The CBD balm with THC can be very effective at pain relief, but you have to get it in a state where marijuana is legal.
I second the comment about opioids causing constipation. Pain medications also can lead to falls, by causing sleepiness and dizziness. So there are valid reasons to be careful with them. But pain is bad, too. Before her knee replacement surgery, my mom was miserable because of the pain.
My MIL (85) is definitely miserable because of advanced osteoarthritis, in both knees and shoulders. (Hips were both replaced years ago). She’s not really a candidate for replacement, she’s terrified of the effects of anesthesia, and besides she’d never follow the rehab guidelines. She takes Tramadol and NSAIDS and (according to her) it doesn’t give her much relief. But…just as she refuses to consider joint replacement, she refuses to consider an opiod also. So we’re just stuck with her being just…miserable. I don’t think she’s tried the Salonpas but maybe it’d be an option. She’s also talked about stem cell therapies, but in researching, it’s hard to tell if it’s a “real thing” or not, her orthopod doesnt seem to think so. She’s basically got no cartilage in those joints…
It’s frustrating for H and for me, and or course more so for her…
^ Just noting, I don’t think you’re supposed to use more than one patch at a time.
@JustaMom5465 – perhaps you should look into knee replacement surgery again for her. It’s come a long way.
She could be miserable for a much longer time! Although she would have to do the rehab to get the full benefit.
My relative used a Butrans patch. It also comes in a sublingual form. It is an opioid. When my Mom used Fentanyl patches before she passed away the visiting nurses kept a strict inventory on the patches to make sure the caregivers weren’t abusing them.
@gouf78 You’re right about that! Her health is actually not bad. So her refusal to consider different options is hard to understand Next time we bring her into the ortho maybe we can have a more detailed discussion about that. Rehab would be hard since not only are both knees involved, but both shoulders as well (and, besides, she’s not very compliant anyway). Hard to envision how she’d cope through that. Terribly frustrating for everyone.
[double posted]
We are using CBD tincture for my mother, a very low dose, we started with the lowest and the bumped up to the next, I think it is 250CBD. I use it for her anxiety and she loves it, not sure if she loves the wonderful flavor she says it has or if it just makes her feel good, but the last 8 months have been miserable in general so I’ll try anything and she is extremely sensitive to narcotics. I don’t want her to fall and she would.
CBDs are legal in our state and, no, mom doesn’t know she’s getting “pot juice.” It’s not really any sort of ethical dilemma for me, rather, I have been and am trying any and everything I can find to help her anxiety, I figured why not try CBD?
@techmom99 , what exactly is causing your mother’s ankle pain? If you mentioned it earlier, I must have missed it.
Would she be able to get up and walk if not for this? I would think that would have a very positive effect on her health in general. Honestly, I gather that your family has strong feelings on the subject of potentially addictive and psychoactive drugs, but with appropriate strains of cannabis/hemp it is simply not an issue, at least according to my understanding.
I think she is at far greater risk of serious harm from taking Tylenol in such quantity. Usually people are directed to take it alternately with ibuprofen.
MIL’s ankle pain is the residual effects of a fracture years ago. Her ankle was actually surgically fused more than 20 years ago but she is now having pain again. We found a brace and H took it over yesterday and put it on her. She liked the slight pressure feeling on the ankle so for now she is going to keep it and wear it during the day. She probably could walk but refuses to try. If we can get the ankle pain under control, we will try in home PT again.
She isn’t taking just 3 tylenols a day, she’s taking 3 at a time several times a day. We are going to give her Motrin today and explain to the aide about using one Motrin and one Tylenol together, instead of three Tylenols. Given her prior problems with opioids and alcohol abuse, H jokes that she has a titanium liver, but I still don’t want to test it.
I don’t live in a state with legalized marijuana. There is medical mj, but I don’t know that her condition would qualify.
H asked her yesterday and she denies pain anywhere else in the body, even the hip. I believe her because she has no incentive to lie about it.
In addition to the salonpas, I am going to look into Lidocaine patches. Anything that will avoid the possibility of bringing narcotics into the home but will address her pain issues is on the table. We tried a small safe once before. My SIL stole it and got it smashed open. We are stuck with her in the house till MIL passes. As noted upthread, we had her evicted twice and both times, MIL welcomed her back. SIL now knows that because she is over 65 and disabled, that it’s not as easy to evict her, not that it was easy the other times.
Thanks so much. The ideas and suggestions here have given H and I some hope that his mom can live out the rest of her life as pain free as possible.
It’s hard to read about an elderly person suffering because of the addiction of a family member. It sounds like a solution is hard to find, but so sad for the suffering elder. I recently was trained in using morphine solution for my parent, and the results felt like a miracle.
The salonpas line of products has a lidocaine patch that is 4% versus 5% for the prescription patch so it might be something to try .
You can ask her dr if she would qualify for medical marijuana. My oncologist recently gave me an official id/referral thing so that I can try the CBD salve for neuropathy in my fingertips. I haven’t contacted the dispensary yet, but I probably will in the next few weeks. He considers it a better solution–if it works–for me than the standard available drugs, which include Lyrica, gabapentin, etc.
Can her doctor prescribe her a topical cream containing an aspirin derivative (Voltaren) that gets absorbed through the skin? I found it very useful while recovering from a runners knee. Also, there are other topical options available OTC: