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Suggest Treatment For Alzheimer's Disease
My 85 yr old mother was put on Oxycodone for pain, but there is no proof of pain as she has Alzheimer's decease. The nurse gives her half a tablet of a 5mn tab, so she is getting 2.5mg. They have now ordered Oxyfast 20mg for her at $210 to give to her when she refuses her tablet. The tabs are only $57 for 100 tablets. Would the tabs be effective if they were to crutch them up in applesauce or something instead of going to this expensive liquid. My mother pays for all her own meds. Also, if they are not sure she is in pain, would not taking her blood pressure show if elevated that she were in pain.
Mon, 20 Oct 2014
Good evening. My name is Dr. Saghafi. I am a neurologist.
There is absolutely no test we know of to PROVE that somebody is in pain or not or if they are, how much pain they are experiencing. I agree that it would be much better to NOT be given unnecessary medication (especially narcotics which can worsen mental functioning). I would speak to the doctor and ask what their rationale is for believing she is in pain. If there is still doubt in your mind you could always request a consult with a pain specialist to see what their opinion might be as to whether your mother is ACTUALLY in pain or not. This is a very difficult question to answer for sure. One tactic I often use is to note the patient's behaviors and complaints while ON their analgesic medications (2 week time frame). Then, I start slowly taking them off observing and DOCUMENTING behaviors and complaints. If the person is in pain the expectation would be that the patient should begin complaining more and more of discomfort as the wean continues. However, even that type of a test (if negative) doesn't guarantee that a patient is NOT in pain. Bottom line is we simply don't HAVE any way of knowing the validity of a patient's complaint of pain unless we believe what they say. Plz leave a STAR RATING of this response if you feel it is of benefit and relevance to what you are asking. Also, I'm happy to answer questions personally for you on this and other medical topics so please write me at: http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/Funnel?page=askDoctorDirectly&docId=68474
There is absolutely no test we know of to PROVE that somebody is in pain or not or if they are, how much pain they are experiencing. I agree that it would be much better to NOT be given unnecessary medication (especially narcotics which can worsen mental functioning). I would speak to the doctor and ask what their rationale is for believing she is in pain. If there is still doubt in your mind you could always request a consult with a pain specialist to see what their opinion might be as to whether your mother is ACTUALLY in pain or not. This is a very difficult question to answer for sure. One tactic I often use is to note the patient's behaviors and complaints while ON their analgesic medications (2 week time frame). Then, I start slowly taking them off observing and DOCUMENTING behaviors and complaints. If the person is in pain the expectation would be that the patient should begin complaining more and more of discomfort as the wean continues. However, even that type of a test (if negative) doesn't guarantee that a patient is NOT in pain. Bottom line is we simply don't HAVE any way of knowing the validity of a patient's complaint of pain unless we believe what they say. Plz leave a STAR RATING of this response if you feel it is of benefit and relevance to what you are asking. Also, I'm happy to answer questions personally for you on this and other medical topics so please write me at: http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/Funnel?page=askDoctorDirectly&docId=68474
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