new condition

hello everyone. i need advice. after suffering for 5 yrs., i have been seeing pain dr. and have been on morphine then norco for about a year now. what a difference to be pain free. the problem is i have been dionoised with cancer in r/kidney. results of CT scan still waiting. problem is i  am very protective of pain relief. cant function w/o. should i tell pain dr? am afraid of him cutting me off and then start all over again. if you know what a hassel it is to get started on pain managment, you know what i mean. am i endangering my condition by not telling him? before we settled on norco 10/325 he wanted me to try other( epdoral) or implants. any advice?

doemite
First off Welcome to Healing Well Chronic Pain Forum! I am sorry that you had to come here with pain but I am glad you found us, and I think after to get to know everyone here you will be glad you found us too!

I am having a little difficulity understanding why you wouldn't want to tell you pain Doctor about your cancer in your right Kidney? He is your Doctor and he definitely needs to know about this, if he is expected to adequately treat you for pain, how do you expect him to do that without knowing your complete condition?. Not just that, but some medications can adveserely affect your kidneys, and with having cancer in one of them, it is of the up most importance, that he knows about this ASAP!, He might need to change or modify your pain meds. I don't understand why you would think he would cut you off of your treatment, if anything I would suggest to you that he would probably want to enhance your treatrment even more, as Cancer in its self can be extremely painfull!. In any event your normal doctor will probably notify your pain doctor anyway or at least he should! To answer your question, YES you most DEFINITELY would be endangering your condition by not telling him ( your pain doctor) of your condition! So Please do so ASAP! Again I welcome you to the forum, !
Good Luck to You

White Beard

Hi, Dolemite,
I just want to add my welcome to the other voices. It sounds like you've made the right choice. I'm so sorry for all you're dealing with, but White Beard is absolutely right your doctors can't treat you without knowing all that's going on in your body. Plus, I would think with cancer you'd actually get more help with pain - just maybe different help, although I don't know enough to suggest anything.

Your doctors would likely find out about it anyway. But I think it's fine to tell your doctor that you're afraid of losing the pain control you've established. I would be, too. So that you can still ask that your pain be controlled in the way that's in your best interest.

Please feel free to join in with us anytime.

Again, welcome.

PaLady

dolemite
This place is a blessing, and people do understand, an they do care! I do hope you continue posting and let us know how you are doing!
Please take care of yourself!

White Beard

D-
First off, Welcome to HW! Like the others, I think it is critical that you tell your PM about your cancer. It's possible he could pull you off the Norco if it's not safe for people with kidney problems, but I imagine that would be in line with your goals as well since the wrong drug could cause a complete failure of the kidneys in patients with certain conditions. I don't know whether or not Norco fits into that category, but I would imagine it would be better to know ahead of time than to find out when it's too late.

There definitely are pain meds for people with kidney problems. I've had some probs with my kidneys & I have a friend who has kidney cancer. My friend & I are on fentanyl which is safe for kidneys, even in compromised patients. I've heard there are other pain meds that are also safe for kidneys, so it's at least worth discussing with your PM. Be sure to let him know which ones haven't worked for you in the past so he doesn't try those again.

I wanted to let you know that there are a lot of assistance programs out there to help cancer patients pay for their meds (including pain meds). If you google "prescription assistance cancer patients" you will find several programs to help you pay for part or all of certain meds. Each program is different about what meds they will cover (some cover only cancer meds, some cover pain meds, some cover meds for secondary illnesses, etc. so just be patient & read through each one until you find one to help). If you don't have the energy to do that, you could try asking your oncologist if s/he knows how you can get a patient advocate. If the oncologist can't help you locate one in your area, you can call the American Cancer Society & they can try to locate an advocate for you. Some advocates charge a fee, but there are many who work for free if you are unable to pay.

I do want to wish you all the best for your fight! Hopefully you will be able to post back here soon that you are cancer-free or in remission. :) If you need additional resources to find funding for pain meds, please let me know & I can try to check with my friend about what organizations are helping her (fentanyl is very expensive, so she has 2 different organizations that each put in part & then she pays like $10 a month out of her own pocket towards the medication). You definitely shouldn't have to worry about being able to afford your medication so I will help you in whatever way I can.

thanks,bluejet2 I'll be on here tomorrow to let all you kind people know how things went. already got some good advice and more importantly, don't feel so alone! god bless you all

PM office is now closed. he never even called. what a guy.!

well, for all the kind people who offered their love and support to me i would like to report that PM did contact me and was truely sorry about my condition and he helped me with pain. I had thought i had 1 of the few compassionate dr.s out there, and he really is. My urologist called and will see me tomorrow morn. to discuss CT scan. The kind people(you know who you are) who offered advice, I now feel you are with me, going in to office. thanks again. I got so much from just hearing from ya'll, that I told my mother about this place. She suffers from Parkinsons, and really needs to talk to people going thru the same problems, such as different meds and resources. I'm sure she will find some comfort too. As for me, I'll let ya'll know what happens.  Love and peace to all!

to all my new friends, I would like to tell my experience just in case you know someone with similar problems.5 yrs ago it started. Pain in both knees, then tired sore legs that hurt even to the touch. The last 2 yrs. developed lower back pain. Morn., noon, and nite. Fatique to the max. Sought out PM.tried different pain meds. Still tired all the time. couldn't work anymore, then couldn't even do yardwork w/o pain meds. Went to chiropractor. he did X-ray, he found back and both knees with arthritus. it showed up like a bunch of fog on the film. set me up with MRI then neuro dr. who set me up with ultra-sound,then sent me to urologist who sent me for CT scan. I had 2 masses on R/kidney with blood in urine.this was the problem----I had cancerous tumor on top of kidney, and a bigger cyst on the bottom of kidney which was pushing the tumor into and cutting off the blood flow to the in and out vessels, while at same time producing chemicals that are likely to cause arthritus and pain. Urologist said that was very strange that it happened like that but everything was just lined-up like that. So he recomended removal of kidney, L/kidney was fine and should be able to function. He couldn't be sure but said I should be back to norm and maybe pain-free. also no signs that cancer had spread. I'll start setting up surgery may 4th. I do feel blessed,but sad at same time, for all people who still suffer and still have to fight the good fight. The power of prayer helped me, but just as importantly, finding this site and my new friends also. I hope someone can be helped by my exp. GOD BLESS EVERYONE

yes PAlady, on the 4th of may I will meet with dr.s to discuss the procedure and then I guess to set date, which will be soon after the 4th and I will also be thinking of you and everyone else here, wishing the best for ya'll. they will be removing the right kidney and hopefully not find anything else.

good morning everyone, good news to report, so far. r/kidney to be removed 06/16. does'nt look like cancer has spread. the down side is it's highly doubtful that the constant pain of arthritis in spine and knees,along with disc in lower back will be gone too. no matter, I still feel very blessed!

Dolomite,

Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you go through getting your right kidney removed. A poor ordeal with at least 2 great benefits.

1. It brought you to us
2. It brought us to you

Our prayers your way, with prayers in our signature below.

Dolemite,
Yes, that is great news that the cancer hasn't spread. As far as the pain, well, you're definitely not alone in that (as you now know!) and we hope you'll continue to be a member of the family here.

Surgery is no fun, but at least this is headed in a positive direction!

PaLady