My pain mgmt doctor has suggested that I get an implanted morphine pump.?

Question

I would appreciate first hand knowledge of the procedure and pros and cons of the pump. Thank you in advance for your valuable info.

Answer 1

Never had one myself, but as a nurse I've dealt with them on many patients.
They help alot. Morphine is an excellent medication for your pain. It can also decrease your anxiety.
Most of my patients were very happy with theirs.

Answer 2

My Mother has had chronic pancreatitis, very brittle diabetes as a result of the removal of her pancreas, and a multiple list of other related diseases and conditions since about 1984.
She was consistently in the hospital.. usually about 2 times a month we would have to rush her to an emergency room in extreme pain and without a specific cause for insurance, she was typically denied hospital checkin.. meaning we would take her back home only to have to rush back in a few hrs when the shot wore off.
Doctors gave her 5-8 yrs to live about 15yrs ago.
She had the pump implanted about 8yrs ago and her level of pain is not as high anymore.
She still occassionally of course has issues related to her conditions but I believe the constant pain would have been too much for her to bear after so many years without the pump.

Every few yrs she has to get the pump replaced or a battery replaced. The pump beeps when its getting low on medicine or energy.. when we first heard it I called her "robo-ma"
One time the cathedar that carries the medicine thru her spine got a kink in it and the procedure to have that fixed was a little taxing but Ma said having it fixed isn't as bad as not having it at all.

Answer 3

Why do you need the pump? Without knowing this, it's hard to give pros and cons.

Morphine is a powerful drug and potentially very addictive.

Read up on pain. "Pain - the science of suffering" by Wall
or "Phantoms in the Brain" by V.S. Ramachandran or "The Mind and the Brain- neuroplasticity and the power of mental force" by Jeffrey M. Schwartz & Sharon Begley

These are really easy to read and very intriguing as well.

Answer 4

There is no possible way to give a meaningful answer to your question without knowing the source of your pain...and it's severity/length of time present and a few other things. Morphine/Demerol/Oxacet pumps are very effective....easy to use....and minimally invasive .... but it is unusual to employ them for anything less than truly intractable pain of lengthy duration.

Answer 5

I'm not sure about the pump, but I had a morphine drip in the hospital and hated it. I kept having really trippy visions, and even when I wasn't hallucinating, I just didn't feel right - really weak and not myself.