Fentanyl in palliative care

Common Questions and Answers about Fentanyl in palliative care

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Avatar f tn Many hospital generalists and oncologists are now TIRF REMS certified. Palliative care specialists are also getting the training, so these doctors are not as rare as they once were. I'm sure you're familiar with the TIRF REMS website: https://www.tirfremsaccess.com/TirfUI/rems/home.
Avatar n tn mom has a 8 cm tumor in her right breast, a smaller 4-5 lump in her left breast. Last November the right breast suddenly opened up-like a staph infection and bled 24 cc of blood and pus for six weeks. It finally stopped. Two days ago, the same place reopened and started to bleed and have pus again, but this time tissue also started coming out. She won't go to a doctor and I'm not sure how much I can handle.
Avatar f tn age, we have a need for basic knowledge in how to know when to consider Palliative and/or Hospice Care. Professionals like myself, a Hospice Nurse has the better knowledge as to the hands on assistance that enrollment in a Palliative Care Program or a Hospice Program can give. So I believe that you should add Palliative/Hospice/End of Life Issues to both your questions from the general public and the knowledge areas of your professionals.
Avatar f tn I hope that your father-in-law is still with us. Sorry I only saw your posting just now. If the doctors are willing to order PT, have them order it. My 86 year old mother had a major stroke, also had atrial fibrillation. She was given 4 days to live and was barely there. But she kept getting better with PT and lived another 2 years fully cognizant. So for anyone else, get whatever you can for your loved one.
Avatar m tn Hello and welcome to the forum. I am so very sorry to read of your situation. Have you spoken to your doctor about any clinical trials that you could participate in? Are they recommending palliative/support care for you? There is also hospice care which can be done in your home. Here's info on palliative care and hospice care https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-palliative-care-and-hospice-care. Staying healthy through proper nutrition and rest will also help you overall.
Avatar n tn Is there a specialist in your area who is expert in palliative care and symptom management? A specialist of this sort can help guide therapy to maximize quality of life with pain management and other symptom management.
438514 tn?1305734140 I remember reading that there's a difference between palliative care and hospice. Palliative care offers pain relief and life prolonging care (such as special nutritional needs) even if they can't offer a cure. It can be given at any time during a disease. Hospice care is usually only given if a person has less than 6 months left. I found this portion of a definition comparing the two: Palliative care is NOT the same as hospice care.
514349 tn?1272801633 They were sisters from different litters, Kessie being the elder. Once diagnosed, all we could offer was palliative care, helping them be as comfortable as possible until they let us know it was time to go.
Avatar f tn Today in the New York Times, there's a wonderful article on palliative care." Months to Live: At the End, Offering Not a Cure but Comfort." I wish I had read it before my Mom passed.
Avatar m tn (Focus) So, 2 nights after his request, they gave him 1mg of morphine and he has now been in, what seems to be a deep sleep (2 days later). He is now in palliative care in our local hospital and everything is very peaceful. Nurses, spiritual visitors, aids, including the environment. I am very happy so far that this is the path he chose. My question is, on 1mg of morphine every 4-5 hours, and nothing else, how long can we expect?
Avatar f tn The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care states that palliative care is interdisciplinary, with a focus on care of providing optimal functioning, relief of suffering, and support of optimal quality of life for patients and their families regardless of the stage of disease or need for other therapies.
667078 tn?1316000935 over here we have two similar care options, palliative or hospice, palliative care is intended to relieve discomfort, symptoms, and stress of the patient at any time during the course of the illness, hospice care only becomes available for patients who are considered to be terminal or life expectancy of within six months.
Avatar n tn If it were my mom, I would be agressivelly looking for a doctor - possibly through hospice services - that does palliative care. These doctors specialize in pain management for people with severe medical problems. Working with these doctors or with hospice does not mean you are giving up on your mom, it just means that the medical treatment is not working and it is time to move on and try something more substantial in the pain relief.
Avatar m tn It might be arthritis, and it is possible that with a painkiller and gentle palliative care she could go on a while longer yet in relative comfort in her old age. So get her some help.
194555 tn?1264286923 Depending on his lung cancer stage, someone should make a decision whether he treats issues or moves to palliative care. Palliative care means heading into hospice and starting a morphine drip or other care meant to comfort him. I personally feel that cardiac mets are very painful and a not a good way to die. If the patient is strong enough, there is a procedure called a pericardial window that will drain this fluid into his abdomen and relieve the pressure on the heart.
Avatar m tn Shes getting over 500+ pills every 10 days and she isnt able to write a script for more than 500 pills due to the DEA issues. However, she said a palliative care nurse would have more power in terms of being able to prescribe whatever my fiancee needs. I guess I'm just trying to understand how this all works and making sure my fiancee is comfortable.
Avatar f tn It now makes perfect sense to me why you are in so much pain on the Fentanyl. Converting 360 mg of Oxycontin to Fentanyl results in 150 mcg/hr...this is conservative. Converting Fentanyl to equal 360 mg of Oxycontin with the opioid calculator results in 300 mcg/hr. This is the largest dose conversion that is shown in the fentanyl prescription leaflet that comes in the box with the medication. So your doctor's thoughts that you need to keep going up on the Fentanyl patch are CORRECT.
Avatar n tn I'm 6 weeks and currently live with my boyfriend and my mother in law. She's been sick and recently I found out she has a giant sore on her back. She said it's from laying down so much and the doctor said its a strong possibility of it being infected. Maybe even staph infection. I try to refrain from handling her clothing and bedding. Should I try to stay away from her as much as possible?
Avatar m tn I just recently started a butrans patch to help get me off opioids not because of addiction but because of the failure rate in people using them and my doctor told me sooner or later they would fail for me in one way or another. I have a couple of withdrawal symptoms right now one of them being my back and certain areas of my body are extremely warm and uncomfortable. the other is i am getting really bad anxiety and I hate drugs like xanax.
Avatar n tn You might want to focus on her pain. I know that I can't think or eat or make any logical plans if I'm hurting. So pain management seems to be the first order of business. I don't know if you're in the US or not, but I found some interesting information in Consumer Reports -- the September 2009 issue has a lot of basic health information. They are on the internet as a dot org, by the way.
Avatar m tn I wish you the best of luck with your uncle. Hospice or palliative care can help to make the end-of-life transition much easier.
Avatar f tn //www.mariecurie.org.
Avatar f tn I find it awful that when a patient has dementia and cannot speak for themselves and they should know they are in pain - especially as he also has a deep tissue injury as well - that they are not being more pro-active on palliative care (which I asked for on day one, never came) and more pain management, only just treating him with anxiety pills and asking him questions he clearly cannot answer.
Avatar f tn Her initial treatment was surgery (only partial debulking due to interference from a pre-existing hernia) and standard six rounds of Carbo/Taxol chemo. The surgery resulted in a stoma, which was thankfully reversed in September of 2006. With chemo, Mum's CA125 dropped to 18, but it has been rising slowly but steadily since with her oncologist recommending a watch and wait approach.