C
Concerned Friend
Guest
This post is completely non-aviation and kind of long but medically related to a non-pilot.
I have a friend who due to cancer metastizing his bones (particularly spine (T3, T4, & T5), hip, and lower ribs) experiences a high level of pain on occasion (about 6-10 times a year) for the past 3 years. And by high level I mean the kind that wakes everyone up and demands immediate attention. Over the years he's been moving up the ladder of pain meds and is at the point where his daily dose of Oxycontin just "barely takes the edge off", but occasionally makes him high and sometimes makes him feel sick.
Currently, he doesn't take hasn't pain meds on a regular basis for a couple months because he feels to drugged up when he uses them and it is sometimes visible to us too. He doesn't have high levels of pain as often anymore, but does have constant low-medium levels of pain on an ongoing daily basis. He just endures the pain each day unless it gets too strong in which case he'll take the OC prescribed to him to take the edge off, but it still hurts.
The latest incident that prompted this post happened a week ago when he was in a lot of pain and started screaming and crying due to the pain in his side. His son took him to the hospital and according to him hey started giving him shots of pain killers. They progressed up to stronger stuff each time promising that I'd numb him up and reminding him not to sleep or else he'd forget to breathe until they gave him an injection of morphine which had no effect according to him. About 45 minutes later the doctor gave him something "10 times more powerful then morphine" and once again he waited for it to kick in but there was no relief. After about 6 hours of exams, x-rays, waiting, and injections he went home and just waited for the pain to stop at home.
Is his tolerance to the pain medications likely to be permanent? Is it common for pains originating in damaged bones to be unaffected by opiates and other common pain meds? Do the common cancer treatments (chemo, radiation, & hormone) diminishing the effectiveness of pain meds?
I have a friend who due to cancer metastizing his bones (particularly spine (T3, T4, & T5), hip, and lower ribs) experiences a high level of pain on occasion (about 6-10 times a year) for the past 3 years. And by high level I mean the kind that wakes everyone up and demands immediate attention. Over the years he's been moving up the ladder of pain meds and is at the point where his daily dose of Oxycontin just "barely takes the edge off", but occasionally makes him high and sometimes makes him feel sick.
Currently, he doesn't take hasn't pain meds on a regular basis for a couple months because he feels to drugged up when he uses them and it is sometimes visible to us too. He doesn't have high levels of pain as often anymore, but does have constant low-medium levels of pain on an ongoing daily basis. He just endures the pain each day unless it gets too strong in which case he'll take the OC prescribed to him to take the edge off, but it still hurts.
The latest incident that prompted this post happened a week ago when he was in a lot of pain and started screaming and crying due to the pain in his side. His son took him to the hospital and according to him hey started giving him shots of pain killers. They progressed up to stronger stuff each time promising that I'd numb him up and reminding him not to sleep or else he'd forget to breathe until they gave him an injection of morphine which had no effect according to him. About 45 minutes later the doctor gave him something "10 times more powerful then morphine" and once again he waited for it to kick in but there was no relief. After about 6 hours of exams, x-rays, waiting, and injections he went home and just waited for the pain to stop at home.
Is his tolerance to the pain medications likely to be permanent? Is it common for pains originating in damaged bones to be unaffected by opiates and other common pain meds? Do the common cancer treatments (chemo, radiation, & hormone) diminishing the effectiveness of pain meds?
I think Pain management may be Bruce's thing. Hopefully he will chime in. Perhaps they gave him dilauded.
