, thank you!

I have fentanal patches which is a opiod i change it every 72 hrs it realease some each hour i am on 100 they give these too terminal cancer patients norm or when they cant control the pain by any other means, they are not popular in some countrys as people have died of an overdose by mistake due to if they get over heated by a bath hot water bottle sun it can burn the skin and heat the patch to relaease the dose all at once.

I'm so sorry for all you're enduring but please don't be so hard on yourself. Knowing you're losing a parent is very difficult but you do have an advantage that many of us never got. You can spend time just talking with your dad, laughing, and remembering. You can let him know how much you love him...this is very important. I lost a son and grandson and never got to say good-bye and one last "I love you.

t be a good idea so if I am ever in a car accident or am diagnosed with cancer I can get some relief. Whats your opinions on this? Does the idea of a terminal illness with nothing for the pain concern all of you? I understand no matter how much time goes by, your brain doesn't forget unless rapid detox is done. Have any of you heard similar things and if so what are your plans to control pain? Thank you in advance for your response.

I was on hydrocodone for two years for a back injury,then I found out that I had cancer and they put me on morphine for the last 6 months. The doctor is trying to wean me off of the pain meds.But I think she is trying to wean me to fast. I have been very depressed and most days ,I do not have enough energy to get out of bed. I am being told that I most likely not to live another year.

I have a lot of experience with fentanyl patches but i must say you are on an incredibly high dose. Usually even in terminal cancer patients 300mcg/hr is the ceiling dose. 400mcg/hr is the equivalent of 960mg of oral morphine!!! (a 50mcg patch is equivalent to 120mg of morphine). That is truly an astronomical dose!!! Tapering from fentanyl patches is difficult as they cant easily but reduced in small increments.

Nope, inflammation anywhere in the small intestine can cause nausea, no appetite and weight loss. The large bowel is where most of the "water" is extracted from the stool as it passes thru. Stool enters the colon (large bowel) as a "slime" called chyme. The last 3 feet of the small intestine, referred to as the terminal ileum, is where most of the bile from the gall bladder used to digest food thru the small intestine is removed.

while the cloudy vision is unlikely to be related and would require an evaluation by an ophthalmologist to consider issues such as refractive errors, infections, increased eye pressure etc. This does not sound like cancer/ terminal illness. If the eye ointment doesn’t seem to help you may consider a review with his treating doctor. Hope this is helpful. Take care!

I also remember she was mentioning that she might have breast cancer, and that she had some tests, her ultrasound was negative for cancer, and that her mammogram showed that she is probably benign and it seems the doctor has asked her to come back for further testing after six months. She got all the routine blood work done. She has to wait for couple of months to get a follow up for the breast cancer. I asked her to get an antibody test for HIV, she got one and it was negative.

Hello... I'm wondering why they are giving your Mum morphine if she's not in pain now? If your Mum doesn't need morphine, then she is better off without it. When she is awake and 'with it' does she enjoy her life... does she indictate that she wants to keep going? That should give you an idea what her thoughts are, but if she is 'blotted out' with morphine, she won't be able to tell you what she wants.

I've been presribed morphine and 5/325 Ps for the past year or so.. I take about 2 to 3 of the 5/325s a day and every once ins while a morphine.. I know its not a super high dose so withdrawal shouldn't be horrible.. but I do not want to get out of bed without taking one.. if I don't take them nothing is getting done I have 4 kids to take care of.. I could really use some help on the tapering?

a slightly thickened wall. This is probably the terminal ileum and is incompletely distended. Also a few mildly prominent mesenteric lymph nodes. And atelectasis in the right lung. Could.this mean cancer?

I was recently hospitalized for liver failure and found out it was due to Hep C. With treatment, the virus can go into remission. It is a terminal disease the same as cancer, and like cancer CAN sometimes with therapy, be thrown into "remission". This I knew. But my question is the same as the one above, asking if the virus is contagious while in "remission".

The last thing they want to see is for anyone to be in distress and for us Morphine was given along with anxiety meds. How long does your brother have? They would be the ones to ask and help you prepare for what's to occur. Again, my sincere condolences for such a troubling time. It's obvious your brother means the world to you, and would not want to cause your further pain. Please let's us know if we can help or assist you in any way.

I found an excellent website where you make find a good answer. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Life-Support-Issues-2065/Dying-Liver-Cancer.htm There are so many extenuating factors, it is difficult to put a number on it. I, too, read that prognoses are rarely good. But treatments are improving all the time. My father is terminal with liver cancer that metastasized from the colon. He has "been given" two months, but that really isn't for us to say, is it?

My 74 year old mother has Secondary Bone/Brain Cancer (as explained by my father) was diagnosed at Stage 4 terminal about a year and a half ago. Last Thursday after complaints of not being able to breathe comfortably, the local hospital removed close to 2 litres of fluid from her chest through the back. When I asked if it was from the lungs or the cavity - all she could tell me was that she thought it was between the lungs and a lining of some sort.

No special knowledge, but no doctor can really tell you if cancer is terminal or not unless it's been around for a long time and the person is clearly dying. Cancer can be a disease people can live with a long time before it kills someone, or it can be quick, but I doubt docs can necessarily tell. Some people are very strong and others aren't.

Morphine for terminal cancer

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