The doc at the pain clinic told us the ongoing pain in mom's mouth, ten months post treatment, is due to IMRT related nerve damage. I don't know how she determined this, but she rattled off a couple of ideas on how to deal with the pain: daily narcotics or killing the nerve. I'm not crazy about either of these. The oncologist wants her off all meds, which I kind of like. On the other hand, she needs to be comfortable and would like to get rid of the g-tube. Killing the nerve doesn't seem like a good idea to me. She won't be able to tell if things are too cold, too hot, won't be able to detect pain, etc. I am really getting frustrated. So many doctors and so many different opinions. $900.00 on drugs last month; some had to be thrown out because the docs forgot she's a tube feeder and prescribed drugs that can't be crushed. From the psychiatrist to the pain management doctor, they keep prescribing more and more drugs. This is ridiculous. If the drug doesn't mask the problem, they suggest increasing the dosage. Hell, with all the drugs in her system, all she can do is sleep all day. Furthermore, a lot of the anti-depression meds dry out the mouth -- which isn't helping the situation. This is nuts. My mom passed out and lost her pulse for a couple of seconds last night, throwing up all of her meds. What a way for her to spend her birthday...being rushed to the hospital for a weekend of even more drugs and doctors. I have to question if all the meds are the source of her passing out. This past year and a half has been an out of control freight train. I have things to be grateful for, no doubt about that, but mama-mia I am sooooo tired. Hell, I've lost 15 pounds in the last two months. At 6'2" and 155 pounds, I really don't need to be losing weight. Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. Has anyone experienced a similar problem with damaged nerves? Were you able to find a better solution? I'm really searching for options. We've taken her for accupuncture, chinese medicine. I don't know.
Is it just one of those things that she'll have to adapt to and live with? Maybe because of her age (72) she isn't recovering as well and as quickly as others. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any cancer detected. The downside is that the quality of life hasn't been so great since tx ended. Its basically been a drug induced haze. Honestly, her life has been a drug induced haze since January, '03 when her symptoms first appeared. One step forward and a couple of steps back, I guess.
Thanks and take care.
D
