KC Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Has anyone ever had a pain pump because they were not able to take pain medication orally due to nausea and stomach upset? If so, how did it work out for you. We are trying to control my father's pain from the radiation to his lumbar spine mets. Either the mets are still there or the bone needs to heal, I don't think the radiologist could tell from the pictures or my father didn't ask the right questions. I wasn't there when the radiologist finally showed up this morning. He said something like holes in the bone, if I press my father for answers, he gets upset, so I don't press too hard. I'll find out later what the real story is. All I know is that he said there was no new spread on the bones, the MRI showed the same as the one taken in late December. After that he had 20 radiation treatments, but the pain never went away. Vicodin worked for a while and then stoppped. He is in the hospital since Sunday keeping the pain under control with Dilaudid injections. He had the pill at home, but it didn't work at all, the injection work great. Also had a pain management doc. come in an do an epidural with corticosteriod called Depomedrol. He said it could take a few days to work, they did that on Monday night. Just wondering now about the pain pump. It's been a rough two weeks with all the pain not being under control. These bone mets are tough cookies, let me tell you. My poor father, god bless him, he's so strong and brave. Thank you all for any information. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna G Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Are you talking about in the hospital? I believe that would be a PCA ( personal controlled analgesia) They put Morphine or Dilaudid in it. It runs into your vein. It can run a small amount all the time,or only if you push a button or a combo of bothe. If you are talking about being at home you can get narcotics through a patch and it is absorbed slowly continuosly through the skin, like a nicotine patch dispenses nicotine. Usually the patches last 3 days. Hope that is some help Donna G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.C. Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 and no way can an overdose be given with the pump. J.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna G Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Thanks JC, I did not mention that the pumps are set to limit how much you can get in an hour to prevent overdosing Donna G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hopeful Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 You CAN be overdosed on a pump if it is NOT set right. It happened to my dad. He had prostate cancer with mets to bone and lung. He started on Morphine and it caused him to itch really bad. A nurse came in and switched to Dilaudid but failed to reset the machine correctly. He was overdosed, had severe respiratory depression, was delirious for 3 days. He died 1 week later from pneumonia caused by the respiratory depression. So ensure that more than 1 person is present when the pump is set up and they know what they're doing. I lost my dad too quickly when I thought I would have him for at least a month. It was devastating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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