pain management

After the initial diagnosis of  adenocarcinoma of the right lung with malignant pleural effusion I had 4 months of chemo (carboplatin and gemcitabine), I also had a pleurodesis to stop the fluid in my pleura and later I had a lymph node taken out from my armpit. Three days after I started to feel pain in my shoulders. About a month after the pain started I could not take it any longer and I started to take tylenol. First 2-325mg tablets twice a day, I then increased to three times/day and subsequently to four times. When I found out that tylenol when taken for a long tme can damage the liver I switched to Advil. I have been taking Advil for approx one month and I seem to be doing OK with it. I have gone for a bone scan and will get the results next week. My liver is OK (I had an ultrasound). If the bone scan does not show any metastasis obviously the pain is due the the dissection of the lymph node, in this case it was suggested to me to take physiotherapy.
In the case that there is metastasis to the bone my oncologist might suggest more treatment which might help the pain or will it?

my question is this. : Is there an approx life expentancy after the onset of pain or is it possible to last many months, years with pain? I was originally told I had more or less 6 months to live (that was two years ago aside from the shortness of breath if I have no pain I feel quite well) Morphine could be the next way of pain control. If a person becomes addicted to morphine and the drung no more controls the pain is there any other way of pain management?

thank you for your answer ?

anailil

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

Pain may be chronic, which only means it may last for a long time. Pain is not a marker for impending death. Some patients stay on pain medications for months to years.

There is no ceiling dose for Morphine. The dose can be increased to ensure pain control. There may be some side-effects such as constipation which may become troublesome with higher doses. Presently, there are drugs entering common practice to limit this side-effect. If pain is not adequately controlled, the risk of addiction is low.

Discuss the pain with your doctor. Some patients may be afraid to increase the dose because of misconceptions that you seem to share.

Stay positive.