Pain & Oramorph

[lisalucy]

Hello all,  My mum has various problems and suffers with constant pain of varying levels with times that is too much to cope with .  At times like this my mum is to take Oramorph 5ml for breakthrough pain. The GP only issues a 100ml
bottle at a time , this can vary in how long a bottle will last depending upon the amount of breakthrough is experienced. i.e, 1 bottle can last just 2 weeks (10ml =10 days) so my mum tries to get by on stretching it cope with on;y 5 ml somedays as she worries about requesting a new bottle to early . my mum cannot take paracetamol based drugs,has thyroxine and has to be on warferin .  Question is is this a high dose? is there an eqivalent drug that my mum could have as she is worried about addiction although she has found over the  last 2 years that she can take when required and doesn't have any  problems or desiring need to have when not in great pain,this i am sure shows over her repeat script record .  

[Jaybay]

I agree with with femmy.  It's time to make the doctor aware that mom's pain isn't being adequately managed.  There may have even been changes in her underlying condition that is causing the pain that need to be evaluated.

Your mom has no worries about addiction.  She's using her meds as prescribed and doesn't crave them to deal with emotion pain, so no problem there.  People tend to mix up physical dependence with addiction too, and there's a big difference.  If she suddenly stops taking her meds, she'll go into withdrawal just as an addict would.  That's where the only similarity to addiction stops.  

It's great to be cautious where narcotics are concerned, but her pain sounds bad enough that she probably won't have much choice in changing meds or increasing the dose.  Just make sure to go through the doctor for any changes and she won't have any problems.  Hope she feels better soon!

[femmy29]

Hi Lisa,

It sounds to me like your mother's long acting opioid needs to be increased.  The optimal strength for a long acting opioid is when no more than two doses of breakthrough pain meds per day are required.  I think there is some wiggle room for an extra dose or two on really bad days but it sounds like your mother is experiencing pain spikes more frequently.  Either you or your mother needs to make an appointment with the GP to tell him these things so that hopefully he will make some changes to your mother's medications so that she isn't in severe pain and also so that she isn't in pain as frequently.  I wish you and your mother the best.  Please keep us updated if you can.  Take care.

femmy