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Pain management for pancreatic cancer
Hello, I’m new here and appreciate reading all these messages and the support you all provide.
Sept 1 my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer by his PCP after weeks of back and the back and abdomen pain and they did a CT scan. We then had to get in to an oncologist who ordered a biopsy because it’s spread and they wanted to determine pan can before starting chemo. The timing of all of these appointments is frustrating.
Top priority right now is his pain management. Through all of the appointments and each day the pain gets worse and worse. He was in morphine 30mg and 15mg, then on Thursday evening switched to fentanyl patch 25 then added 12 on Friday evening. Also last night switched from morphine to oxy for breakthrough pain. It’s just not working! Some of what I’ve read says it takes the first round of patches time to become fully effective. Just wish he could find some relief.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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@lizduffey, I'm so sorry that he's going through this (and you too, in a different way). I see that dilaudid was added to the mix; that's what I was going to recommend, based on the various pain meds I was given in the hospital after my Whipple. I was also allowed to take dilaudid 2mg, 4x/day, for a week after my discharge.
Apologies for asking about something that's probably been addressed, but -- has someone on his team ensured that he's taking something OTC (Miralax or Colace) to counteract the binding effects of some of the pain meds?
Thank you. Pain management seems to be “stable” at the moment with oxy after the celiac plexus block. He is now also managing with Miralax and colace but watching closely as chemo caused diarrhea and colitis. Journey has been hard.