pills vs.pump

[missin_life]

Hey everyone!
I just joined & have a few questions. I am 38 yrs old & have been in pain management for 10+ yrs now due to a MVA. I recently started to have trouble with my liver (no hep c) anyway I currently take morphine 30mg 3 times a day & 30 mg MSIR 3 times a day or as needed. Now I just talked with my doc about my liver having elevated levels & the yellowing of eyes & skin & was sent for liver untrasound from primary DR however, I talked with my pain management DR about this & my desire to get off all meds or other options. He in turn talked to me about installing a morphine pump. Ok well I hate morphine & I would actually like to get off of it but I know that I will never be able to function without it due to the condition of my spine plus I have IC. My question is will the pump bypass the liver?  My DR says it will bypass the liver & will stop the effect the pills are having on my liver?? Anyone here have experience with the pump? I am afraid of have morphine going through my body that I will not be able to control. Any suggestions???

[martikadragoon]

FYI you have to space out the letters and the @ in your emails or else MH blocks it out

[freebird63]

Ask lots of questions and then ask more questions.  This is a big decision.  I am not trying to talk you out of it.  I tried the pain pump, I went into it knowing very little about it.  My experience was probably the worse case, almost all that could go wrong went wrong.  Make sure you do your homework on the neurosurgeon that will put the pump in.  If you would like I can go into more details, Tuck knows about all that I went through.  Here is my email, I hope this is ok Tuck???  if not it is ok for Tuck to give my email.  I feel that any information I can give or questions I can answer.
***@****
Good luck
Charles

[Tuckamore]

Hello Missin_life,

Welcome to the Pain Mangement Community. I am very glad that you found us and took the time to post. Please excuse my tardy response.  However I am very sorry to hear about the liver problems you are experiencing. Do the physicians beleive this is primarily due to your opiate usage?

A Pain Pump will greatly reduce the work the liver has to do with filtering and processing medications. I beleive your physician is correct. I understand your concern with the lack of control one may have with a pain pump. I do not have personal experience with the device but I know that we have had members that have had or do have a pain pump. I hope they will see this post and respond to it.

None of us like to take opiates on a daily basis in any form. Unfortunately when you experience chronic pain the choices are limited. A MVA also caused my chronic pain and disabilities.

Do you think you could function adequately and deal with the pain without opiates? I know that I could not. But if you so desire I beleive you have the right to try to come off all opiates. It will be a difficult weaning and withdrawals can be horrid. However if you chose that route your physician should assist and support your decision.

If I understand the literature correctly they gradually increase the dosage in small increments until you obtain optimum pain releif. At that time they back off increasing the medication(s) and the pump continues to deliver the prescribed dosage at set internals around the clock. There is a trial period before the actual implantation is done. I think you are going about your decision process in the correct manner by gathering all th information you can. The best decisions are made after thoroughly educating yourself on the procedure and the pros and cons.

Have you considered a pain patch, especially the Fentanyl Patch? I am not sure if or what percentage of that medication travels through or is filtered by your kidneys. You may want to discuss that possibility with your physician. It would seem to me that if absorbed through your skin it would be less likely to effect your liver. One of our members has a liver disorder and is on the Fentanyl Patch.

I also understand and like your screen name "Missin_life".  Chronic pain can certainly make us feel that way.  I hope you will find ways to change that feeling.

And please stay active in our community. We all learn from one another and do our best to support one another. Please let us know how you are doing and I hope you will share your decision with us.  Best of luck to you and please take care.

  Peace,
~Tuck~