I agree with Mark -that's a pretty creepy response in regards to the pain meds. US doctors are notorius for undermedicating but part of that is because of the labeling put out by the FDA about addiction. I wouldn't worry about getting a buzz - I didn't and I was taking morphine and Vicodin tablets in addition to the Duragesic patch.

My doctor gave me Dalmane for sleeping and he always prescibes a full jar (100 tabs) of anything I ask him for (wassup with this 7 pill stuff?). I figured out what meds I needed and asked the doctor to write the scripts and he did. I used the book I refered to in my 6 month anniversay post to figure all of that out. You'll feel Dalmane in about 30 minutes (NOT 30 days!).

It's a little early to start the depression/suicide rap -they usually ask that post Tx.


Personally, I used the oncologist as the primary care doctor and he coordinated all of my meds. He(she) will have a better understanding of the whole picture and the contraindications based on your chemo. The radiation onc's tend to be more conservative with the pain meds. Mine was always bitching at me about the pain meds - she thought I was overmedicated -yeah right! Her brilliant solution for pain was to use a topical spray that was unbeliveably painful and burned like hell for about a minute or so until the lidocaine kicked in - oh happy day! Needless to say we only tried that approach ONCE.

I probably would have enjoyed a buzz but as fate will have it, when you are really in pain, it just takes the edge off - no buzz. It's more like maintenance.

Most patient guidelines recommend 2-3 liters of water a day that would be 4-6 12 oz bottles of water.

Salagen is one option and it doesn't work for all people and so is amofostine, which can be as tough as chemo. But if you're getting IMRT you probably don't need it.