Help mum on 550 mst a day and in despair 1111

[cherryberry1980]

how can i watch her go through hell in a weeks time because the doctors are no longer happy in icreasing her meds when her body craves it. she was due an 'up' 2 yrs ago yet they capped it because it was affecting her health...stopping her breathing in her sleep, slowed her bowel n bladder need i say more.
they promised they'd sort her n not leave her yet now its 18months later n no clinic or help in sight. even our solicitor can not get anywhere fast.....i fear i will lose my mum next week as she'll go into withdrawal n goes crazy.
please, has anyone gone through this when all the docs are just covering their back n leaving you to do it alone.
last week when she started to go into it, i dragged her to the docs. i said how suicidal she was n they just said they felt for us n to go A and E to wait for a doc yet it may take 4 hrs!!!!
we have been given a green light to put her in a detox clinic and funded yet before she can go the clinic need assurances that an after care package is in place....this is where we struggled. no doctor wants to be overall responsable for my mum as she is so complex...Me fibermaliga(unsure on spelling) an addicted to morphine n cronic nerve damage affecting her eyes also.
she has been on mst for 10 yrs from 10mg increasing over the yrs to 520mg daily. two wks ago following an accidental over dose due to carers not turning up to administer her mes she awoke n tried to take the dose herself. instead of taking 260mg (x2 a day 12hrs apart) she took 500!! i contacted doc n for her next due does said give her only 200mg. as an addict though she now had a high n to go bk was hard yet she did...3 days later crying suicidal, in cronic pain, pacing seeing things n so on...been through this before. this is when i'd dragged her to docs unable to cope. they didn't help rush the clinic so she had no choice to up her meds to 550 a day n its still not covering the withdrawal.
any ideas comments and support shall be much appriciated.
cherry

[PaigeMc]

I don't have much to add in the way of a solution. I just wanted to say that I'm thinking of you and your Mum. I pray that there's a treatment available for her soon. It's unconscionable that her docs kept upping her dose. So often, I hear a Chronic Pain patient talk about how they were placed on a medication/medication dosage and life is fine and dandy for a long while. Then, something completely beyond their expectation or control happens. A practice shuts down, the doctor retires, gets sick him/herself and recently, a doctor just died. Then, all these patients are left to go and find a new doctor. Once they see the new doctor, they are asked," Why are you on this medication!? Or, Why are you on such a high dosage!?" Some are told, "I don't prescribe that high a dose, etc" Now, I'm not talking about addicts. I don't have a lot of experience with this. I know that probably for every legit pain patient, their are many addicts manipulating to get meds. But, I'm talking about the dufuses, like me who didn't bother to research anything about the medications I was put on during Cancer and I'm addicted now and need to figure how to get off. So many prescribers don't look down the road, or advise their patients to look down the road by saying, "I'm okay with prescribing this medication for you. But, you need to be aware that things happen. And often patients on medications that are addictive may find themselves in situations where they can't get the medication." It's enough to make a person start thinking like an addict, regardless. 1. Do I need to be like a squirrel in the winter? Stocking up for when I get booted out of a practice so I don't go into withdrawal.... The crazy thoughts that have gone thru my head since joining the forum and reading about so many painful situations of patients and families alike. I'm grateful for all of you and the wisdom and reality you share everyday.

[tgtiffany]

My next thing would be to say to take it to a higher level, but it seems that you are trying to do that currently?  I'm not sure what a solicitor in this case does?  

[cherryberry1980]

No what you put is 100% correct...we have been fighting for 3 years asking, demanding, begging for help from all type of doctors n drug teams...MP everyone who we could ask we asked. we are so close at getting her into a clinic yet each time we get so close our national health sevice require more wants or requirements first..n the goal posts keep moving. After 19months at been in a deperate situation, as a family we have come to the opinon that they really don't want to help or put their hand in their pockets n pay the thousands its going to cost to put her into a specialist clinic....due to the NHS causung this you see, they are obligated to get her help n pay for all of it. we as well as the doctors are surprised my mum is still here 19months on, i think this is their main problem!!
one doctor told me not to worry she'd end up going like Micheal Jackson....just overdose one day cos the amount is so high n it will over load her body n she'll just go!!! thanks doc! that comforted me n reasured me they are doing all they can to help.
We do have a solicitor on our case to,  yet this is so huge it will take yrs to hold someone accountable..yet i'll make sure someone or ones are in order to ensure this is  not  allowed to happen to someone else or for them to get away with this.
At the end of the day i want my mum in my life, i have 3 wonderful children who love her and i need my mum. I'm just angry they treat her as a nothing n don't seem to care. they see the addict now n not the person...and she is one...my mum!

[tgtiffany]

If this comes across rude/mean/uncaring, I don't mean it like that at all so I apologize now.

Up-ing her dose is not going to help at all, it's just going to kill her faster.  I know it seems like it's buying you more time, but it not going to help in the long run.  She is going to get used to the 580mg of morphine and then level off and it will stop helping her again like the LAST dose they up-ed to.  Then what?  Are they just going to keep increasing it until she just overdoses and it kills her?  I know it's not a simple solution, but you have to figure something else out.  I would try to talk to some more doctors and see if they have any other options for her.  There has to be SOMETHING else they can do to help.  You said she goes crazy and gets suicidal from detoxing, maybe treat THOSE symptoms instead of putting her back on that high a dose of morphine.  I wish you luck and hope everything goes well.  Let us know how she is doing okay?

[cherryberry1980]

thanks for your advice n support...read 'well it happened my mum detoxed n taken kicking n screaming to hosp.'
At the moment though doc up'd her morphine from 520 on prescription to 580mg daily so at least she should return to a calmer state soon, yet health wise this dose will effect her health or should i put it....increase the health risks. at least it buys us some time.

[tgtiffany]

I agree with Vicki here.  Methadone seems to be the only thing that might help her.  Have you discussed this with the doctors at all yet?  Let us know what's up and how she is doing okay?  I know this must be really hard on you too.  

[GMcp]

oh i know! try and get her into a in patent treatment center i highly recommend that <3 i feel for you

[cherryberry1980]

it is scary....i just don't want to lose her or see her go through something simlar like ya nana...i feel for you. Addiction don't just effect those taking it...it scars the hole family :(

[GMcp]

well this sound so scary, can she go to a live in treatment center? my nana was kinda in the same situation, not as bad but if she didnt die when she did im sure it would have gotten that bad, my mom and dad built a suit on the house and moved her in, and a nurse came and tought my mom how to administer all the meds, but it was just to much and went into the hospital one time and died, it was a hard 6 years living until the point of no return, i wish they just put her in a home she woulda had more of a chance i think and she was in sooo much pain every day that she wanted to just die, she got very depressed and angry at the end and it was hard on my mom and well all of us, if you came near her she would scream bcuz she was afraid of being bumped and her pain was so bad you couldnt touch her or hug her or n e thing and her med cabnet was rediculas with all the pain killers and it was just a crazy situation, so is there any way of getting her in a care center?

[vicki595]

What about getting her on Methadone?  It IS a very strong pain killer and will cover her withdrawals. I have no idea what her dose would br,though. I imagine right now,part of the problem is that her med doses have gotten so high that no one wants to administer a dose to her.  I think Methadone could help that situation...

What do you think?

[cherryberry1980]

the morphine was pescribed by her GP who contined to incease it every time she was unable to withstand the pain any longer, that was over 10 years age. we have, through the help of a drugs centre tried to redue her morphine, yet was unable to due to her been in too much real pain. over the years the doctors have tried all sorts of other meds other than mst yet my mum is so allergic to most meds it is very difficut.....so they just continued giving MST in higer doses. we did worry of the affects yet was reasured that it wouldn't kill her yet here we are! if she was to die in her sleep it would say she died from stopping breathing not the fact that the morphine has affected her brain signals n stop them working to stop her breathing...how mad is that. or that now they have capped her dose that she will go crazy n kill herself as this would then be put down as suicide!!!!
our hospitals have said they are unable to up her meds to calm her if she does flip n sorry for our situation...even though they allowed it to get this bad before they have even tried to help...it all about money i'm affraid. because they caused it, they are responsable for getting her off it, yet due to her other health issues this is costly. she only has a 10% chance of surviving the detox and in her case it will be a first, so going into the unknown.
at the moment her is classed as an morphine depentant cause by the NHS (the doctors)...they are unable to section her as her madness shall be due to medication n not a scicotic break down!!! n due to her breathing issue they are scared to sedate or increase her meds....a hopeless situation. even if off the morphine we still have her illnesses to address aswell as the damage that the morphine has done been on such a high dose for so long.
the reason she has her meds is because no district nurse will come out n administer it as not able to keep to a set time n too high off a dose. carers scared too, so this has since stopped after they forgot to turn up n i've been told that if i lock them away and anything happens to her i could be blamed!! so not too. i do make sure i assist her in taking her meds be giving her the dose on the box required for her to take with a drink yet other than that is is madly she is classed as been responsable...even though on such a large dose.
guess no one been in a simular situation then?

[tgtiffany]

First of all if she's an addict, I don't think continually "up-ing" her dose is going to help anything.  She is going to grow tolerance to it, as addicts do, and she will just have to take more and more.  "covering the withdrawal" is not an option.  What do the doctors tell you about the aftercare program?  I'm sure a doctor somewhere will help her.  If you are already cleared to take her to the detox I would try to focus on finding an after care program that will help you.  She needs to detox and find her real pain level again in order for the pills to not kill her eventually.  I'm a little confused too, she is in charge of taking her own meds?  I think they should be in a safe or something and be administered to her by someone else.  She shouldn't be able to get a hold of them at all, especially at the rate that she is at.  A worse overdose could kill her, and that's obviously not something that you want.  

[GMcp]

id definatly take her to a hospital if its that bad, then they can help her properly and her doctor will probably get a call