Not feeling too good at the moment. Having quite a lot of pain from the mets in my hip/pelvis.
Saw Registrar in Clinic four weeks ago who advised a further bone scan, last one being three years ago, when I asked if I could have some radiotherapy. Radiotherapy was offered January 2007 prior to going to Lanzarote on holiday in February 2007 if the pain was still there when I came home. Luckily the pain subsided and up until the last couple of months has not been too bad.
Registrar increased painkillers 50mg Diclofenac and 30/500 mg Co-codamol. Oramorph was also prescribed which I am very reluctant to take.
Has anyone else taken Oramorph when the pain has become bad and has been able to then leave it alone after treatment and hopefully the pain subsides?
Still haven’t had appointment for bone scan and I’ve got follow up appointment on 3rd October.
Hi Denio,
I have bone mets and have had several blasts of r.t. Why not give the scanning dept. a call to see if they have had a letter requesting a scan? They may be able to fit you in if they have had a cancellation. Hope you dont mind me making this suggestion.
There is nothing worse than bone pain I flipping hate it!
I had 5 doses of radiotherapy to blast my hip. It did help with the pain. I use a combination of pain killers depending on how bad the pain is on a day to day basis. I have Diclofenic / Oramorph / MST and Methadone
I would give your radiotherapy dept a call as it will help with the pain.
Jools x
So sorry you are in pain. Please don’t be reluctant to try oromorph. Opiods (of which morphine is one) is one of the safest strong analagesics but unfortunately there are many prejudices and fears among patients and some profressionsals about their use.
I started to get bad pain in my shoulder caused by neck tumours pressing on nerves, and its now under control on a low dose of orommorph with an anti depressant called amitriptyline.
Some of my friends have been very worried about my being on morphine and I felt a bit odd about it…now reassured having talked to MacMillan nurse and read excellent information in an Open University Pallaitive Care Handbook.
Really hope that you can get the pain under control and that others with bone mets can reassure you about the pain meds which work for them.
My mum was in lots of pain and could hardly walk due to her bone mets. Two sessions of radiotherapy and Fentanyl patches have really helped and she is virtually pain free now. Her mobility has also improved dramatically. I really hope you get sorted out soon.
I have been in much the same position as yourself these past few months. Have had extensive bone mets now for 6 years. Relatively few problems with it until back in February when I started getting more backache than usual and was offered rads - at that time i didnt feel it was bad enough so went on regular very light painkillers which worked and was able to stop them then at end of June it suddenly became unbearable and was also affecting my hip. My macmillan nurse changed meds to oromorph & MST (slow release morphine). I did have nausea with it at first and sickness. The trouble with all this stuff is you need other meds for the site effects. Soooo… anti nausea meds, constipation meds, i needed my reflux meds upped to protect stomach as well LOL. but they all helped with the pain. You need to build the morphine up slowly. I had 5 sessions of rads to my hip and five to my lower spine. The pain did get considerably worse over the following 3 weeks, and I had to step up the morphine. After that it very slowly started to improve. I am now 8 weeks past rads and still having some probs but don’t need meds now. I came off the morphine after 6 weeks post rads. I was daft and did it cold turkey which is not to be recommended so went back on small dose of oromorph reducing it each day. Do make sure you get assigned a macmillan nurse if you can to guide you through the pain control.
I had further xray yesterday cos of ongoing probs with hip and they now tell me I have degenerative disease to hip and lower spine i.e. arthritis). GREAT!
Was in similar position to you several months ago. V bad pain in both hips which made me walk like John Wayne and I was very restricted in what I could do. i was very reluctant to start on the Oramorph /Mst but after talking to my Macmillan nurse who said just to think of it as another pain killer I gave it a go and have been on MST 30mg twice a day for about 3 mths. alsostill taking my paracetamol and voltarol regularly. Luckily I have had minimal side efects except the day I missed a dose and thought my head was going to explode. you need to inform your car insurance that you are taking morphine.
I have just had a blast of radiotherapy to both hips 2 weeks ago and can see a small improvement already so i amslowy going to reduce my MST
It’s just my left hip that’s giving me problems I just want them to get on with the radiotherapy and it is very restricting to me too.
Will be giving the Oramorph a go tonight as I have been shopping with my friend. Didn’t walk very far but pain killers have yet to kick in and took them nearly two hours ago.
i.e. arthritis). GREAT!