A little more about pain medications. There are 2 basic types - "long term" and "short term". They are used together for cancer patients. "Long term" refers to long acting pain meds that mask the overall constant pain threshold to a manageable level. Examples of these would be Fentanyl (AKA Duragesic time release 72hr pain patches). "Short term" is typically used for "breakthrough" pain that goes over the threshold managed by the "long term" narcotics. Morphine is very effective as it starts to work within 15 minutes for that purpose. As others have mentioned, we all react differently to pain meds and some can't take morphine and others, like myself, took a lot of it with no problems. There is also an adjustment period with pain meds while the brain chemistry is actually altered and rebalanced to accomodate it. So your intitial reaction may differ vastly vs. after you have been on it for a while. All pain meds will bring on constipation issues. Many times this can be the worst part of the whole cancer treatment experience. Work closely with the nutritionist.

It's ok to ask for "sleepers" too, if sleep is a problem.