Re: from Sandy in CA

[Guest guest]

Hey Sandy,

I work at a cancer treatment center in Louisville, Ky. We have quite a few

patients who had the problem of lymphedema following breast cancer. Most of

these patients are referred to a lymphedema clinic. Please check the link below.

I'm sure there is a clinic near you.

Hope this helps,

Sincerely,

Patty Louisville, ky

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[Guest guest]

Dear Sandy,

Hi! my name is Henry from South Carolina. I just rejoined this wonderful

group after being without immediate cpt. access for a few years.

I'm sorry that you've had this rectal bleeding problem. This can be

scary for a lot of people, but it's often been the folks who let things go

unchecked because they are too embarrassed, who got much sicker or worse.

my aunt was a perfect example of this. Like said, there are no

" yucky " questions here because were all in the same boat with our health

problems and we're dealing with a digestive disorder anyway.

I'm certainly not a gastrologist, but I can tell you my experience

several years ago, I reported repeated episodes of rectal bleeding to my G.I

doctor and he and his team jumped right on it with a list of questions such

as is the blood bright red, or are the stools themselves streaked with

blood, are they dark red and so forth, then they ordered a stool sample and

like said, a colonoscope. They aren't so bad. A few years ago

NBC's Today show didi a series on colon cancer and Couric underwent

this procedure on T.V. In fact if you've had ERCPs this colonoscope was less

uncomfortable than that. Anyhow, it turned out that it was simply internal

hemmorroids. Please do tell your Dr. know. They will take good care of you

and you you will feel better for having taken care of it.

About your mom, I'm not sure about pain meds. I just know what has

worked for me. Inpatient, I.V., Picc line, since I'm allergic to Demerol,

they tried Morphine, not strong enough - too much breakthrough pain, so they

went to the Dilaudid. Outpatient, I've been prescribed several through the

years. Again, Dilaudid by mouth worked best, but made me feel too drugged to

work and drive safely before I had to go on disability. I guess the most

effective, but controversial was Oxycontin. This was prescribed along with

Oxycodone and really helped my chronic pancreatitis pain and worked well

with Phenergan for nausea. Mabe if your mom's pain is chronic and too severe

her Oncologist could recommened a pain management specialist. They have

helped me some.

Well Sandy, it's good that you asked, and I do hope that you and your

mom get checked out and get some positive results. Thank you for taking the

time to read through this post - I got carried away typing! :-) Be as well

as you can!

Henry

[Guest guest]

Sandy wrote:

My mom is a breast cancer survivor. She is also suffering from

Lymphodema in her arm. It is quite painful. At my advise and

her doctors ok, she was put on percocet to help ease the pain.

I think she should be on a patch as she is in SOOO much pain

all the time. Does anyone know of a stronger pill I might suggest

to her for her doctor to give her? I have suggested as she had

tried, percocet, nurontin and darvocet. I will say that when she

drinks alcohol her pain gets worse.

Dear Sandy,

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to offer any constructive information

concerning your bleeding problems, but did see that several

others could. In regard to your mother's situation, I see also that

you have had some feedback on that.

One thing that concerned me was your reference to your mother

drinking. In the sentence just prior to this you mentioned that

she had been taking percocet, darvocet and nurontin, and that

her pain became worse when she had alcohol. I would like to

mention that the use of alcohol is strongly discouraged while

taking these drugs and it can be dangerously toxic for her to

drink while using this medication. I do hope that you will talk to

her about this, as it could be very dangerous for her health if she

were to continue this habit.

As far as I know, the use of alcohol is restricted with nearly all of

the narcotic medications, and while the duragesic patch may be

the type of pain relief that would help her, alcohol cannot be

consumed while using it, so she would need to keep this in

mind.

I hope you are able to find something suitable for her to talk to

her doctor about while she is visiting, and that you enjoy the time

you have with her.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for consultation with a medical

professional.