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 The Issues
 Pain Management
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Stamm44 Moderator Posts: 63 |
posted 07-30-2000 07:37 PM
  
Ensuring that patients die pain-free is a maxim of both hospice and palliative care. But what does effective pain management actually involve? Should pain be treated as the fifth vital sign? How can doctors and patients confront the cultural stigma of painkillers? |
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Elizabeth Stone New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 09-03-2000 01:12 PM
quote: My mother, whom we're trying to get into hospice care this weekend after three weeks in the hospital so far, is dying of emphysema, complicated by congestive heartfailure. This means she's drowning in her own fluids and can't sleep more than 10 minutes at a time because the painic of breathlessness wakes her up. She's suffering enormously, or "agonizingly" as one of her doctors put it. But the medical system disconnects this "agony" from pain, and will not treat her with sedatives or morphine or any other form of relief (whatever that might be) because she's not in "pain." Does anyone have any experience with this kind of dying? Any solutions? Reply via e-mail to me as well, if you can. |
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acuvala Member Posts: 2 |
posted 09-07-2000 11:14 PM
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acuvala Member Posts: 2 |
posted 09-07-2000 11:18 PM
quote: If your mom has alot of secretions, we've used scopalomine patches or atropine help to dry them. For shortness of breath, morphine is effective, both IV and by nebulization (inhalation of morphine through a nebulizer) |
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apl New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 09-10-2000 10:55 PM
I have been told that, in the near future, physicians and other health-care professionals may be held liable for inadequate pain control. I personally feel that a patient's pain should be controlled as much as possible, and I also recognize how individual each patient's pain and pain perception is. While eliminating pain is probably not an attainable goal in all cases, every effort should be made to reduce pain in patients who ask for help. How enforceable is this idea, if it ever becomes law? I'm thinking that recording pain as the 5th vital sign (which is a good idea in my opinion) will play a role in determining whether or not a patient's pain is controlled. How will this change prescribing practices? Any thoughts? |
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Hannah Member Posts: 8 |
posted 09-11-2000 12:32 AM
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Hannah Member Posts: 8 |
posted 09-11-2000 12:47 AM
Elizabeth, I am so sorry that your mom is suffering as she is. I am a respiratory therapist who has practised in ICUs,ERs and Trauma units for over 30 years. Consequently, I am very familiar with the symptoms and diagnoses you described as your mothers'. I absolutely agree that pain should be seriously considered in all of it's manifistations; not just "sharp","dull","crushing," or "penetrating". Being short of breath is definitley a painfull situation. Anyone who doubts this only has to do the following: Inhale as deeply as possible, then blow every bit of air out of your lungs that you possibly can. Now-hold your breath. Morphine, Scopalamine and/or Atropine, as suggested above, are effective for pain/discomfort relief without significantly affecting the respiratory drive or mucscles. I just feel so badly for you. I have been both a professional care provider for, and a daughter of people suffering from lung disease, so I feel that I can empathize with you. I hope you find peace, and I hope your mothers' suffering ends soon. Hannah |
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