Started Hospice one month ago and has no pain, but extreme anxiety. Prescribed morphine and Lorazapam , which gave him ever more anxiety. It was replaced with Haldel, but he was still not himself. He has wanted to end it all, can be anxious and jittery, just waiting for his dose. He's still smart enough to know he is now addicted, but also still alive. By his own choice, he wants no more of these drugs , and I am hoping just his oxygen (new) will calm him down, let him sleep, breathe, and be himself, but so far he still wants it over.
Has your husband been in extreme pain the entire month that he's been under hospice care, and if not why is he being given the morphine that you as his wife control if your husband is still at home? You actually say that your husband "has no pain." Is that because he's on the morphine or was he not having pain prior to you giving him the morphine? And if the latter is the case, why did you give him the morphine if he wasn't in any pain? I guess I'm a bit confused on that.
When my late husband first went under hospice care, morphine was prescribed for if and when he was in extreme pain and I was the one who gave it to him if and when he needed it, which quite honestly he didn't need it at all for quite a while. And when he did finally need it the morphine didn't even begin to touch his pain and he had to be put on fentanyl.
The best thing you can do now is to talk to your husbands hospice nurse or PA, and see what is anything can be done to help your husband be more calm.
But do know that death itself isn't always "calm" the way we see it on TV and in the movies. It can actually be quite traumatic to witness as in the case of my late husband, so my heart goes out to you as you try your best to allow your husband to leave this world for the next the best way possible.
If husband's addicted and he quits the drugs, it won't be that simple. Someone else who knows more about that can comment here, but I suspect that going through a drug withdrawal could be something neither he would like nor you would want to experience. I suggest that you call upon hospice services - grief counselor, clergyman, whatever they offer. Talk to the doctors, talk to the nurses. Take their advice and follow the protocol. Going rogue right now may not be in husband's or your best interest. One more note: when it's painful, that morphine will be his best friend. And yours.
I'm sorry you are experiencing this, and I wish you and husband the best.
They can find other medications that can be used.
There are medications that are not "typical" / "formulary" that can still be prescribed and they may have to resort to one of the lesser used meds.
Speak with Hospice about this.
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