Question:
Morphine vs. Demerol
I am having my open RNY this Monday the 4th, yippee!! and am wondering what most post op's preferred for pain control. I have used demerol before, and doesn't really give me the feeling of pain relief, it just makes me pass out for a few hours, very heavily sleeping, almost unconscious. I can't stay awake after I take it, and that is no good for trying to stay alert and getting in my walking etc. while in the hospital. On the other hand, I have heard that morphine makes people itchy. My mom had her VBG 8 weeks ago, and she had a PCA pump with morphine, and by day 2 she was so itchy they had to switch her to something else. I am asking this because I will not be getting a pain pump, I will be getting an injection every 4 hours or as needed...anyone have any good/bad experiences to share with either of these drugs? Hugs, — Kim S. (posted on November 1, 2002)
November 1, 2002
I preferred the Demerol. It took care of the pain with no appreciable side
effects. I did have a morphine pump but I stopped using it after the 2nd
day because it made me too nauseous. Open RNY on 9/26.
— kelleykeith
November 1, 2002
I had morphine via PCA after my open RNY on 7/17 and it made me have very
weird dreams. Once they took me off that and put me on Dilaudid (very
small pill - easily tolerated even by a new post-op), I was fine...JR
— John Rushton
November 1, 2002
Morphine and demerol are the same type of drug, and neither did anything
for me except make me itchyitchyitchy. After 6 or 7 hours of screaming I
got switched to dilaudid (via IV), which did the trick.
— Tamara K.
November 1, 2002
The problem I had with the morphine was that it made me feel light-headed
and nauseous. My wife asked the doctor to switch me to something else and
they did put me on some other pain med but I don't know what it was. I did
notice an improvement after that. Good luck to you! - Mike
— Michael N.
November 1, 2002
Morphine is terrible! it does cause weird dreams and makes you feel worse
than you do, they also tried the dilauded and got sick on it as well...the
demerol did ot make me sick, but after the 2nd day, i just refused all pain
meds and did great. good luck
jen
— JENNIFER A.
November 1, 2002
I am 3 and a half weeks out. I refused all meds the first day after surgery
(LAP-RNY) on Oct. 8th, especially morphine and or demerol. On the second
day I realized I needed some medicine so I "negotiated" with them
and they gave me percocet. I refused to take it crushed tho. They called
the doctor and he allowed it whole. I dont know if it was the anasthesia or
the percocet but the dreams were bad for the first week and a half or so.
Used percocet at home and at the two week mark I "turned the
corner" and needed no pain meds at all to sleep. Good luck to you.
— Steve B.
November 1, 2002
Birds of a different color, etc...LOL.....The morphine was my best friend
for the first 2 days after the operation I was totaly out-of-it and quite
comfortable...very thirsty but that's actualy a plus as it makes you ingest
your liquids...my advise would be to try it for yourself ...Congratulation
and good luck on your new birth coming up...Diane
— Diane B.
November 1, 2002
I used the PCA the first 24 hours. The second 24 hours I was really glad
that there were no sharp objects within my reach. Then they introduced me
to Lortab and my sanity came back to earth and I returned to the living. I
only needed it for two days and a couple nights there after when I went to
sleep. I have had a lot of itching for the past several months and I'm
dealing with extreme dry skin. I really don't think it is from the
Morphine, just the old body adapting to less of everything.
— Sue A.
November 1, 2002
I had a morphine pump with both my LAP RNY and my 2 C-sections and I didn't
have any problems with it. It doesn't really take away the pain for me but
make me kinda loopy so I didn't care about the pain. ;-) With the RNY
though, the pain wasn't really "pain"...more of a bruised
feeling. I was only on the pump for two days and then I was put on Roxicet
(a liquid pain med.) THAT stuff is WONDERFUL!!! Even better than the
morphine. Good luck to you!
— Leah H.
November 1, 2002
I'm 5 days post-op. I had a morphine pump. They also started on the 2nd
post op day oxycodone. I never felt the morphine really did anything. But
the oxycodone really did it for me. At home I'm on liquid roxicodone which
is basically the same thing.
— Vicki R.
November 2, 2002
If you have time - check with your anestheist or surgeon and request they
consider TORODOL. I would make sure they got the word before surgery. I was
sent home with liquid ROXICET. That stuff was plenty strong and so great I
kept taking it although never had "pain". BUT I had terrible
dreams and was told that would do it. Don't forget - TORODOL.
— charlene M.
November 2, 2002
I always choose morphine over demerol which I can't take. We discuss
morphine and the itching and blotches in our support group so that people
are aware that as soon as it starts to let the nurses know so they
prescribe either benedril or cortisone cream. It is a very common side
effect but one that is easy to work with if you are aware that it will
happen. The first time it happened, it was my 3rd day before I figured out
why my back was sore and hurt. I asked my daughter to scratch it and it
was a huge blotch and we showed the nurse and she said, it's the morphine
and brought me cream right away that took care of it. If you ask when it
first starts, it doesn't get out of hand.
— Elizabeth K.
November 2, 2002
Well I had the morphine pump and it hardly dented the pain for me. That and
I ended up being allergic to it. I was so dizzy and "out of
whack" the first 3 days I kept asking them to kill me. THANKFULLY, my
iv blew the vein and so when the moved the iv they put me on
Demoral...which had to get hospital approval since in January there was a
"national Demoral shortage". Anyway, that was MUCH better and
then I was sent home on liquid Lortab, which although awful, put me to
sleep almost immediately. Sleeping=no pain.
— Paula Prichard
November 3, 2002
I had Demerol and it was great! I can only compare to the morphine I had
with both of my C-Sections, but my open RNY was alot less pain (for me) and
I just attribute that to the education I did and also the demerol. But
that is just me (I was so itchy with morphine).
— Dana B.
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