Symptoms of Dying

Irwin said:
@Mitch86, it's been my experience that doctors tend to overprescribe. I was hospitalized two years ago for facial cellulitis. Although it made me look like a monster, I wasn't experiencing any pain, whatsoever — not that I can recall, anyway. I didn't even want to go see a doctor, but my wife made me. While in the hospital, doctors offered me oxycodone and codeine, which I refused.

In my younger days, I would have taken both, just for kicks, but I also wound up with liver damage from all the drugs I did back then. Luckily, the liver is the one organ in the body that can regenerate itself.

Had I been in pain while in the hospital, I probably would have taken the opioids. I had to undergo a procedure for enlarged prostate last year and took a valium beforehand, which was enjoyable, like having a few drinks. It made me not care about what they were doing to me. :ROFLMAO:

Maybe you should try small dosages of codeine to see if it helps or maybe ask your doctor for a prescription for valium.
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In my experience, doctors UNDER-prescribe, especially with pain meds. When you're 86 why fret about addiction?! More important to be comfortable and in a much better mood.

Tylenol+codeine isn't very effective, and I'd wager it's a low dose. Mitch needs morphine; very effective, acts fast, and lasts for hours.
 

Murrmurr said:
In my experience, doctors UNDER-prescribe, especially with pain meds. When you're 86 why fret about addiction?! More important to be comfortable and in a much better mood.

Tylenol+codeine isn't very effective, and I'd wager it's a low dose. Mitch needs morphine; very effective, acts fast, and lasts for hours.
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Have you done morphine? I don't recall ever trying morphine. I did a lot of dilaudids, which, according to Wikipedia, are five times more powerful than morphine. Plus I'd drink whiskey while doing them! That definitely would kill any pain one might have.
 
I dunno if it's good news or bad but sleeping more, not less or being unable to sleep, is a sign that death may be near. Like it or not Mitch, I think you'll be around for a while yet.

More info about symptoms of dying here - ARTICLE
 

Irwin said:
Have you done morphine? I don't recall ever trying morphine. I did a lot of dilaudids, which, according to Wikipedia, are five times more powerful than morphine. Plus I'd drink whiskey while doing them! That definitely would kill any pain one might have.
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I was prescribed morphine for a while after a serious accident. Addiction isn't a sure thing as long as you take it exactly as prescribed. I had no trouble at all weaning off of it.
 
Mitch86 said:
My neck is best at a 45 degree angle and it's getting difficult to drink liquids.
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Mitch, you might want to try drinking from a bowl. I have a thin plastic bowl, about five inches in diameter, that is pretty easy to drink from when I can't tip my head back very far.

Hope you're feeling better today!
 
Mitch86 said:
I'm 86 and have no terminal illness. However, I find it hard to move feet, legs and arms with terrible pain there and in my lower back. Breathing is getting difficult. I can barely hold a glass of water. I cannot lift a pitcher of water at all. At times it gets very difficult to get out of bed. My neck is bent at 45 degrees from osteoporosis. My geriatrician prescribed Tylenol/Codeine for the pain in my legs and feet but I have not started using those pills yet. I'm afraid, if I start to use them, I'll be hooked on morphine soon. I was in Hospice in October, 2018, after my primary at the time thought I was dying in her office and the hospice doctor concurred. They expected my weight to plunge and I would stop eating and drinking. Plus they expected me not to be able to get out of bed soon. However, that did not happen and they discharged me in 3 weeks. An X-ray of my back showed severe arthritis twisting my spine in the pelvic area. My neck is best at a 45 degree angle and it's getting difficult to drink liquids.

Are these the symptoms of someone who is dying? I've always thought that, when we die, we simply cease to exist. That would end the suffering, of course, but that means it will be like we never lived at all.
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I'm 74 myself and sometimes I feel that death is near, or maybe I just wish that it were. We are growing up, you know. New challenges require us to learn how to roll with the punches. It's been years since I could run and walking is often painful for my knees. But I can walk so far. I've had lower back pain for many, many years and I did almost nothing about it. I've lately started doing exercises for both my knees and my back. I think my back is improving but the knees well. It is interesting that I too experience more difficulty if I lie sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time. Occasionally I wake up every hour to pee and as annoying as it is I do notice that I have no back pain at all.

I am ten years younger than you so I can't really give you advice as such but I hope that ten years from now I will take this advice of mine to heart. Listen to others and learn how to age and cope. That's the best we can do.
 
By the way, my current geriatrician did take an x-ray of my back and found I have arthritis of the spine twisting it bad in the pelvic area. That is the primary cause of my pain and impairment in my feet and legs and now starting in my arms as well. Thanks for all the advice everyone is giving me here. After all these years (since 2010) my body is acclimating to the pain and I feel I could last at least until 90. I'm 86 now.
 
Sorry for your Pain Mitch I'm also 86 years old. I have spinal problems from dumb things I done as a kid & also working. The surgeon says I'm bone on bone. with narrowing of some areas. No surgery can fix that at my age. Younger they can do things.

I have many good specialists here where I live. I have had laser lower back surgery to kill the nerves in my lower back & going down my legs. It works as no pain now. I've had heart palpitations or our terms extra beats of the heart. My Heart Dr. gave me some special pills & it took about 6 months for them to go away. He did a Heart catheter & echocardiogram. No buildup of plack there. I also get a shot in my right eye for Macular Degeneration. It was 20/80 at first, he has brought vision in that eye back to 20/25 last time there last month.

I hope you can find as good of specialists there as I have here to help with your health. In my state, I can't get medical cannabis.
 
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