Hi,
I just want to share the impact that a morphine BuTrans patch had on my Mother so that others can be aware that this drug has risks that you need to be aware of.
My Mum had mid stage Alzheimer's and unfortunately had to go into a home as she had agitation and she wouldn't accept carers at home. After 4 months she had a fall which was partly due to the agitation and she fractured her wrist. The home got a BuTrans patch prescribed from the GP for pain relief however it heavily sedated her and started to cause her to have problems swallowing. Due to lack of adequate handover between shifts the cause of the sedation and drinking problems weren't associated to the patch. I arrived 3 days after the fall and was highly concerned by her delirium however the carers were saying it could be a urine infection (which later turned out to be negative). After 5 days the manager of another home alerted me to the fact it was very likely to be the BuTrans patch. We requested that it was removed and she started to improve however due to her problems swallowing she had aspirated and developed a chest infection. We also think she developed thrush from the antibiotics which gave her a sore throat. It meant that she continued to have problems swallowing. She died 3 weeks later in hospital as she stopped swallowing. Stopping swallowing is meant to be quite common in the terminal stages of Alzheimer's however I believe the morphine speeded this up as before she took it she was a long way away from the terminal stages. I'm keen to post this as I'd looked up BuTrans on this forum but I didn't see any mention of the risks or adverse reactions.
I wish I'd known what I do now however unfortunately it's too late to bring her back. I hope it helps others to be aware of the side effects / risks of opiates and avoid our tragic experience.
I just want to share the impact that a morphine BuTrans patch had on my Mother so that others can be aware that this drug has risks that you need to be aware of.
My Mum had mid stage Alzheimer's and unfortunately had to go into a home as she had agitation and she wouldn't accept carers at home. After 4 months she had a fall which was partly due to the agitation and she fractured her wrist. The home got a BuTrans patch prescribed from the GP for pain relief however it heavily sedated her and started to cause her to have problems swallowing. Due to lack of adequate handover between shifts the cause of the sedation and drinking problems weren't associated to the patch. I arrived 3 days after the fall and was highly concerned by her delirium however the carers were saying it could be a urine infection (which later turned out to be negative). After 5 days the manager of another home alerted me to the fact it was very likely to be the BuTrans patch. We requested that it was removed and she started to improve however due to her problems swallowing she had aspirated and developed a chest infection. We also think she developed thrush from the antibiotics which gave her a sore throat. It meant that she continued to have problems swallowing. She died 3 weeks later in hospital as she stopped swallowing. Stopping swallowing is meant to be quite common in the terminal stages of Alzheimer's however I believe the morphine speeded this up as before she took it she was a long way away from the terminal stages. I'm keen to post this as I'd looked up BuTrans on this forum but I didn't see any mention of the risks or adverse reactions.
I wish I'd known what I do now however unfortunately it's too late to bring her back. I hope it helps others to be aware of the side effects / risks of opiates and avoid our tragic experience.
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