morphine for terminal patients

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.

As i understand it the morphine is the less destructive on the liver than the other drugs for pain.Anyway it has helped me a great deal.Just a suggestion.

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.

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.

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 !!!!

It sounds to me as if he is over medicated. He may have a terminal condition that calls for this heavy medication or some severe and chronic painful condition, even at that I think he is either over medicated or his meds are not working well together. HIPPA has forbidden your father's physicians from discussing his condition or medications with you, unless you are his POA.

A relative recently underwent surgery for a mass in her abdomen. 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.

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.

so my question is , in hospice, is this what they do? do they assist medically by giving overdose of morphine to patients they think are dying anyway?

Signs include slurred speech and difficulty in balance. Is this common for cancer patients or something more. She is taking morphine for the pain, but they seem to think it isn't that. She didn't take any the last couple of days, yet the symptoms are still there. I know that every person is different when it comes to cancer, but what should we expect in the comming weeks as the chemo has stopped. Could she feasibly live for another few months in the amount of pain she's in?

If for example, the statistics say that only 15% of Stage 4 patients survive for more than 2 years, you really have no way of telling if a certain individual belongs to the majority (85%) who die within 2 years or the 15% who live longer than that. I have encountered a considerable number of patients who have been diagnosed with advanced rectal cancer who have lived for more than 10 years. Maybe you too can buck the odds. So don't give up hope.

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?

My wife, who takes morphine sulfate ER and oxycodone IR for chronic pain. She does a urine test every month. For the first time in several years, 10+, her results showed a positive result for codeine, 107 ng/mL. I found an article that said a small amount of codeine may show up in patients taking high doses of morphine due to possible impurities in manufacturing. Is this correct? Has anyone else run in to this??

so guys should i ask my doctor to do a blood test for morphine to see if it metabolized from vicoden to morphine?

Drugs should not be used, sometimes morphine is used in cancer patients with severe pain to relieve the pain, which is given on the basis of a prescription. Drug dependence, tolerance and gross nervous system side effects are the common reasons why drugs are not used. Take care!

People that have been on opiates for a long time can ingest a dose that would kill someone who has never used the drug. Then if they stop for a while, their tolerance goes down. Morphine is a terrible trip, with nausea and discomfort and constipation. Not something to desire for recreation.

Recently, the itching was considered (postulated) to be due to accumulation of an endorphin, a natural substance that attaches (binds) to the natural receptors (acceptors) for morphine in nerves. You see, nerves in the skin carry the sensation of itching. Indeed, the finding that itching improved in some people treated with drugs that block the binding of morphine or endorphins to nerves supported this consideration.

Morphine must be okay for the liver because that's what they used when I was in the ICU following my liver transplant. Be VERY careful with morphine. I was on it for 7 days and went wacky with hallucinations of all kinds.

I am going to the Dr who implanted it, to see what my next option is after alot of research it seems i am in line for a pain pump.

It is said there is a new technique to help the patients of optic nerve atrophy. I got such news on TV and no detailed information or contacts followed. The introduction says such new technique is to bury a wire to conduct the terminal of retina and vision spot of brain (which could be understood as artificial optic nerve) to function as a normal optic nerve. As a patient of optic nerve atrophy, I wonder if you know anything as I described above.

I have this 10 mg methadone pills,the morphine 100 mg extended release(Its a capsule,so I can open it and measure approximately,and morphine 30 mg immediate release. I really hate the sweating of the abstinence,is there something that helps it?what other drug(benzos or else)can help me to stop? I have time, and I'm not running out of the meds,but really want to quit...help!!!

I protested the frequent use, but was told it was for that reason I was being given that much. Now I am reading articles that say that patients that are given Morphine during a heart attack actually have a higher risk of death. I know in my case, that as soon as the Morphine was injected through my IV I felt chest pressure. Any thoughts on this? Should I refuse this if it comes up again?

Does anyone out there know of a health facility that accepts mass health to an individual who is in great need of the morphine pump? We have gone to pain Management for many years and have had tried the stimulator but his body rejected it. Also,has had multiple fusions and scar tissue removal, steroids, spinal blocks, acupuncture, narcotics, holistic healing. In the end our Neurosurgeon suggested the morphine implant.

Morphine for terminal patients

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