Just when I think things can't get any worse, there is always a new problem... As some of you may remember from previous posts, my father was having problems taking morphine (hallucinations) a couple weeks ago. From what I have learned, morphine can have some effect on the brain. However, last night around 1AM my mother called & told me to come there immediately. Apparently he was stumbling all over the place, hallucinating, and was completely incoherant. When I got there he was completely in another world. There was no comprehension or logic to anything he said or did. We called 911 and he is now in the hospital being treated in a drug detox program.

This happened to my father in 15 yrs. ago when he was drinking. It was also a huge fear of his, going into treatment, that something like this would happen to him, given his previous history.

Has this happened to anyone else? I was under the impression that something like this usually happens when someone abruptly stops a narcotic. This is the second time this has happened, while still using a substance (alcohol & now morphine).

I am concerned about the after effects of this. How & what is he going to be able to have to manage his pain??? (which is quite intense because his mouth is not healing) He has already tried the Duragesic Patch, which he ended up being severly allergic to and hospitalized for. It seems like ANY medication he takes results in the small percentage of possible side effects happening to him. It is so frustrating.

Any information would greatly be appreciated. Thanks, I'm off to the hospital...

Hi Diana,

I don't have any personal experiences with morphine, but I can relate a story about my wife's grandmother whom was admitted into the hospital for a relatively minor thing. She was the most polite and soft spoken little lady you could ever imagine all her life. Then they gave her some pain medications over night. She turned into something from a Hitchcock movie. Demons were seen, people out to kill her, relatives weren't to be trusted, and she got physical with the nurses. The nightime medical staff didn't know that this wasn't normal for her and continued to give her that same pain medication until family came in and said to stop! She returned to normal within a day or so and didn't remember anything about it.

The moral is some meds are bad for some people. I believe your dad will come out just fine. There are lots of other pain meds they can try.

Hi Diana, I am not defending for morphine but in my case, I had taken it when I started treatment and about 2 to 3 months post treatment. I didn't feel any side effect on my brain. When I was hospitalized for 3 weeks because of weight loss, high fever and pneumonia, I had morphine drip 24 hours a day. The only side effect was serious constipation. I am not sure if it was the effect of morphine, I did not feel great pain throughout or after my treatment. There wasn't any problem with addiction either. When I decided to quit the drug, I stopped it and switched to penadol only.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9//01.

Well things have gotten worse... Instead of addressing the "morphine" problem, which led Dad into the hopsital in the first place... NOW he has developed severe pneumonia, is on a respirator, and has a staph(?) infection in his blood, oh and I forgot the low hemoglobin level, which led to another blood transfusion.

It is absolutely amazing how quickly all of this developed. Sat. night I went to bed with my mind at ease, only to be woken up early Sunday morning by my mother crying and telling us all to hurry there and rush his living will there. The hosp. staff scared the hell out of my mom and made it seem as if he was dying right then and there. We were all rushing there, in the snow, thinking the worst already happened. It was the WORST experience of my life.

Thankfully, things are starting to improve slightly... his blood pressure and heart rate are normal now, 104 fever has broke, lung capacity was better today, EKG shows "very" strong heart, and his delirium has seemed to go away (hard to tell completely since he can not talk with the tube down his throat).

We are still waiting for his follow-up scans (PET scan, CT), which is frustrating. One good thing is that his mouth seemed to heal in the past couple days. It was an absolute mess for the past 2 months!

I feel like if it not one thing, it is another with him. I feel so bad for him, as soon as one problem goes away, three more occur. I'm sorry if I am complaining, but even the other cancer patients stare at him because he is such a mess. I can't understand why he is having trouble with EVERYTHING and no one can understand why??? Once again, I'm sorry for venting, it is just so frustrating (which I'm sure all of you know).

Thanks for listening!

Diana,
I feel so bad for you. I can relate. I went through a very similar experience this past year with my mom. Really bad reaction to Morophine leading to late night visits to the ER, pneumonia, fever, heart rate all over the place, hallucinations, etc. I was freaking out. Hang in there. I know it's not comforting, but you just have to keep trying different drugs to see which ones work and which to avoid. Once we found a drug that agreed with her, she started to rely on it a little too much. The docs and I slowly got her off of that med, but it's not a cold turkey process. A lot of people in the forum are all too familiar with your frustration. Don't apologize for venting, we've all done it and this is a great place to do it. My mom's docs told me they hadn't seen other patients react the way she did, and they were scrambling to find solutions. That's a real scary place to be. Finally I got lucky and found a doctor who took a good look at the cocktail of drugs she was getting. The doc slowly started adjusting dosages, eliminating some and replacing others. It felt like it took forever to figure out, and that's where the frustration really kicked in. Seeing a loved one in agony for even five minutes feels like eternity. Days and weeks of it can make one nuts. Please hang in there. You will get through this.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm glad someone knows what I am talking about. I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over to some of these Dr.'s and they are not listening to me.

For example, yesterday I was visiting Dad and he was up and communicating with me, using an alphabet chart and spelling out words. He told me that he loved me & that was all it took for the tears to start rolling. Anyway, I could also see his eyes getting big & scared at things in the room that weren't really there. I asked him if he was seeing things in the room and he shook his head yes. Then, because he was agitated, the stupid resident on call(sorry but I really didn't like the guy) orders the nurse to give him more morphine!!! Forget it, his eyes glazed over, and he began kicking and shaking! I have told them so many times that the morphine is making him nuts! I can see it there, and I saw it at home.

Maybe your post gave us some good luck, because I just got home from the hosp. & I LOVE his doctor and nurse now. I had a long discussion with them both & told them exactly what I think about his treatment (or lack there of) & they were very apologetic and concerned. They are weaning him off the morphine and switching to another med. FINALLY!!!

Thanks again for your post. I really appreciate it and it eases my mind so much to know we are not alone.

I am also going through oral cancer with my dad. He was diagnosed Oct.23, 2003 with T2 scc, he started radiation therapy Dec.29th, scheduled for 30 treatments, had his 18th today.
He may also receive brachy therapy after RT.
He started Wellbutrin about 2 months prior to dx., tylenol 3 right away, and the morphine patch shortly after that. Thank you Pumpkin for sharing what happened to your dad, I'm really sorry he's having a tough time and hope it will be better for him soon. I've been concerned that this could happen to my dad too.

Hi Deb,

Thanks for your post. Sorry I took so long to reply... I have been at the hospital a lot. BUT...I am happy to say Dad is making a full recovery!!! I'm so happy, I can't even put my feelings into words! Turns out his Onc. has been overdosing him on morphine for the past month or so. Apparently, she doesn't know how to figure proper dosages and kept telling us to cut back, but it was still way too much. I feel bad for not checking the dosage out myself. However, we did take him to the ER weeks ago & were sent home with "Everything is normal". YEAH RIGHT!

They have been slowly reducing his dosage, and he suddenly "woke up" a couple days ago. He was in a stupor for so long, he doesn't even remember the past month or so! They think the confusion is what led to his pneumonia, which has greatly improved since he is mentally "back".

Needless to say we are furious at his Dr. & the ER that sent him home. I would highly recommend that you be persistent if you feel your father has a problem, keep on his Dr.s until you are satisfied.

I read your other posts, and it seems like your Dad is doing good! My Dad also had problems with thrush and continues to off and on. He too, says that is the worst pain. I wish you and your family the best, if you EVER want to talk, please feel free to email me.

HI Pumpkin,

So glad to hear you have seen forward progress!

The issue you bring to light about medications and the professionals responsible make me furious!!! If I were you I would be making calls to every attorney in the USA.

I am no fan of law suits EXCEPT when it might save somebody from the hands of an incompetant!

I have a good friend who lost his mother (as in DEAD) to an overdose of pain medication while in a nursing home recovering from relatively minor surgery. She was in good health otherwise. THESE KIND OF THINGS ARE TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

Hi Mark,

I couldn't agree with you more! I was actually discussing this today with one of my sisters, so we will see what happens. My Dad is like you, in that he does not believe in frivilous lawsuits. However, he is quite pissed about this - his life was in jeopardy! Also, not to mention the turmoil our lives have been in, especially my poor mother, who hasn't left his side in the past month and a half.

It was absolutely horrible seeing him the way he was, and to think it was solely caused by human incompetance. I can't believe that happened to your friend's mother (well actually I can now), how terrible. Actually, today my boss told me that her daughter-in-law went through the same thing with her mother... She rushed home to IRELAND thinking her mother was dying, only to find out they were overdosing her on morphine. Very sad.