Morphine for DD's tonsillectomy??

[chasingtail]

DD (7 yo) is having her tonsils out next month on NHS. My friends DS had his out privately last year.

Friend has said to insist on being prescribed child morphine for post op pain (I had mine out at 14 and still remember how much it hurt!). She said it is routinely offered privately but not on NHS. Her DS was given some to take home.

Is she right? Will hospital prescribe a version of morphine for DD if I insist?

We don't give out codeine to take home anymore. Morphine you would only get given in hospital, it's a controlled drug. You'll get paracetamol and ibuprofen. Make sure you have a stock as you'll need to give it regularly for at least a week if not two. I work on a children's ward and we routinely have tonsillectomy patients if you want to know anything.

(Sorry for quick reply, just off out!).

Just to add, morphine post tonsils is only ever prescribed on the 'as required' side. We give out calpol/nurofen regularly throughout.

Codeine is not given to children anymore. Morphine is considered dangerous in some children post op tonsillectomy. The hospital will tell you the proper dosage of calpol and brufen, which is done by weight and is likely to be higher than the dose on the back of the bottle. Agree give this regularly.
Most children will be fine with paracetamol and ibuprofen, and if they are not then it may be worth then being checked out by a doctor anyway to ensure no conplications..... As opposed to blindly giving lots of strong analgesia. But, of course, don't leave hospital if she is needing painkillers she won't have at home.

NowABitShapeless, it definitely said dihydrocodeine on DD's discharge notes from the day care unit, but as she was admitted to the children's ward, we didn't get it. But given what sallysparrow said about codeine and breathing, perhaps this is a good thing anyway, as DD's sats were below 80 on several occasions in the post-op hours.

chasingtail, good luck for you and DD.

Apologies for not reading the whole thread. My DS had tonsils and adenoids out and grommets in aged 2 for a serious case of failure to thrive which went undiagnosed for many months.

He was throwing up oral meds post op. They gave him rectal paracetamol in suppository form. Worked really well. But they didn't send us home with any. Days 3-5 are very bad. Lots of pain. Imagine being sick on top of that :-( Anyway, I called GP who wrote a prescription for suppositories. If you can, get hold of some.

Oh, and same DS broke his leg in two places last year (at age 8). He was prescribed liquid morphine at local NHS hospital. We came home with 3 bottles?!! Still have most of it in the cupboard.

Breaking .... That sounds awful.

Can't imagine what DD would think about rectal suppositories

Had DD's pre-assess yesterday and was told stronger medication is not routinely prescribed by the hospital for tonsillectomies

Just to reiterate what chocolatefudge said. DD was given higher doses of calpol and ibuprofen based on her weight which is higher than what it says on the bottle. I was also very strict on the times, calpol every 6 hours, ibuprofen every 8 and stagger them.

She was rough the day she had the op. Was home that night and was only uncomfortable for a couple of days. Ate ice pops to sooth, not ice cream or frozen yoghurt as dairy can make them a bit phlegmy! She also had apnoea and since having her tonsils and adenoids out sleeps so much better! Good luck

LadyWellian my DD had it at 18, she took half the dose but every two hours instead of every four. So three spoons every two hours instead of six spoons every four hours. A nurse advised this and it was easier for her to take and also meant she had less spikes i.e. being in pain towards the end of the four hours and wanting to take dose early.

I am sure she will be feeling better by the end of the week and it will all be worth it.

Lots of pain not a given. Ds had them out aged 3.9 and though we had one rough night, she was fine on combo of profen and paracetamol. We did check and they said gp would prescribe something stronger if needed, but she was fine and back at nursery after 10 days, a bit earlier than recommended but she was raring to go!

Sorry, dd not ds, bloody autocorrect should know by now that ds and dd are different!

Thanks everyone, all sounds very reassuring
(Mental note to stop projecting memories of horrific pain onto DDs situation!)

My dc had an adenoidectomy and wasn't given any pain relief. We were told calpol if needed

I'm 5 days post tonsillectomy and morphine has been the only thing to take the edge off at all. I know it's easier for kids but must still be very painful

I had mine out 11 years ago at the age of 37. I had been getting quinsies, where the tonsils form abscesses so had lots of scar tissue there which caused dormant quinsies in both sides and complications during the op.

It was very painful and a major op, as it tends to be in adults who have already developed complications in the run-up to it. I had to remain in hospital for lots of overnight monitoring, and having been dosed up on morphine in the recovery room because of the severe pain I was also on extra oxygen, if I remember rightly, with a tube delivering it just underneath my nose. All was because of the possibility of further bleeding and/or breathing difficulties. Morphine can cause some breathing difficulties, as has already been said.

I think it was co-codamol which was prescribed to me on discharge even though it was a private hospital. That and a shed load of antibiotics too.

I think there are generally fewer complications in children (not minimising the procedure though, as it is painful). Hope it goes smoothly for your daughter.

My DD (15) is now day 12 post-op and has not taken any painkillers this week AFAIK. Though it does still hurt if she coughs, and she was readmitted to hospital this time last week because of a small bleed, so they gave her antibiotics as a precaution. She seems fine now, and the strongest thing I gave her was some Boots own-brand paracetamol and codeine, which says it is OK (at reduced dose) for 12-16s.

Oh, and thanks grannytomine

My daughter was so unbelievably bright after having hers taken out we asked the nurse if they'd definitely been removed! She was a complete star and even the staff were agog at her cheeriness, we didn't even stay overnight.
She ate chicken nuggets and chips within 15 mins of coming round and played as normal, we couldn't get her to rest!
They told us what doses of calpol and nurofen to give which I put on a spreadsheet with times. (Anti bs too) and ticked off as they were given, this sounds anal but stopped us forgetting or doubling up!
She was honestly fine and isn't known for bravery so just wanted to say it might not be as bad as you think! Hope it all goes well.

Eggy bread that sounds like ds5 who stunned everyone after surgery. We're day 3 now and he had a bad night last night. We've rejigged the timings of meds to try to stagger the ibuprofen and paracetamol to manage it. We've been sent home with morphine and I'm scared to use it. Found this thread after googling and I didn't really like the look of the other stories that came up so am still hoping the new med times will be enough.